Vol. XIV. No. 341. 



THE AGRN tl.TURAL NEWS 



i 



STUDENTS' CORNER. 



NOTES ON EDUCATION IN DEMERARA 

 AND ABROAD. 

 The contents of an important Combined Court paper is 

 reviewed in tin- Demerara Daily < hronicle (March 5, 1!H">). 

 Id t lii ~. it i- notified that the post of Si ience Lecturer in the 

 Department of Science and Agriculture is to be ibolished and 

 that of Assistant Mastei at Queei College It 



mderst 1 thai tins Assistant Master will be in charge if 



the science teaching at the I i nd it has been suggested 



that the si nd Assistant Analyst of the Department of 



Agriculture should be appointei > i nev post mown as 

 Scientific Assistant. The duties ol this office are to include 

 the editing of the Journal of th< Board of Agriculture and 



the demonstrati i chemistry at Queen's Collef 



The changes referred to are the result of the necessity 

 to curtail expenditure, but it is wi- I I by the 



Director ol S ■ ■ nee i nd \_i rted by the 



Principal of Queen's College that scientific and agricultural 



it on should not i" 1 allowed to suffer. [nd 1 the 



posal is made that the Scholarship in Classics should be 



iped and only Science and Mathematics continued. This 



tion is based upon the circumstance that all thi 



cannot be continued, and the add onal fact that Science and 



Mathematics are the more importanl from the point of view 



of th' oenl "l the ( olonj . 



Tin- above is interesting as an indication of the attitude 

 of public opinion in a large colon) towards science. 



Turning to recent news i cerning less advanced 



iltura] education, the student may be interested 

 [earn "i the success obtained in North America regard- 

 school garden clubs. We have referred from time 

 to time to the corn and pig clubs in the United 

 States, but tin' Agricultv/ral GazetU of Canada for March 

 1915 describesa children's garden club oganized to teach agri- 

 cultural co-operation. This club is organized "ii the same 

 as the Farmers' Clubs. Y>r\ successful work has been 

 pecially inpoultrj raising. The children are taught to 

 help one another, and shown the advan .veil balanced 



irrowing and lending. It is a mistake to con- 

 hi the habit of borrowing, pr ivided the motive is a good 

 id rovided the borrower is in a position to make 

 sn equivalent return for the benefits received. 



Much]" i been made with rural i in 



cent years. The I ition of that 



usl issued a pamphlet in which the teaching 



of nal id gardening at the Enaresborough Rural 



[arj School is described. \ four-years' course is 



uleil. The first two years' worlt consists in the -tudy 

 of elementary botany; in the third ye i the soil comes um 

 consideration, and a careful i ion is made of the soil 



and subsoil of the scl 1 garden In the third and fourth 



nomic plants are stud nt I 



' done in entomologj and mycology. Throughout the 



course excursions are made at intervals. In addition to the 



ordi ire study' walks, visits are paii ms and 



lens and the senior boys attend plough ii ind 



b i dtural shows. 



It will serve a useful pu i Wes\ Indian student 



considers these matters in relation to his lo litions of 



study. ary thing ilize the importan 



igricultural edu and eep I hat 



ire doing. Much succes ha d educational 



efforts in the West Indie-, ence of this being not 



so much one can point to individual instances, but 



1 ause then a meral underst tnding< I 



3. For exam] dealing i i nches 



of agricultural science are better undersl I 



ago. 



REPORT ON THE EXPERIMENT STATION, 

 TOKTOLA, FOR THE QUARTER ENDED MARGE 

 W15. 



Although the gardening work wa ously led by 



the limited rainfall, a considerabli im i nt of nut 



was done during the early part of the period, and consisted 



principally in the distribution of coco nt t and onion plants. 



ding to the writer of the Report (Mr. G. A. G 

 Acting Curator) the laying out, planting ami cleari ig 



onion plots recei n during the qu I 



the earlj planted onions have given good results, 

 late planted succumbed 'luring the dry weather, 

 have been made during the season to organize an 

 Association and it is satisfactory to be able to state that 

 co-operative business between the peasantry and the Station 

 has already been initiated. During the quarter, 24 



of onion- were shipped some of which were n I 



ieasantry. The co-operative side of the agi I 



work in the Presidi ! ced by a visit, from 



Dr. Tempany, who in the course of Ins inspection laid ti 

 upon the value of :o-ope ationin the production of onio I 



Indian corn. 



Some interesting information is included in the report 

 with regard to cotton. It is satisfactory to learn that all the 

 old cotton plants were destroyed during the quarter. The 

 selected cotton plots, . a lyi tabli hed in Tortola, have 



given excellent returns in spite of bad weather conditions, 

 some of the strains yielding over 1,000 I 



The object in view is to produce sufficient sel I 

 under government control in order to render un i 

 sarythe importation of diverse kinds of seed forplanting 

 other islands. The Cotton factory contiuned to 



itton during the quarter, but the growers have suffered 

 to some extent through boll dropping, and felt some anxiety 



■ling market c litions in England which, hovs 



he writing of the report, has been dispelled! 

 of the changed conditions resulting from the I mers' 



i if a minimum price. 

 Much satisfaction is expressed with regard to the coco- 

 nut demonstration plots. The plants have withstood the dry 

 months remarkably well, and in plot I the trees, which are 

 nly a littli i ear old, have in many cases reached 



-lit of over 8 fej 



The trees havi i ntion in regard to : l: 



men! of scale insects and have been manured, and i 

 have been planted. 



Brief reference is made to limes and hay trees: the 

 former, which are receiving manurial treatments, 



Ming interesting results; the Ian ,, a king slow 



growth, but more could not be expected in view of the rery 

 dry weather conditions that were experienced. 



