A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OP THE 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. 



Vol. XI. N'o. 278. 



BARBADOS, DECEMBER 21, 1912. 



Prick Id. 



CONTENTS 



Pack. 



Agricultural Education and 

 Hygiene in Grenada 



PAOK. 



Insect Notes : — 



Ticks, Part II 410 



Insecticide, Basic Slag 



as an 410 



Market Reports 416 



Nitrates in Plant Cells, 



Assimilation of 409 



Notes and Comments ... 408 

 Palms for Decorative Pur- 



pi )ses 



415 



Reading Courses and E.\- 



aniinations 401 



Rubber, Possible Source 



of 409 



St. Vincent, Last Cotton 



Crop in 411 



Silk Industry, The Turk- 

 ish 404 



Silkworm 'I'ree for Rockv 



Soils .'. 409 



Sisal Hemp Cultivation, 



Conditions for 403 



Students' Corner 413 



Reading Courses and Examinations in 

 Practical Agriculture. 



HE present conclusion of another set; of 

 Reading Courses and Examinations in 

 Practical Agriculture conducted by this 

 Department makes a suitable opportunity to provide 

 a general statement of the progress that has been 

 made, and at the same time to draw attention to the 

 scope of the work and to review the principles that are 

 followed in carrying it out. This is done all the more 

 readily because it is realized that the present occasion 

 can be employed usefully to point out and illustrate 



the practical nature of this work, particularly as 

 regards thi' method that is followed in conducting the 

 examinations. 



The Reading Courses were commenced in the last 

 quarter of 1908. For the guidance of students, 

 a syllabus of subjects for examination was published* 

 and issued subsequently as a leaflet, and pare of one 

 of the pages of this journal began to be used as 

 a '.Studfnts' Corner , in order to provide a means of 

 regularly bringing forw.ird subjects for the thought and 

 investigation of students by the aid of short articles 

 and sets of questions. In this feature of the courses, 

 the purpose of the articles was to make suggestions 

 that would lead to careful thought rather than merely 

 to present facts that could be learned by students in 

 other ways: and when the time came for the examina- 

 tions to be held in the several stages, the questions 

 were graded carefully in order to indicate the scope of 

 those likely to be set in each stage. The syllabus of 

 the examinations has been revised from time to time, 

 as progre.ss was made with the scheme; and the articles 

 in the Students' Corner have been made to refer to the 

 actual conditions in the different islands, with the aid 

 of notes supplied by the agricultural officers in those 

 islands. The student has also been assisted in a most 

 valuable way by these officers, by their personal advice, 

 and in many cases they have organized meetings where 

 students could discuss agricultural matters with them 

 and with one another. 



For the intermediate stage of the Reading Courses, 

 the student has to be engaged actually in agricultural 

 work, and to pass a Preliminary Examination, or its 

 equivalent, which will satisfy the Commissioner of 

 Agriculture that he is fitted to enter the Intermediate, 



♦K'est Indian BnUcfin, Vol. IX, p. 293. 



