402 



THE AGRICDLTURAL NEWS. 



December 26, 1908. 



fourth form at Harrison Colle,£;e. Three hours a day 

 ;xre devoted to this work, which consists of lectures and 

 practical work in the iollowing subjects : — .Systeuiatic 

 Chemistry, Agricultural Chemistry, .Sugar Chemistiy, 

 Botany, elementary Physics, elementary Physiology, 

 Principles of Agriculture, Cane and Cotton planting, 

 and Sugar Manufacture. 



Theoretical instruction is given by means of 

 lectures amply illustrated by specimens and experiments, 

 and the more technical subjects of the course are 

 illustrated by excursions to sugar factories and 

 plantations. 



The practical Chemistry course consists princi- 

 pally of qualitative and quantitative chemical analy- 

 sis. In qualitative analysis the students work through 

 the reactions and separation of the commoner metals, 

 acids, and salts. Throughout this course every reaction 

 is e.xplained, and the pupil is made to understand 

 what he is doing and why he iloes it. 



In the practical Sugar Chemistry course chief 

 attention is given to the quantitative analysis of cane 

 juice, syrup, tnolasses, sugar, and rum, and this work, 

 when taken in conjunction with the practical Chemis- 

 try already referred to, should tit a student to take 

 intelligent charge of the chemical control of a sugar 

 factory. 



Instruction in practical Botany at Harrison College 

 has hitherto been hampered by the want of a properly 

 equippi'd laboratory. This drawback has, however, now 

 been removed, and pupils joining the class in future will 

 have each a microscope, and be able to prepare, stain, 

 and mount their owai sections. 



Two years are occupied altogether in going through 

 the whole course of instruction. Examinations are 

 held every year by the Cambridge Examinations 

 Syndicati-, who have appointed Mr. H. H. Cousins, M.A., 

 the Government Chemist at Jamaica, as Examiner for 

 the more technical West Indian subjects. Those who 

 pass successfully in all the examinations are awarded 

 certificates of proficiency in Agricultural .Science- 

 Since the inauguration of the class, in January 1900, 

 twenty-seven boys have been awarded this certificate. 



It will be seen, therefore, that the Agricultural 

 Science course at Harrison College is an extensive and 

 valuable one, and should go far to [)roduce a generation 

 of planters who will not onJy be alive- to-the-ltenefits i>f 

 science in their profession, but who will be ready and 

 able to assist the scientific officers of the Agricultural 

 Dep.artments in their efforts to improve crops and 

 cultural methods, and to combat disease. 



As already mentioned, a training in science 

 is particularly valuable on account of the orderlj', 

 obseivant, and accurate habit of mind which it 

 encourages. The Agricultural Science class is, there- 

 f'oiv, not only useful for boj's intending to take up 

 Agriculture as their life work, but is an excellent train- 

 ing for any profession. Increasing advantage is being 

 taken of this class by boys who intend to study for the 

 professions of medicine and engineering after they 

 leave .«chool. During the years 1900 to 1907 inclusive, 

 seventy-four boys have passed through the whole or 

 a part of the course : of these no less than twenty-three 

 are known to have taken up Science, Medicine, or 

 Eugineering as their life work. 



Those boys who have gone through the Agri- 

 eidtuial Science class with distinction may pass on to 

 the Scholarship Science Class, where they receive 

 instruction in advanced Chemistry, Botany, and Physics. 

 Since the year 1900 three Science students have 

 succeeded in winning the Barbados Scholarship. This 

 ScholfiTship, which is of tlie value of £17.5 a year for 

 four years, is tenable at any British University 

 approved of by the Education Board. It is com- 

 peted for by boys under twenty years of age who 

 may offer either classics, mathematics, or science. 

 Two of those who took the scholarship in science went 

 to Cambridge Universitj', where one has already taken 

 his degree with double first-class honours, and the other 

 has passed the first pjirt of the Tripos with first-class 

 honours and won a Major Scholarship. The third will 

 probably proceed to Edinburgh University next year. 



FRENCH COLONIAL SCHOOL. 



A useful institution, which may best be described 

 as a Practical Colonial School, has lately' been establisheJ 

 at Havre, France, by an association of merchants. 

 The object of the school (according to the Jouninl 

 irAi/ricidfare trop'icale) is to provide a specially 

 ailapted agricultural and industrial training for the 

 pujiils. whose services, it is hoped, will afterwards be 

 particularly useful in exploiting the resources of the 

 French colonies. 



Lecturers have been chosen from among specialists 

 in colonial afi'airs, who will give instruction in the cul- 

 ture of diflerent crops, particularly that of cotton, ami 

 in colonial hygiene, and other matters pertaining 

 to tropical countries. 



The organization and co-ordination of the different 

 Departments of the school have not yet been completed, 

 and at present, the institution consists of a conference 

 hall, a library of colonial publications, a collection of 

 cotton ginning and baling machines of different types, 

 and a colonial nuiseuiu. 



