Vol. XIII. No. 324. 



THE AGRICULTURAL XEWS. 



.311 



'The Thinking Hand'. 



This is the suggestivi.^ titK- of n recunt book ou 

 practical education in elenientaiv schools, by Mr. J. G. 

 Legge, Director of Education of the Cit}' of Liverpool. 

 Nature (for August "20, 1014), in reviewing the volume 

 .states that we are apt tii speak of 'seeing" when we 

 mean 'perceiving" and forget that science through many 

 centuries has acquired kmiwledgv bv means I'f hand 

 work. There can be no doubt that the methods which 

 are described in this book have pi-i)vecl to be a valuable 

 means of stimulating the intellectual activity of 

 children. By means of manual exercises in which 

 such diverse materials as wond and metal, cardboard, 

 rope and cane, twine leather and stone are used, the 

 jiupils are taught elementary pliysics, domestic science, 

 and gardening. Naturally a great deal depends upon the 

 teaching — it must be thorough — and the author pleads 

 fur considerable lilx'rty in pnscniifig the subjects. 

 The book is chaiacterized by the large number of 

 illustrations it contains, which iicc'U])y by far the greater 

 part iif the Milume. These serve their fmiction admir- 

 ably and indicate the materials and methods employed 

 more clearly and convincingly than a more extensive 

 K'tter- press would do. 



It is likely that a greatei- general application of this 

 .system of teaching in elementary schools in the West 

 Indies wiiidd serve a useful par[)ose. Apart from the 

 utilitarian aspect — by no means inconsiderable owing 

 to the dependence of the masses on manual labour, 

 domestic or agricultural — there is more likelihood of 

 developing ideas and instilling method in the mind of 

 the average West Indian child through his hands tliaii 

 there is by means of the orthod(j\ slate and blackboard 

 instruction. This princi]>le applirs also in the case of 

 secondary schools, especially the lower forms. Successful 

 eftorts havi.' already been made in the din'cti(jn indi- 

 cated, but if its importance were more fully recognized 

 l)y the authorities and the examiners, and teachers were 

 selected and trained in this work of manual instruction, 

 it is likely that in the near future greater satisfaction 

 would be i\At by the average employer of labour than 

 that which wc hear ex]iressed at the present tiim-. 



rain had been received in order to make a fair judge- 

 ment possible. The Inspector states that in a general 

 way the pupils should be made to use note boc:>ks more 

 than they do, and should be led to try and find the 

 principal reasons for the causes of failure or any unusual 

 success in the growth of crops that may occur from 

 time to time. 



School Gardens in the Leeward Islands. 



In his report for the year HH 2-13, the Inspectoi' 

 of Schools for the Leeward Islands discusses the state 

 of the gardens attached to some of the primary .schools 

 in this Colony. During 1012. there were thirty-three 

 school gardens in operation in the Leeward Islands, but 

 since th.at time a few have been discontinued. It 

 should be noted that the grants are now jwid from 

 local votes instead of from a Federal vote as formerlv. 

 This is considered preferable, as each Presideiicv pro- 

 vifles the money required for its own school gardens 

 and no more. 



On the whole, the condition of the gardens does 

 not appi'ar to be very satisfactory principally as the 

 result of the extreme severity of the drought <'xperi- 

 ence<l during the year under i-eview in Antigua and 

 elsewhere. In fact, in awarding marks iu Antigua the 

 in.spection had to be posti)oii(il until some months after 



The Study of Soil FertiUty. 



Ill the Tropics, in a general way, the study of 

 the plant has received greater attention than that of 

 the soil. In Great Britain the reverse is the case: 

 Fertility has been historically the outstanding feature 

 of agrictiltural research. In the Tropics, the Botanic 

 Station has been the fundamental institution: in 

 England it has been the chemical laboratorj'. 



Ever since the Rothamsted Experimental Station 

 has been established, it has devoted its attention prin- 

 cipally to problems of soil fertility. In the Journal 

 of the Board of Agricultarc (August 11114), the 

 present Director (Dr. E. J. Russell) points out that soil 

 fertility-, though originally believed to depend on.the 

 presence of sufficient jAant food, is in reality dependent 

 upon at least six factors: (1) the amount of plant food in 

 the soil, (2) the amount of water present, (2) air suppily, 

 (4) till' temperature, (.5) sufficient space for root devel- 

 opment, and ((!) absence of injurious agents. At the 

 present time attention is concentratefl at Rothamsted 

 on the first and last of these. In the former, as well as 

 tlic mere provision of plant food in the form of suitable 

 manures, essential points for study are the control of 

 waste, the changes which the manure imdergoes in the 

 soil, and the proper balancing of maiuu'os. This latter 

 point is exceedingly iuqiortant, for it has been found 

 that the plant, like the animal, needs for its 

 best development a sort of 'balanced ration' so to 

 speak —it can make more use of its niti'ogen supply 

 in Certain forms and in combination with other kinds 

 of nutrients just as the animal can use its organic 

 nitrogen most advantageously in conjimction with fixeil 

 c(uaiitities of carbohydrates. 



ImiJOi'tant experiments now in progress at Roth- 

 amsted are the chalking trials. These show that 

 during the first season, two-thirds of the outla}' involved 

 in chalking was recovered. This outlay was simply the 

 Cost of the labour used in digging the material and 

 applving it. After the lapse of a few years the results 

 inflicate so far, that chalking, under Hertfordshire con- 

 ditions at least, is a paying operation. 



Interesting work is also being done with gi-een 

 dre:ssings — a subject which has also received consider- 

 able attention in the West Indies, but most interesting 

 of all is the Consideration of Pickering's horticultural 

 i-esiareh on the effect of one growing crop on another, 

 in relation to the mixed cropping of annuals. Oats 

 and barlev grown together give the same yield as when 

 cidtivated separatelj-, whilst a leguminous crop, as 

 would be exjjected, increases the yield of the one it is 

 growing with. If in the case of oats and barley one 

 cro[) does suppress development in the other, say at 

 the earlv stages, it nnist later on stimidate it, the two 

 effects Counterbalancing each other. 



