Vol.. 1. No. 3. 



Hh: AGRICULTrRAL NEWS. 



-t:} 



EDUCATIONAL. 



SCIENCE NOTES. 



Agricultural Education at St. Kitts. 



It was, at oni' time, jiri>j)i>sc(l to start an ao;i'irul- 

 iural school at St. Kitts siiuilai- to those already 

 ♦■stablished at St. Viiu-eiit, St. J^ticia anil Douiinica. 

 Afterwards, it \\;!s i-onsidcred jtrt'l'oiablc to Mi|iport an 

 j|u;ricnltui'al side to the (Sramniai' Scliool ri'i-oitly 

 opened ill the Presidency. Thi' tiiannnar School has 

 made a snecesst'nl st.irt iindei- Mr. W. H. Mitcliell, M.A., 

 fornierlv ot' ^'o^k Schoi)l, Jamaica. The Inijterial 

 Dejiartment of .V^Ticiiltare has made a. grant to 

 ]iid\-ide an Agricidtnial Master (.Mr. John Belling, 

 B.Se. Lond:)anda certain niinibei' of scholarslnjis to 

 bovs who enter oil t he aoiiciiltural side. 



School Plots at St. Kitts. 



51r. Francis Watts has eontril):iled tlu'se inti^rest- 

 ing notes on this su])jeet: — 



1 had an o|i|ioituiiity of .seeing tlic cicnit'ntary school 

 l)lots in the liotanic; Station at St. Kitts and of talking o\cr 

 the qiiestion of agricnitnral instriK-'tion in the elementary 

 .schools, with Mr. S|)rott the niastar ot the Wcsleyaii school. 

 who has taken the le.iding part in attempting this kind ni' 

 instruction in the island. 



He has a large class in the s/hool itself woiking on I lie 

 lines of Xatuiv Ti-ufhinn : this he thinks is sutisfactoi-y. 

 Jle has also a class of ten li.jys (ten hoys go also from the 

 Moravian school), who go to the Botanic Station at stated 

 periods and there cultivate the small plots ))]ai'ed at their 

 disposal. He finds, as I hive all along anticijiated, that 

 there is some dithcnlty in making this sort of work of a siitH- 

 ciently educational character. The hoys have vi-orked up the 

 lieds, grown crops of tomatos, cabbages, beans, i-adishes, etc., 

 have .sold their cio|is and now will have to ie|ieat most of 

 what they have already done. Again during the growth of 

 their crops Mr. Sprott has often ln'cn at a loss to find 

 O'-cupation for the l.oxs .luring the |icriod alfilti-.l tor this 

 work. 



This work is howuver \ery valualilc and tlu; hoys are 

 greatly interested in it. The only ipiestion which arises in 

 connexion with if is its place in the educafioujil svstem. It 

 .should, I suggest, come as a final course orc-u|iving six 

 months or a year. Po.ssihlv some means ciui lie found for 

 extending the technical teaching liy making the '"lys take 

 part in .some of the work going on at the Station, thus 

 tilling in the time when no work is neces.s;nv on flic garden 

 plots, ifr. Lunt [the Curator of the I'otiiiiic Station] 

 douhtle.ss can arrange this kind of work. I \\ould merely 

 suggest, [irovisionally, that such o|icrations :is spraying 

 for iu.sect aud fungoid pests, repotting planf.s, pruning 

 overgrown trees, a.ssisting in rea|iing experiment crops and 

 various ndnor operations in the gaidens ami cx|ieriment 

 plots might be entrusted to the Imys, thus extending 

 their view beyond their ow)i small plots. This of course 

 would reijuire cai-e and judgement, but a|ipea,rs feasilile. 

 This wia'k should cenic as the final advanced class of a 

 more technical character aud having in the i-\cs uf the 

 boys the additional charm due to the fact that they aw, 

 permitted to sell fhi' )irodiice of their plots and retain the 

 proceeds. 



