^^^ 



A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THE 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. 



Vol. I. No. 7. 



BARBADOS, JULY 19, 1902. 



Price Id. 



Aorncultural Education. 



% l#^ '^'^ spite of a good deal thcat ha.s been written 

 ^& on the .subject there still appears to be some 

 =^ mis-apprehension as to what is really 

 meant by Agricultural Education in Elementary 



Schools. In the strict .sense of the term there can be 

 no teaching of Agriculture, or what is called farming, 

 in elementary schools. What is proposed to be done 

 is to carry out a scheme of elementary instruction by 

 means of object le.s.son.s and class reading whereby the 

 children will be drawn to take a deep and abiding 

 interest in the phenomena of air, soil and water, and 

 in the life of plants and animals around them and led, 

 step by step, to e.xercise their powers of observation and 

 reason from cause to effect in watching the events of 

 every-day life that environ them. This, it is admitted, can 

 only be done in a thoroughly interesting and effective 

 manner by teachers who have themselves been carefully 

 taught, beforehand, and who possess not only a grasp 

 of details but adojit the right methods of presenting- 

 these details .so as to really educate (that is, draw out) 

 and not cram the minds of the children. 



In the higher classes the lessons will naturally 

 deal with a higher i-ange of subjects, and the lessons 

 given in class will be illustrated by means of plants 

 gnjwn in 2:)ots and boxes and by ])ractical work 

 in school gardens. Such a scheme, as is out-lined 

 above, contains all that is proposed to be included 

 under the term of Agricultural Education in elemen- 

 tary schools. Already, all that is possible, is being 

 done to train the teachers and furnish them not only 

 with a correct knowledge of the subject, but also with 

 the best methods of teaching so as to win the sympa- 

 thy and interest of the children. Agricultural Teach- 

 ing, started and consistently carried out, on these lines 

 must eventually change, to a large extent, the charac- 

 ter of the present teaching in elementary schools ; and 



