YoL. 1. No. 6. 



THE AGRICULTLliAL NEWS. 



91 



EDUCATIONAL 



er^ 



gr-^ 



Cambridge Local Examination. 



SE<;TI0N of ACiUICULTUUAL SCIENCK. 



The Educatiiin Ho.-ud of Harhados lias reoi'ivod 

 the following kttor, fioiii Dr. J. X. Koyno.s, Socretary 

 for Examinations of the Cambridge Local Examina- 

 tions and Lectures Syndicate, with refeivnce to the 

 .ilterations |)roj)ose<l by the Imperial Department ot 

 Agriculture in the schedule of the new Agiicultural 

 .Science .Section, etc. (See A()i-irtilfarul jWicx, p. 27): — 



'The jiioiicsed moditications of our Agricultural Science 

 .Schedules for caiKlidatcs exiuiiinod in tlie West Indies shall 

 be at once considered, and 1 liave no doubt that they 

 will be substantially adopted. 



I may add that the p.ipers for next December will be sot 

 in accordance with the modified schedules.' 



Trinidad. 



AiaiKTLTUK.AL EDIXWTIOX. 



Li hin Aiiiuxd Ri'jto rt i'i>r lf)01-2, Mr. Hart, the 

 Superintendent at the Botanic Gardens, gives the 

 following account of recent work in Agricultural Educa- 

 tion in Trinidad : — 



The courses of agricidtural lectures at St. flair Experi- 

 ment Station described in the last Annua/ Jifjiort were 

 continued to Augu.st, 1901, when a class of fifty-seven 

 attended, fifty-three of whom were school teachers and 

 .students, and four cadets belonging to the station. These 

 lectures have been extremely poiiular and, T am confiilent, 

 have done a large amount of good, especially in directing 

 attention to the need of agricultural education for the work- 

 ing classes. 



The clas.s was conducted on the same lines as on previous 

 occasions and good work was done by the majority of those 

 who attended. 



The cadets attached to the station camj out well in the 

 examination after the lectures, and some of them liave 

 obtained positions of trust on estates and promise well. 

 Letters received from the.se yoiuig men show a high apjire- 

 ciation of the course of instructiciu given at St. Clair. In 

 January the Superintendent was apjiointed a member of a 

 Special Committee on Technical E<lucation. 



The Jamaica College. 



Li a memiirandum issued b\' the Jamaica Scliools 

 Commission on Agricultural Education, it is announced 

 that the name of ' The Jamaica High School and 

 University College,' has been changed into ' The Januiica 

 College.' The Rev. Canon Wm. .Simms, M.A., will in 

 future be styled the Head Master of the Jamaica 

 College. 



A Remedy for White Ants (termites). Mr. l-:. 



E. Green, the Entomologist to the Ceylon IJutanical Dei)art- 

 nient, tind.s that carbon bisulphide promises to be a complete 

 success for the destruction of these troublesome and destruc- 

 tive jiests. On account of the extremely iuHammable 

 character of its vapour great care must be taken to avoid the 

 use of lights when employing this article. 



A TEXT-BOOK OF ELEMENTARY BOTANY. 

 l!y ^liss C. L. Laurie, with illustrations by Miss W. L. Boys 

 Snntli. Allnuui it Son^i lAd., London. J'lice .ix. 6d. 



The nund.er of modern elementary text-books of botany 

 is already so large that every new comer is, perforce, subjected 

 to careful criticism, and expected to show some distinguishing 

 feature to justify its existence. Many, otherwi.se of no 

 especial value, survive becau.se they are adapted to .some 

 particular exanunation. The present volume is intended to 

 be of use to students preparing for the -Junior Oxford ,aud 

 Cambridge Examinations. For this Jiurpose it will doubtless 

 be of value. Judged by the higher standard of how far it will 

 serve to help beginners to a knowledge of, and interest in, 

 botany, the volume has the great adva)itage of being attractive 

 to thceye. The type is clear and good, the matter well arranged, 

 and freely illustrated throughout with drawings wdiicli are 

 both new and above the average in clearness and artistic finish. 



The book is divided into three parts, dealing, respectively, 

 with the Structure, Classification and Idiysiology of Flower- 

 ing plants. Part I. gives a clear, although for beginners a 

 somewhat condensed account of the plant as a whole. The 

 .seed and gcrnunation tVain the stalling point, and separate 

 chapters follow on the several plant organs. This i)ortion 

 clo.se.s with a cha]>ter on the disiiersal of .seeds and fruits. 

 The more noteworthy points of this .section are the general 

 clearness of the subject-matter, the temperate use of technical 

 terms and the useful sunuuaries introduced from time to 

 time. All the work de.scribed can be done without the use 

 of the microscope. 



Ill Part II twelve Natural Orders are treated in detail. 

 In each a tyiie is fully described, other plants indicated, the 

 characteristics of the order .stated couci.sely, and interesting 

 notes on the pollination and geographii'al distiibiitiou ol' the 

 order added. It is pleasant to note that in the larger orders 

 more than one ' type' is de.scribed. Excc|jti<in must be 

 taken to the statement on |iage 101, that tropical vegetation 

 is gayer than that of the temperate regiims — an error long ago 

 pointed out by A. Itu.ssel Wallace. The description, too, of 

 'orchids, which by their aerial roots [tass from tree to tree' 

 is di.stiuctly misleading. 



The Physiological Part is well an-anged, and the experi- 

 ments de.scribed deal with the more important of the life 

 processes of the jilant. The division into exijeriment, result 

 and conclusion is praiseworthy. Experience has taught u.s 

 that the ai.paratus .shown in Fig. 143 is not trustworlliy, 

 and in the case of Fig. 145, .some precaution shoultl be taken 

 again.st air entering under the jar. 



These .slips, however, by no means spoil a book which 

 can be recouuiicndcd for hcginner.s, who, if they work through 

 the experiments, as it is intended they shoulil, can sran-ely 

 fail to acquire a healthy interest in, and coiisideralile accurate 

 knowledge of, the elements of botany. 



It will probably interest many of our readers to learn 

 that Miss Laurie is a luece of Sir G. C. Pile, Kt., the vener- 

 able President of the Barbados Agricultural Society. 