Vegetable Ferments. 



it is well known that in aidinals the various I'o id- 

 siibstances are acted ujjoii by a number of digestive juices, 

 and rendered capable of u.se for the nourishment of the body. 

 The active ag'uts in these digestive jiroce.sses are ferments. 

 I'lie saliva contains a ferment which has the power of 

 converting insoluble starch into sugar. The digestive juices 

 of the .stomach act on meat and other proteids and change 

 them into various soluble connionnds. Pepsin is the ferment 

 concerned. In the .small intestine the food is suhnutted to 

 the ai'tion of the |)an<rcatic juice which contains the ferment 

 ti'vpsin, also capable of digesting proteids. 



The pre.seuce of ferments in plants is often unrecognized, 

 yet many e.xist, and the ordinary life proce-sses of plants arc a.s 

 de|>endent on the action of ferments, as the process of digesticni 

 in animals. In the storing up of starch in the roots of a sweet 

 jiofato, or sugar in the .stem of a sugar-cane, ferments play an 

 inniortant [lart, (Wpft Inilian Ji)illi-tiii, Vol. II., p. 2.^)7). 

 More striking are (he results of ferment action in the 

 insectivorous plants, which catch and digest small iu.soi't.s. 



The ferments of two jilanls of s|)eciat interest in 

 the West Indies are dejilt with in recent papers by Profes- 

 .sor Vines, F.I'.S. (Annuls nf Botany December 1901, 

 and .March llfOJ). The well known power of the juice 

 of the pajiaw to digest meat partially ha.s, since I.S"!', 

 licen suspected to be due to a ferment. Many workers 

 have inve.stigatcd this ipiestion and Professor Vines comes 

 to the conclusion that tliere is a ferment pre.sent, 'papain,' 

 which is es.sentially similar in its action to the try[psiii 

 of an animars body. (The commercial |ire|iaration of crude 

 paiiain is described on ]>. 4 of this .lonrnal). The juice of the 

 pine-ajiiile also contains a ferment, known as 'I>roinulin,' 

 which is almost identical in its action. Pmth lironieliii and 

 pa]iain are said to act most vigoj'ously in neutral lii|uids. 



The New Flora of Krakatoa. 



The island of Krakatoa, near .lava, was the scene of a 

 great volcanic ern|ifion in |S,S.'5. .\ c(aisiderable portion of 

 the island was blown away, and the remainder coni|ilctcly 

 covered in lava and cinders to a depth \aryiug from throe to 

 about fifty feet. JJust was shot n\\ into the air to an esti- 

 mated lieight of .seventeen ndles, and was deposited over an 

 area of 1,000 miles radius. Tidal wa\e.s were recorded all 

 over the world, and atmospheric effects were noticed as far 

 away as the West Indies aud Brazil. 



.\s one result of the erui>tien, the vegetation of the 

 island was completely destroyed. In bSHI} Ur. Treuli, 

 Directoi of the P)otanie Gardens at Jhiiteuzorg, Java, visited 

 Krakatoa. No one had meanwhile lived on or visited Ivrakatoa, 

 and any vegetation pre.sent was entirely new and had reached 

 the island imlependently of man. The nearest land to Krakatoa, 

 is .fava, '11 miles away, Sumatra is Ii7 miles distant. Dr. 

 Treub found two distinct grou[)s of jilant.s. On the shore 

 were seeds, fruits, and young [dants, of nine sjiecies commonly 

 foiinil on tropical shores and on coral islands. Tlie.se luid 

 doubtless been lironglit by the waves as drift fruits. 



Inlainl, nineteen sjiecies were found, no less than eleven 

 licing ferns. 'J'he spores or 'seeds' of ferns are e.xceedingly 

 minute and are readily carried by the wind. ( )f the eight 

 tJowering plants ]ire-;ent, four were members of the order 

 Coiniioxita'', the fruits of so many of which have sjiecial and 

 often \ery l>cautiful contrivances to enable them to be readily 



