130 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



April 27, 1912. 



to him in the conditions of the ordinary course of his 

 life. Lessons in English, arithmetic, geography, history, 

 and especially nature study, will all be simplified in 

 character and increased in interest if they are made to 

 relate as far as possible to those conditions. Further, 

 with respect to nature study, this is the subject which 

 lends itself particularly to the provision of assistance 

 \vith geography, practical arithmetic and drawing. It 

 may be said that the fact is recognized in several parts 

 of the West Indies, and that the employment of the 

 school garden in relation to the general curriculum of 

 the^^school has reached a degree that was not imagined 

 when it was first suggested that school gardening 

 should be taken up on a general scale. 



Turning now to a consideration of practical work 

 in rural secondary schools, some of the first efforts were 

 made in a small part of England by engaging the 

 county horticultural lecturer to teach practical horti- 

 culture in a few of the schools. The results have been 

 disappointing, chiefly on account of the fact that the 

 adoption of the scheme led to the detachment of 

 certain boys from the regular work of the school. The 

 danger of this was recognized early in the West 

 Indies, so that the agricultural and science masters 

 first appointed under the Imperial Department of 

 Agriculture were definitely placed on the teaching 

 staff of the school in which their work was to be done, 

 and their classes were included in the ordinary school 

 curriculum. The principle was extended further, in 

 order to prevent the appearance of detachment of 

 any of the pupils in the school, by making every boy 

 take up at least one science subject during the whole 

 of his time at school; so that later, when there came to 

 be specialization in the direction of agriculture, on the 

 part of some of the pupils, these did not appear to be 

 detached from the ordinary interests of the school, 

 any more than others who happened to specialize in 

 subjects that are not agricultural. Another matter 

 that was recognized by the Imperial Department of 

 Agriculture at the beginning was that the course of 

 science in these schools should be actually fundamental 

 to agriculture, and the Memorandum mentioned shows 

 that the imjjortance of this principle has been appreci- 

 ated in England, for it states: 'Agriculture has to do 

 with the production of crops and stock, and a course 

 of biology, mainly dealing with plant life, together 

 with such a thorough course of chemistry and physics, 

 as is necessary thereto, constitutes the fundamental 

 science.' 



The employment of the school garden, and of visits 



to e.xperimeet stations and estates where work with 

 a definite agricultural object may be seen in progress, 

 is of special importance in this stage. This is well 

 expressed in the Memorandum, as giving the science 

 instruction an agricultural bias: and it is pointed out 

 that this bias does not in any way depreciate the value 

 of the science instruction to those who do not intend to 

 take up agricultural occupation ultimately; 'on the con- 

 trary, a subject which is brought into touch with environ- 

 ment tends to become real and living, and more easily 

 mastered.' The matter is seen to be important, then, 

 with respect to general education, whether agriculture 

 or other subjects are to receive attention when the pupil 

 leaves school. 



In dealing with the subject with reference to 

 England, the matter is considered further in connexion 

 with farm schools. Institutions of this nature have 

 not been adopted to any extent in the West Indies, 

 except in Jamaica and British Guiana. Their place is 

 taken to a de'^ree by the Cadet System that is in opera- 

 tion at several of the Botanic and Experiment Stations, 

 and by the Courses of Reading instituted on the part of 

 the Imperial Department of Agriculture. In England, 

 experience of the existing farm schools shows that the 

 work should be very practical in character. The time 

 expended on a short course does not allow the teaching 

 of the principles of chemistry, for example, to those who 

 are unfamiliar with this subject: whereas there is no 

 need for this teaching in the case of those who already 

 possess a knowledge. This does not prevent it from 

 being true that the method of education should be 

 thoroughly scientific— that experiment should form the 

 basis for instruction, and that nothing should be taken 

 for granted. It will be evident, in any case, that the 

 proper correlation of the educational work in the sec- 

 ondary schools with that in institutions of a higher 

 order will give such instruction in the elements of use- 

 ful science subjects as is necessary, and will greatly 

 simplif)' the work of the higher course. 



Matters of this kind have not reached such a stage, 

 in the West Indies, that attention can be given in 

 a brief and general way to the subject of the provision 

 of agricultural colleges. Sufficient has been said to 

 show that experience in education, that is of a more 

 directly agricultural nature, in this part of the world, 

 has resembled in many ways that which has been met 

 with in other countries; and that the West Indies have 

 been saved some of the mistakes that might have been 

 made, as well as some of the delay that would be 

 caused while knowledge was being gained in order 

 to rectify those mistakes. 



