Vol. III. Xo. 6-5. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



.331 



EDUCATIONAL 



St Lucia. 



In the aiimial report of the Inspector of Schools 

 at St. Lucia considerable space is devoted to the 

 svibject of agricultural instruction and school gardens. 

 JIi'. Bundy reports as follows : — 



The formation of 8ebool Gardens in 1903 was taken up 

 with great zeal and success by teachers in most parts of the 

 island. The district of Anse-la-IJaye and Canaries is now the 

 only one in which no school garden is to be found, each of the 

 other cbstricts having at least two. 



During the year the Government made special grants 

 out of the grant-in-aid to primary scIkjoIs for tools for school 

 gardens. Sixteen comjilete sets, including spades, iovkn, hoes, 

 sieves, watering pots, trowels, pruning knives, lines, etc., were 

 purchased in Barbados and England and distributed. 

 Unfortunately, the vote becoming exhausted, no further 

 assistance was possible. 



In July 1903, twenty-five teachers went into residence 

 at the Union Agricultural School and passed a fortnight 

 there receiving lectures and practical illustrations on agri- 

 'cultural subjects from the Curator and Agricultural 

 Instructor. The experiment proved to be a great success. 

 The teachers were boarded and lodged at the expense of the 

 local Government, the Imperial Department of Agriculture 

 affording the instruction and all assistance. 



A grant of seed to the various schools was also made by 

 the Imperial Department, and I was greatly indebted to the 

 Curator for the assistance aftbrded by him in making out lists 

 of various tools suitable for school gardens. 



Altogether a very satisfactory Iscginning has been made 

 in the direction of practical agricultural teaching in our 

 schools. The agricultural work done, is not only, nor 

 principally, confined to work in the school gardens. 

 Demonstrations and object-lessons on agricultural subjects 

 form a regular part of the ordinary school work, and there has 

 been a real awakening of interest both among teachers and 

 -scholars. 



In an appendix Mr. Bund^' reports fully on school 

 gardens in the island. From this it appears that only 

 six schools are now without gardens. Notes are given 



Ion twenty-three gardens. In most cases the work done 

 is reported as very satisfacto)-y, the gardens being well 

 kept and serving as \iseful object-lessons to the 

 neighbouring peasantry. 

 Nature Teaching. 

 At the present time many of the teachers in the 

 West Indies have attended lectures on some of 

 the elementary scientific principles underlying local 

 lagriculture and have passed the examinations on those 

 lectures. All this is of course a beginning and has 

 always been intended as a mental stimulus to the 



» teacher and not in any degree as the end of the 

 matter. Only those teachers who are continually 

 improving themselves and their teaching can hope to 

 -attain any great measure of succe.ss in nature teaching 

 in the schools. On this subject we reproduce the 

 _ following paragraph from The Teaching Botanist, 

 m by Professor W. F. Ganong, (pp. .51-2): — 



Many of the (jualities essential to good botanical 

 J;eaching are, of course, the same as are needed for success in 



any teaching; these are the qualities constituting the 

 teaching _ temperament. This consists in a deep-seated 

 pleasure in the exercise of guiding minds from ignorance to 

 knowledge and in seeing the light dawn throug'i darkness ; 

 in a power of positive self-reliant leadership ;"in ability to 

 project one's self into the student's mental jiosition ; and in 

 a personality that can win I'espect and aftVction. Of all 

 these characteristics, sympathy is one of the most important; 

 for the good teacher is, first of all, a mental physician of the 

 truest sort, diagnosing each individual case, and fitting its 

 proper treatment to it. He is a leader and not a driver. 

 He is always an uncompromising though genial critic, usinu- 

 sarcasm only for otherwise incorrigible cases. He diploniati- 

 '-■ally makes use of all devices for arousing interest and 

 holding attention. Especially is he ever investigating, 

 experimenting and improving in his teaching, reading newer 

 books upon it, and keeping in touch with educational 

 progress as shown in the educational journals. It is, indeed, 

 only by constant advance that he can escape that mental 

 drying up, which is the greatest danger, and too often the 

 most obvious badge, of the teaching profession. And he has 

 a deep respect for his profession, views it as his life work, 

 and upon every possible <jccasion chamiiions its interests. 



POULTRY NOTES. 



The Jotirnal of tin-Jamaica Aij cic alt aval Society 

 for September 1904 publishes some interesting notes 

 (jn preparing poultry for the table, from which we 

 make the following extracts : — 



No fowl should appear on the table until it has gone 

 through a proce.ss of fattening. Even this is not understood. 

 A few fowls are crammed in a dark, dirty coop, or a cage 

 exposed to all weathers, sun or rain, a handful of corn Is 

 flung in twice a day, water is forgotten, and the fowls are 

 thinner and bonier, if not diseased, when the putting up 

 process is over and they are taken out to be killed?' A 

 well-fed, properly-fatted fowl, fasted for twenty-four hours 

 with plenty of water given the while, killed and hung for 

 twelve hours in a cool place or as long as the climate allows, 

 is one that will make a good and delicate meal for four or 

 five people. 



Every fowl which is intended for killing should be kept 

 twenty-four hours without food before being killed, but it 

 may have water. Thirty-six hours fasting will not hurt 

 them, if they have plenty of water to drink. This may 

 appear cruel to some people, but we do not think it is in the 

 least so. Animals, birds, and even human being.s, can "o 

 without food much better than they can drinking water, at 

 any time. When a hen is made to fast in this way before 

 being killed the flesh is so much nicer, and the owner is able 

 to keep the bird nuich longer before cooking it. If an 

 animal is kept without food in the same way before beinc 

 killed, the meat is always better. 



There is more flavour in a hen when she is eighteen 

 months old than there is in a chicken three months old, and 

 a hen four years of age is as good as one eighteen months 

 old if it is cooked properly. If meant for breakfast an old 

 fowl should be killed over-night if possible ; if for dinner, it 

 should be killed in the early morning and hung in the safe 

 wrapped in the leaves of the papaw. There will be no taint 

 in twelve hours if the safe is in a cool place, as all safes 

 ought to be. They always require boiling a little longer in 

 very hot weather, as they cannot be kept long enough, but 

 when they are killed between October and .January they may 

 be kept easily for two or three days. Old hens, when they 

 are cooked properly, are a great luxury. 



