Vol. IV. No. 81. 



THE AGRICULTUKAL NEWS. 



155 



EDUCATIONAL 



Educational Systems in the West Indies. 



There has recently been it^.sued by tlje Board of 

 Education vokime 12 of the ' Special Reports on Educational 

 Subjects, including Hejiorts on tlie Training of Native Races' 

 (Cd. 2377), which deals with the educational systems in the 

 West Indies, Central America, St. Helena, and Gibraltar. 

 The history of education in each colony or pos.session is 

 given, together with a description of the present state of 

 education, and copies of various legislative enactments and 

 .syllabuses of study. It sliould be mentioned tliat the majority 

 of these reports were written some three years ago. So far 

 as agricultural education is concerned, therefore, they scarcely 

 indicate the present position of affairs. It is well recognized 

 that considerable (irogress has been made in this direction in 

 the West Indies since 1902. 



In Trinidad agriculture has been added to the 

 subjects of instruction in the elementary schools, and 

 school gardens are becoming the general rule. In Grenada 

 the Imperial Department of Agriculture for the West Indies 

 has practically taken the burden of agricultural education on 

 its shoulders ; and under its guidance and direction, the 

 necessary steps for cjualifying teachers to teach the subject, 

 for securing proper school plots contiguous to, or in the 

 neighbourhood of, the schools, have been taken, the 

 Department lending its Botanic Station for the work of 

 practical demonstration at all stages of teaching, and offering 

 the services of its Curator. The teaching of agriculture is 

 provided for pupils in the higher standards. The teaching of 

 this subject is rather hampered by the lack of suitable plots. 

 St. Lucia possesses an agricultural school conducted on an 

 abandoned sugar estate. Candidates for admission must be not 

 less than thirteen years of age, of good character, physically 

 sound, and they must have passed the fourth standard. 

 They are lodged, fed, clothed, and educated entirely at the 

 expense of the Imperial Department of Agriculture, and 

 their parents must enter into contract to leave them at the 

 school for a term of years. But while their general educa- 

 tion is amply provided for, the chief aim of the school is to 

 fit them to become practical agriculturists in the full sense 

 of the words, not only by teaching them to handle hoe and 

 ■cutlass, and by putting them to such manual labour as their 

 strength allows, but also by giving them all the necessary 

 instruction in the sciences allied with agriculture. St. Vin- 

 cent possesses a similar school opened in October 1900. 

 There can be but little doubt as to the benefits which the 

 J3olony should derive in the near future as the result of the 

 establishment of such a highly useful institution. 



This volume contains also an appendix written by the 

 Archbishop of the AVest Indies, dealing with ' Education in 

 Jamaica in its relation to skilled handicraft and agricultural 

 work.' The following remarks on native agriculture are of 

 interest : — 



' As regards agriculture, in the days of slavery the black 

 people of Jamaica learnt and practised, under compulsion, 

 what their masters and teachers knew of cane and coffee ancl 

 other cultivation. That knowledge has been handed down 

 to their descendants, and so far as these products are 

 concerned, as well as the growing of what is called bread- 

 kind or ground provisions, (that is, yams, cocos, sweet 

 potatos, and the like) the black people of Jamaica may still 

 T)e considered expert, except in so far as modern scientific 

 knowledge requires to be applied to these cultivations. But as 

 regards the numerous other products that need to be cultivated 

 in the place of the doubtful and failing industries, the black 



people have everything to learn. All that concerns what 

 may ^ be called farming (as distinct from cane and coffee 

 growing) — all the various things involved in the proper 

 production and preparation for the market of the numerous 

 fruits of the island, and the development of minor industrie.s, 

 and all that concerns dairying on modern and profitable 

 methods— all these things require to be learnt from the 

 beginning. The people generally have no reliable knowledge 

 and experience in these things.' 



An account is given of the efforts that have been 

 made, by various agencies, to promote a knowledge of the 

 principles of scientitic agriculture. These include the teach- 

 ing of agriculture in elementary and secondary schools, the 

 establishment of farm schools, the work of the travelling 

 instructor.*, etc. 



ORANGE WINE. 



The following account of the preparation of orange 

 wine is taken from the U. S. Monthly Conmlar 

 Rfip(jrt8 for October 1904 : — 



ilr. Pairault, a pharmacist in the French colonies and 

 the author of a notable work on rum, has made a special 

 study of fermentation, jiarticularly in JIartinique. As 

 a result of this study he has published an interesting work 

 in which, among other things, the rational preparation of 

 orange wine is treated. He says : — 



' In the Antilles, orange wine has been made for some 

 time in the following manner. The oranges are peeled and 

 pressed by hand. To the juice thus obtained sugar is added, 

 and it is subjected immediately, in a vessel made of glass or 

 earthenware, to spontaneous fermentation, which in general 

 takes place easily because the ferment which deterniines it 

 is often found in the oranges themselves. This spontaneous 

 fermentation proceeds slowly because the sugared orange 

 juice is not a very nutritious medium for the yeast, and 

 consequently an acetic acid fermentation sets iu that yields 

 a detestable product. For this reapo)i it is very rare to meet 

 good orange wine. Many times the flavour differs with the 

 different producers. Doubtless nothing is easier than to 

 secure a satisfactory product and a constant type. 



' After the orange juice has been sterilized sufficiently 

 there should be added to every quart of the liquid 

 12'2.5 oz. to 14: oz. avoirdupois (350-100 grammes) of sugar, 

 0-175 oz. avoirdupois (5 c.c.) of brewer's yeast, and 2 oz. 

 of a mixture made of the following proportions : ammonium 

 phosphate, 30 ; calicum phosphate, 40 ; potassium bitartrate, 

 40 ; magnesium sulphate, 3. When the mi.Kture is cooled 

 fermentation proceeds, and in a few days there results an 

 excellent product. A sweet or dry wine may be made by 

 increasing or diminishing the amount of sugar added.' 



APPOINTMENT VACANT. 



The past of Agricultural Instructor under the 

 Imperial Department of Agi'iculture is vacant at 

 Grenada. Candidates should not be more than thirty 

 years of age, active, accustomed to ride, and with good 

 experience in practical agriculture, especially cacao 

 planting. Salary £1.50 per annum, with forage 

 allowance £4-.5, and subsistence allowance at the rate of 

 (J.S. for e.ach twenty-four hours (not exceeding 200 

 nights in the year) absent on duty. Applications to be 

 addressed to : — The Imperial Commissioner of Agri- 

 culture, Head Office, Barbados. 



