Vol. XIV. No. 342. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS 





AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION IN 

 SECONDARY SCHOOLS. 



In .1 Repot i "ii the sciem e. _ the Antigua 



Grammar School for the year 191-J ]."., which has 

 forwarded to this < >ffice, refei nci i i I the some 



what disappointing results ob d - the yeai under 



review. This is attributed firstly, ti the constanl - 



Masters, which seriously affi inuous 



course of teaching that is so necessary; and secondly, 

 to tin- want of a laboratory and of a regular supply oi 

 chemicals and apparatus. In thi oi these, it is 



qoI "iily impossible for the boys themselves to do any 

 experiments, but it is verj difficult for the master to 

 be able to make de nstrations in hi teaching, ill' 1 work 



equentlj being purely theoretical book work, without 

 pratical applications. Despite these drawbacks, however, it 

 is satisfactory to note that at .1 special examination conducted 

 by the Cambridge Syndicate for the tirsl Leeward Islands 

 University Scholarship, two candidates presented themselves, 

 one of whom, E. A. <!. Branch, won the scholarship. Amongst 

 other subjects taken by the candidates was Agricultural 

 Science, and in regard to this thi Exai liner, Mr. F. W. Fore- 

 man, B.A., wrote: 'Branch showed a good gra p of the 



subject. Both candidates showed ag I knowledge of the 



local agriculture, the sugar-cane and green manuring 

 questions being well answered.' 



It might be mentioned that at this Grammar School, 

 the course of study is based on the syllabus of the 

 Cambridge Local Examinations; there are four Agricultural 



scholarships given by the < rovernment of the annual value of 



£10 each. The hoys win. hold these do some practical 



gardening in the school garden for half an hour on each 

 school day. 



Whilst on the subject oi secondary education reference 

 might lie made to Circular No. 883, recently issued by 

 the English Board of Education. This is a Memorandum 

 on the Curricula of Ruralised Secondary Schools, and 

 therein the difficulties experienced in the West Indies 

 in regard to the successful teaching of Agriculture in 

 the secondary schools are strongly reflected. It is shown 

 that despite the encouragement given by certain Local 

 Authorities, the number of secondary schools which provide 

 rural or agricultural courses, over and above the gardening 

 which is not infrequently found even in urban schools 

 as an adjunct to the teaching of Botany, is by no 

 means large. School authorities have been reluctant to 

 embark on what they are inclined to regard as very much of 

 an experiment, and their reluctance has been enhanced by the 

 ■doubts often expressed by farmers as to the value of instruc- 

 tion in 'agriculture', which it is assumed that a ruralised 

 secondary school will attempt to provide. Discussing the 

 place of 'agriculture' in a rural course, it is pointed out that 

 even in the interests of the future farmer, too much stress 

 should not be laid on the purely vocational aspect of the work. 

 and emphasis is placed on the fact that a ruralised school 

 should not attempt to givi instruction in 'agriculture' 



as a separate subject. Technical matters of purelj profes 

 sional interest to the farmer should as a rule lie omitted 



from the course. \'o hard and fast line, however, can be 



drawn between science and it- appl ml a teacher of 



rural science should lie a- free to ileal with matters of agricul- 

 tural interest as the teachei oi physics should be I I deal with 

 3 which interest the engineer. 



As to the importance "I OUtdoOl vork and the Use "I 



land flic following in abstracted 1 ing of special interest 



to those concerned in 1 he teachii 



S lary Scl Is in the VVe ' Indies: — 



di would perhap im] a 



less satisfactory ruralised c 'se without land fo 



work and demonstration, provided fri 



walks were taken, and full use Were made of such 



as the teacher might obtain from h Id 



Dcourage his pupils to bring; hut the provision I 



plot is highly desirable in order to gi i m. as 



possible to the instruction. 



'A large amount of land is not required and is in fact 

 undesirable, as it necessitates too much repetition >( 

 ations by the pupils and leads to difficulties oi m 

 during holidays or when pupils are otherwise absi 



'The land should be inclose p to the Viol; 



and it is essential to good teaching thai the master 'I be 



as free (subject to condition of weather) to take his class mt 



of doors or indoors in any science period as the ordinary 

 science teacher should be to take them in the lectin ■ room C 

 in the laboratory. 



'The main aim in the Use of the land ought not to be the 

 teaching of agriculture or horticulture, but rather the pi ictical 

 teaching of biology, chemistry, and physics through the 

 cultivation of the -oil and the growth of farm and _ 

 plants.' 



Then suggestions arc made for the arrangi I i the 



land into various plots — a nature stud} plot, to ,., 

 material in the way of plants for nature study lessons in the 

 lower Forms; a plot for demonstrations and experiments; 



a fruit plot: separate plots of about .'III square yard- I 1 'i 



boy of at least one of the Forms. 



As regards the teaching staff, so far as the teacher's 

 academic qualifications are concerned, it is desirable that 

 these should include attendance at a University course ending 

 in an Honours Degree in Chemistry and Biology — followed, 

 if possible, by further training in agricultural subjects. So 



i- technical knowledge of agriculture and specifically 

 rural subjects is concerned, the training which it i- de 

 that the teacher should receive need not include 1 ial 

 instruction in the theory and practice of agriculture such as is 

 given in Agricultural Colleges; but it should include some 

 practical acquaintance with the ordinary operations of 

 a garden and a farm. 



A new dipping fluid called the bone oil dip is described 

 in the Queensland Agricultural Jinn-mil for A|xil 1915. Bone 

 oil is a by-product in the manufacture of bone-charcoal and 

 procurable in sufficient quantities from the sugar refineries 

 operating in Australia. Experiments showed it to be 

 fairly easily emulsified by boiling with alkali, and the 

 resulting solution possessed a marked detergent property 



and retained this, in common with Stockholm tar, when 

 compounded with hard water. From this property it 



expected that arsenical solutions of standard sti 

 containing bone oil as an adjunct would prove fully efi 

 in tick destruction, and this supposition was amply borne out 

 in spraying and dipping experiments. The proportions of 

 constituents recommended are: arsenic, 8 to 8| It), ace irding 

 to quality; bone oil, 1 gallon (from !» to 9£R».); caustic soda, 

 1 lb. —to make 400 gallons of dipping fluid. If word I seem 

 that this dip is worth tic consideration of West Indian 

 veterinary surgeons. 



