Vol. XVI. No. 398. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



23.3 



The use of the teachers in their spare time was relied 

 on in such matters as taking a census of definite areas, 

 supervisincf the collection of specimens for examination 

 and the distribution of medicines, visiting the homes 

 of the people to induce them to continue the 

 prescribed treatment and endeavouring to spread 

 a knowledge of the sanitary provisions necessary for 

 the prevention of the disease. 



With regaid to object-lessons, the Inspector 

 expresses the opinion that the reintroduction of this 

 subject would serve as an excellent diversion from the 

 monotony of the three Rs which are exclusively taught 

 in the Lower Division Schools and would fulfil 

 the twofold purpose of developing observation and 

 training children to express their thoughts in words, 

 a faculty the lack of which largely retards intelligent 

 and ready handling of most subjects of the curriculum. 



In technical instruction St. George's Anglican 

 School was conspicuous in having adhered to this subject 

 of the syllabus for which no money grant is paid. The 

 development of intelligence attending this mode of 

 instruction amply produces, it is pertinently noted, 

 a more intelligent study and grasp of other subjects. 

 The work submitted consisted of paper modelling. 



Rats and Sparrows. 



A memorandum dated April 7, 1917, has been 

 issued by the Food Production Department of the 

 Board of Agriculture in England calling attention 

 to the great increase of rats and house sparrows 

 in many parts of that country, and to the depreda- 

 tions committed upon crops by these pests. As it is 

 most important that ever}- practicable means of con- 

 serving the national food supply should be adopted, 

 arrangements for the destruction of the pests have 

 been recommended by the Board, as reported in the 

 Journal of the Board of Agriculture of May 1917, as 

 follows: (1) the formation of rat and sparrow clubs; 

 (2) the appointment of a professional rat-catcher at 

 a fixed weekly wage; and (3) the oflFering of rewards 

 to other persons at rates which should not exceed: Is. 

 per dozen rats' tails: 3cZ. per dozen heads of fully fledged 

 house sparrows; 2'/. per dozen of unfledged house 

 sparrows; and Id. per dozen house sparrows' eggs. 



Where rewards are offered, great care must, it is 

 advised, be taken to prevent fraud. Competent 

 persons should be appointed who would be responsible 

 for making the payments and for ensuring that the 

 tails, heads and eggs brought in are destroyed, as soon 

 as the reward has been paid, and are not taken away 

 by the payee or by any other person; and they should 

 be authorized to withhold payment and report any 

 case in which there might be reason to suspect fraud. 



It has been estimated, as stated in I^ature for 

 May 3, 1917, that the annual loss to farmers and others 

 in England, caused by house sparrows, amounts to the 

 incredible figure of £8,000,000, while that caused by 

 rats is about £1.5,000,000. 



Transmissibility of Pellagra. 



Investigations, reported in the E.rperiment 

 Station Record, Vol. 36 Xo.4, as to the transmissibility- 

 of pellagra to the human subject have been continued 

 by the public health authorities in the United States. 

 Material (nasopharyngeal secretions and epidermous- 

 scales from pellagrous skin lesions) from seventeen severe 

 cases of pellagra was administered to the volunteer sub- 

 jects of the experiments (sixteen human) who afterwards 

 continued their customary habits of life and diet. The 

 opinion is expressed that these experiments furnish no 

 support for the view that pellagra is a communicable 

 disease bub materially strengthen the conclusion that it) 

 is a disease essentially of dietary origin, brought about; 

 by faulty, probably deficient diet. 



'Extension Notes'. 



The Hawaii Agricultural Experiment Station 

 is publishing a serits of Experiment Bulletins designed 

 to fill a field not fully occupied by the two series of 

 bulletins which have been maintained by that Station 

 since its organization. The regular bulletins of the 

 Station give the results of the experiments performed 

 by the scientists at the station and many of these are 

 of a very technical nature. The second series, namely, 

 the Press Bulletins, is concerned principally with the 

 writing up, in a popular manner, some line of experi- 

 ments or some one topic upon which the station has 

 concluded investigation and is less technical than tho 

 first series. 



For some time there had been felt a want in the 

 Sandwich Islands for a series of bulletins of even less 

 formal character than the Press Bulletins to afford brief 

 discussions on topics of interest in each issue. The 

 present series, called Extension Notes, will not be 

 confined to reporting the work actually done at 

 the Experiment Station but will contain items of 

 agricultural interest like!}' to be of practical application, 

 to local conditions. The series, it is hoped, will do 

 much towards bringing the extension workers of the 

 department and the actual farmers into closer touch. 

 The difficulties of travelling throughout the islands 

 make it impossible for the agricultural instructors to 

 maintain as close personal contact with the individual 

 planters as is desirable. The series will, therefore, 

 serve to carry messages from the instructors as would 

 be given by word of mouth, were it possible to reach 

 all in that way. By this means the field work ot 

 the department will be supplemented and, in addition, 

 the material gathered together be put into permanent 

 form so that it can be kept by all for future reference. 



Among the articles contained in the first issue of 

 Extension Notes are the following: Sorehead in 

 Chickens; Lessons from the Country Fairs; the Farmer 

 as a Business Man; Co-operation; and a Superior Sweefi 

 Potato. The article on Country Fairs emphasizes the 

 possibility of local development of diversified industries 

 in the islands, especially in the production of food crops 

 for man and forage and feed for live stock, and deals 

 with the difficulties of marketing them promptly and 

 profitably. 



