98 



THE AGEICULTUEAL NEWS. 



Apeil 4, 1908. 



At Montserrat, five school gardens have been 

 started, and it is reported that very good results have 

 Ijeen obtained in the cultivation of various kinds of 

 vegetables. Theoretical instruction is also given in 

 school hours. 



At Antigua, efTorts have been fairly successful in 

 introducing and encouraging the teaching of ngricid- 

 tnre and the formation of school gardens. So f;ir, 

 school gardens have not been successful at St. Kitt's. 

 •On the other hand, at Nevis, they have had greater 

 success, and at the Agilcultural Shows the schools 

 have always been well represented. 



The Education Committee of the Conference 

 reported that the evidence available from the different 

 colonies testified that opposition on the part of the 

 parents to their children working in garden plots has 

 now practically died out. Lack of interest in agri- 

 cultural teaching on the part of the teachers in some 

 of the colonies is probably accounted for by the sniall- 

 ness of the grant allotted to this subject. 



With the view of assisting in the work of estab- 

 lishinggardens for teachingpurposes, a special pamphlet, 

 -entitled ' Hints for School Gardens, was issued by the 

 Imperial Department of Agriculture in 1901. In this 

 the hope was expressed that the time was not far 

 distant when every primary school in the West Indies 

 would include elementary agricult\ire in its curriculum, 

 and that to all such schools a small garden siiould be 

 attached where the pupils might learn by actual 

 practice the best wa}' to carry on the more important 

 details of gardening work. This, it was considered, 

 would afford a valuable opportunity of training the 

 ■powers of observation of the pupils in a waj- not 

 attainable by mere book learning, or oven by watching 

 the work done by the teacher. 



In cases where a suitable area tor a school gartlen 

 was not available, it was recommended that the culti- 

 vation of plants in pots and boxes might be adopted as 

 likely to supply, in part, the training obtained from 

 school gardens. 



In I!l07 a new and enlarged edition of ' Hints for 

 School Gardens ' was published. As showing the con- 

 siderable growth of interest that was taken in starting 

 school gardens, this edition was exh.-vusted within a few 

 months, and now a revised edition (Pamphlet No. .52*), 

 containing fifty-five pages and a plan, is placed within 

 the reach of all who are interested in the subject. 



* ' Hints for School Cavdens,' I'lunphlet ISeries, No. 52. 

 Price 4il. Free liy post, 'xl. On sale liy all .-igi-iils cif llio 

 IinperiHl Ui'paitnicnt nf Agiicultiuc. 



In the introduction to the revised edition, it is 

 stated that instruction in school gardens is not given 

 morel}' for the purpose of showing how to grow vege- 

 tables, anj' more than the ordinary teaching in schools 

 has for its object, the winning of prizes. It derives its 

 value from its usefulness in training the intellectual 

 faculties, especially those of cjbservation and correct 

 inference, and its powei- to <lo this is the be.'t indica- 

 tion of its true worth. Knowledge useful to the agri- 

 cidturist is gained incidentally, and the material profit 

 arising from the produce of the soil miy be an 

 incentive to painstaking efforts on the part of the 

 learner. 



Pupils should be put through a good course of 

 box and pot cidture, and should thoroughly master the 

 principles underlying it before they are allowed to 

 proceed to the cultivation of plants in plots. The latter 

 is a repetition of the elementary work on a larger 

 scale, but does not serve so well as a meansof impaiting 

 knowledge connected with plant life, as its processes are 

 not under such immediate control. Its main object is 

 to show how the methods adopted in practice naturally 

 have their foundation in ideas derived from careful and 

 accurate observation, and to provide exercises in actual 

 agricultural procedure. At all stages, the teacher 

 should seize every opportunity of demonstrating the 

 processes of nature, so that the course of instruction 

 may include also facts concerning animal life, especiallv 

 that of insects. 



In the revised edition of the pamphlet, consider- 

 able attention is devoted to pot and box cultivation, 

 and details are given in regard to the preparation of 

 boxes and pots, the manner in wliich seeds are germi- 

 nated, the necessity of water, air, and shade for vounc 

 seedlings, the effect of the age of seeds on their 

 germination, the use of plant food in the seed to the 

 growing seedling, and the best means for raising plants 

 from leaves and cuttings, the care of ornamental pot 

 plants, and the treatment of plants with the object 

 of producing Howers and fruit. 



With regard to garden plots, full particulars are 

 given as to selecting the site, preparing the ground, 

 planting hedges, laying out plots, and the successive 

 operations necessary to establish a well-equipped and 

 successful school garden. 



The latter jiart of the pamphlet is taken up in afford- 

 ing special in.-^truction in regard to twenty-six of the 

 ))rincipal vegetable crops grown in the West Indies. 

 The conciuiling pages contain simple .and n.seful hints 

 in regard to xlv. various processes of budding, grafting 

 and training garden plants. 



