A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THE 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. 



LIBI 

 NEW 



QAH 



Vol. X. No. 240. 



BARBADOS, JULY 8, 1911. 



Pkicb Id. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



AgriculUirul ConfLTt'iice, 

 l'.»12 



Agricultural Educatii m . 

 Methods of 



Agricultural I'roduetiun in 

 Ug.aiul!i, 1909-10 ... 



Agriculture, Advertisement 

 in 



Cacao, Relation Between 

 Weight <if Seeds and 

 Tods 



Canadian National Exlii- 

 biti.m. 1911 



Cotton Notes : — 

 The British Cotton 

 Growing Association 

 and the Government 



Grant 



Tlie Present Cotton- 

 Growing Season 

 West Indian Cotton ... 



Depiirtuient News 



Dominica, Agricultural 

 Matters in 



East Africa, (irajie Fruit 

 from 



Fungus Notes : — 



Miscellaneous Points of 

 Interest 



Gleanint! 



conditions in tiie West Indies. This is true all the 

 more because the Memorandum give.s attention to 

 eveiy side of rural education, as it exists in England at 

 the present time, thus making the treatment of the 



Page. 

 ... 220 



216 

 209 

 215 

 223 



I 



212 

 221 



215 



214 

 2U 



210 



21.3 

 212 



.. 222 



Impel ial Deiiartnient of 

 Agriculture, I'uVilica- 

 tions of 216 



Insect Notes : — 



Entoniolipgy in Southern 



Nigeria 218 



Tne I!. lot Borer of the 



Sugar-Cane 218 



Land Settlement Scheme 



inGrenada 217 



Manchuiian Soy Bean 



Trade, and Plague ... 213 



Market Repcjrts 224 



Navel-Ill or .loiut-Ill ... 210 

 Nitrogen Compounds in 



the Soil, Changes in 217 

 Notes and Comments ... 216 



St. Kitts, Recent Rainfall 



in 217 



St. Lucia and the Corona- 

 tion Exhibition 217 



Students' Corner 221 



Sugar Industry : — 



Molasses as Food for 

 Stock 211 



Methods of Aaricultural 



Education. 



?HE subject of agricultural education has 

 received useful attention and enlightenment 

 in the recent issue, by the Bo.ard of Educa- 

 tion, England, of a Memorandum on the Principles and 

 Methods of Rural Education. Many of the ideas and 

 fjicts \frhich receive expression in this are worthy of 

 attention here, for they apply, in a oroad manner, to 



subject very comprehensive. 



In relation to rural schools, experience in England 

 is directly reflected by that in the West Indies, in the 

 circumstance that the agricultural and other teaching 

 of a practical nnturo has been evolved from small begin- 

 nings — often under circumstances where the knowledge 

 of the teacher himself has had to be acquired along with 

 that of his pupils, until, with the aid of proper advice, 

 he has been able to formulate a definite scheme to 

 be employed in his school. As is stated in the Memo- 

 randum, the necessary matters for such a beginning 

 and development are, firstly, a real interest in the 

 affairs of the surrounding district, and, secondly, 'willing- 

 ness and suffijient courage to try expei'iments and to 

 learn from others.' This keenness on the part of 

 a teacher gives a vital interest to his work, and makes 

 it a matter of living concern to his pupils. 



The main principle for adoption is that the teach- 

 incf should have connexion with the life of the child 

 and his daily experience. This principle can be carried 

 out in most, if not all, of the different subjects taught 

 in the school. Thus in English, descriptions will be 

 included of surrounding incidents and circumstances, 

 and of observations and work in nature study e.xperi- 

 ments with plants in pots and boxes and in the 

 school garden. The school garden, too, will serve 

 as a prolific source of arithmetical examples v. ith 

 which the interest of the pupil will be actively and 

 personally concerned. Geography will no longer be 

 a mere matter of book learning, with examples drawn 

 from foreign countries which the pupil will never see, 



