Vol. IV. No. 82. 



THE AGEICULTUKAL NEWS. 



1G7 



EDUCATIONAL 



St. Vincent Agricultural School. 



The following is an extract taken from the Ann ual 

 Report on St. Vincent for the year 1903-4 : — 



An agricultural school was established under the 

 auspices of the Imperial Department of Agriculture with 

 imperial money in 1900. 



There was an average of twenty pupils during 1903-4. 



The institution is progressing satisfactorily and several 

 of the lads trained there have recently, after completion of 

 their course, found employment in useful agricultural work 

 in iSt. Vincent and other adjacent colonies. 



The total cost of the school's upkeep during the year 

 was £C.5.5, of which £201 were spent on special work, such 

 as a thorough painting of the entire building and out-houses 

 to preserve the wood-work, and the installation of drains and 

 gutters. 



A beginning was made in the laying out and preparation 

 of plots adjacent to the piincipal primarj- school buildings 

 in the island as school gardens, to afford an opportunity to 

 the young generation to acquire some knowledge of the 

 rudiments of skilled agriculture. 



School Gardens. 



The following article on 'Garden schools in foreign 

 lauds' is clipped from the Daily Mail of October 

 IS, 1904 :— 



If foreign nations are taking the lead of us in agri- 

 culture now, what will be the state of afi'airs in a generation 

 or two I For many of them are teaching their children the 

 science and practice of agriculture with the same care that 

 they teach writing and arithmetic. 



Sweden has had 'school gardens' for many years past, 

 and their number now amounts to several thousand. Belgium, 

 Switzerland, Austria, Germany, and France have all taken up 

 the idea. Wherever it has been carried out the results are 

 recognized as being most valuable, and people wonder that 

 they did not think of it before. 



It has been found that the children take up this study 

 with great interest and with such success that they turn every 

 little bit of ground at home to account and provide the 

 family with vegetables. Taught the latest and best systems 

 of agriculture, they develop into really intelligent agri- 

 culturists, and are ready, which we are not, to discard old 

 and wasteful methods for the newest and best. 



As an example of what is being done in this way, take 

 the case of Belgium. Here, in the country districts, many 

 schools have plots of ground varying in extent from an acre 

 upward, where a thorough grounding in agricultural science 

 is given. The younger children are taught the use of the 

 spade, hoe, rake, trowel, and watering pot, together with such 

 knowledge as suits their young minds regarding peas, beans, 

 cabbages, potatos, apples, pears, plums, strawberries, cherries, 

 carrots, onions, parsely, and tobacco. This is easy and 

 pleasant work compared with the sums, writing, and reading 

 of the indoor school. Such young children, five years old 

 and upwards, are also familiarized with the habits of a few of 

 the commoner animals, the swallow, titmouse, sparrow, lark, 

 finch, mole, hedgehog, caterpillar, butterfly, and May bug. 



For older pupils the field is very extensive. They learn 

 about the germination of seeds, the anatomy of plants, with 

 the uses of their various parts — stem, roots, leaves, buds. 



flowers, and fruit. They are shown how to plant slips, to plant 

 flowers in pots, to graft, and to transplant. They are taught 

 to lay out a small nurser}-, to prepare the ground, to sow 

 seeds, and to care for the plants during their growth. The 

 very important subject of fertilizers is fully explained, as 

 well as the dangers from insects and the remedies. Then 

 they learn how to gather seeds and how to keep them, and 

 how to recognize poisonous plants. Gradually the whole 

 science is unfolded. The pupils are taught the advantages 

 and disadvantages of the various kinds of soils ; how to use 

 manure, and its virtues as compared with the various 

 fertilizers; how to choose seeds, and the various methods of 

 sowing them by hand, with tools, etc. As the plants grow 

 they are practised in weeding, thinning, hoeing, hilling, etc., 

 and the effects of the various operations are explained. 

 Ploughing, harrowing, and rolling ; harvesting hay, grain, 

 turnips, potatos, carrots ; preserving the harvest in stacks, 

 barns, and pits, are operations for the advanced student. At 

 the same time he is made accpiainted with the best knowledge 

 concerning animals. The pupil learns all about drainage 

 and irrigation, as well as meteorological phenomena — rain, 

 mist, dew, ice, wind — from an agricultural point of view. 

 Obviously, a boy who goes through a complete scientific 

 training of this kind must make a better agriculturist than 

 if he got his knowledge in the haphazard way of our own 

 country. And this fact is proved by the great success of the 

 Scandinavian farmer in America. 



Girls, as well as boys, go through systematic training 

 in the garden schools of foreign countries. They learn the 

 qualities of a good laying hen, how to care for their fowls, 

 how to treat milk, to skim it, churn it, and to make cheese, 

 and also the use of the various instruments for testing the 

 density of milk, the amount of its acidity, and the quantity 

 of cream. 



WEST INDIAN FISHERIES. 



The following are extracts from official reports 

 for 1903-4 relating to the subject of fisheries in the 

 West Indies : — ■ 



ST. VINCENT. 



A whale fisherj' is carried on in the St. Vincent Grena- 

 dines, notably Bequia and Canouan, and is a very material 

 benefit to the inhabitants of those islands, whose condition 

 compares favourably with that of the labourers of St. Vincent 

 itself. The value of whale oil exported was £1,1.50 as 

 against £1,107 in 1902. 



LEEWAKD ISLANDS. 



There is no organized fishing indu.stry in the colony, but 

 an ettbrt in this direction is being made by the government. 

 Fish are caught for local consumption only, not for exjjort, 

 except in the Virgin Islands, whence fish are exported in 

 considerable quantities to the neighbouring Danish island of 

 St. Thomas. 



The principal fish caught are the king-fish, barracouta, 

 margate, mullet, snapper, cavally, lobsters, etc. Turtle are 

 largely exported. 



