Vol. XVIII. No. 447. 



THE AQRICULTUBAL NEWS. 



183 



for 1918 had been estimated at 31,179, a decrease of 216 

 •ince 1911, or roughly of 3,000 since 1901. 



(2) The birth rate, on the other hand, showed annually 

 an excess over the death rate; for instance, in 1914 the excess 

 ©f births over deaths was returned at 490, and in 1918 the 

 excess of births over deaths was 167. The yearly average 

 for the past five years of excess births over deaths was 229, 

 Mid yet the population decreaied. 



(3) One reason of this decrease has been the excess of 

 emigration from the colony over immigration, the average for 

 the past five years being 321 more departures per annum 

 from the island than arrivals. 



(4) Another very regrettable point was the high pet- 

 centage of deaths of children under one year, which in 19 1( 

 amounted to 20 4 per cent, of total births. It is somewhat 

 satisfactory to learn that this percentage has been decreaied 

 annually to 17'9 percent, in 1918. On examining the 

 •tatistics of Antigua for each year, an interesting point 

 becomes evident, that in certain parishes the death rate of 

 children under one year is within reasonable limits, while 

 in others it is abnormally high. The solution, Mr. Collens 

 thinks, may perhaps be found in the fact that the parishes 

 in which the infantile mortality is within reasonable limits 

 are chiefly farming and dairy centres, and it is possible that 

 an adequa'e supply of cow's milk ( or the children provides 

 the explanation. 



(5) Another point to be noted is the high percentage 

 cf deaths of children under two years, due to diarrhaa and 

 enteritis. Here again, the parishes in which there is a 

 possibility of adequate milk supply show up wonderfully 

 ■well in comparison with the rest of the island. 



(6) The fact that infantile mortality was excessively 

 'high in certain parishes of the island is due to causes which 

 within reasonable limits are capable of being amended. Under 

 general conditions the high (feath rate of infants in Antigua, 

 Mr. CoDens considers, may be put down to the following 



4auKB : — 



(a) Congenital debility and malformation, due to the 

 a&ating of the unfit. 



(b) Intestinal complaints, due to malnutrition, unsuitable 

 feeding, and a lack of knowledge. 



(c) Diseases of the lungs, due to overcrowding and lack 

 of ventilation in cottages. 



(d) Malaria, filariasis, etc., and occassional epidemics of 

 .«uch complaints as whooping cough and measles. 



In connexion with this subject it is tn be noted that there 

 was opened on May 5, in the city of St. John's, Antigua, 

 A Baby's Day Nursery, where the children of mothers at work 

 are cared for and fed at a nominal rate. This is a step in the 

 light direction, and is to be commended as an example to 

 other colonies. 



NATURE STUDY. 



In the AgrUuituT-il Gaiette of Canada (Vol. VI, No. 2), 

 the following remarks on the abo?e subject by R. P. 

 Sleeves, MA., Director of Elementary Agricultural Education 

 in New Brunswick, are published, aol are here reproduced as 

 being of interest: — 



'The study of nature in school through the material 

 supplied from its environment, opens an avenue in the 

 early grades whereby pupils are by good methods put on 

 the right track to obtain a good education. To get the 

 beat results, interest and purposeful effort are necessary. 



We hear a good deal, not so much as formerly, about the 

 value of discipline of obedience, forced if need be, all of 

 which is very good ai far as it goe». The one great difficulty 

 is that, if relied upon and carried far, it depopulates oar 

 schools before real education is imparted- .Many people 

 in mature life have been heard to say, "Had I been shown 

 the purpose for which I was at school, I should not have 

 left it 80 soon". 



Through nature study in the early grades, intereit'ie 

 fostered, attention riveted, the desire to know is strengthen- 

 ed, and willing effort grown, while all the time opportunity 

 for discipline of the severe controlling kind is amply afforded. 



'Children have through their own unaided powers some 

 general knowledge of environment, and this knowledge, 

 wisely used, forms a ground work on which to build. Not 

 only is a large fund of valuable information the result, bu* 

 the training and discipline from interested application is oi 

 far-reaching value in the education of the child. Then, too, 

 is there given by such nature study instruction during the 

 early susceptible years of child life, a bent of mind apprecia- 

 tive of the natural conditions of the country and accustomed 

 to utilize them for intellectual values. 



'Again we must re- state that the study of language about 

 Nature is no substitute for the real thing. It lacks the vital 

 spark and disinclines to application, as any counterfeit might 

 be expected to break down. 



'Objects can best be studied in their natural habitat. 

 Here they have a meaning; and hence it is important that 

 outdoor application should precede instruction in class room. 

 AVhether the subject t lught bg insects or birds, plants or fish, 

 natural phenomena, minerals, or trees, the pupil for whose 

 benefit the exercise is given must always be the active, not 

 the passive, agent. 



'As history cannot be intelligently taught without com- 

 position, literature, writing, and geography, both as aids and 

 as by products, so with nature study, an intimate inter- 

 locking with composition, literature, geography, spelling, 

 writing, drawing, and arithmetic, is not only desirable, but 

 absolutely necessary'. . — 



Rainfall in Antigua. — A copy of the rainfall returns 

 of Antigua for 1918 has been fowardfd to this Office by Mr. 

 A. K. Collens, the Acting Government Chemist and Superin- 

 tendent of Agriculture. From this it appears that the 

 average rainfall on seventy stations for the year was 37'87 

 inches, ranging from 47 99 inches at Betty's Hope Garden, 

 situated near the central valley, to 27 34 inches at Marble 

 Hill in the dry Papeshead district of the north-west. The 

 average rainfall for forty-five years is 44'88 inches, so that 

 the rainfall for the year 1 9 1 8 is 7 01 inches below the average. 

 The highest rainfall recorded in the forty-five years occurred 

 in 1689, when the averane returned from fifty stations was 

 7359 inches, nearly double that of 1918. 



DEPARTMENT NEWS. 



Sir Francis Watts, K.C.M.G., Imperial Cotn- 

 missioner of Agriculture for the West Indies, left 

 Barbados on June 5 by the SS. Vasari for England, 

 via New York, on duty. 



