40:; 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



Decem 



KR 29, 



■can 



be trained in work that has real association with tropical agriculture, men who can ^|)rk with their 



1917. 



supervise the 



the local agricultural industries: and they may be hands, or, in subordinate capacities 

 trained to acquire a fair perception of the needs of work of others. 



The planning of this phase of woi requires partic- 



these industries. Their training may consist chiefly in 

 • carrying out routine operations, and in learning to 

 perform these intelligently and dexterously. In order 

 to minimize the danger of these pupils drifting down 

 and being regarded merely as labourers, as well as to 

 increase their usefulness, it is necessary that they 

 receive a certain amount of theoretical instruction, 

 in addition to their acquiring manual de.xterity in 

 agricultural operations. This may be accomplished 

 by giving an hour's class instruction daily, or perhaps 

 preferably, by devoting one day a week to this form 

 of instruction. The instruction so given should be 

 calculated to afford an insight into the reasons under- 

 lying the operations of a practical character in which 

 they are engaged. 



•It is desirable that pupils of this class .should 

 receive a small monetary payment by way of subsis- 

 tence allowance; the amount must be regulated by 

 local conditions: it should increase progressively, say, 

 half-yearly, and the acquirement of the increment 

 should be contingent on diligent work and good 

 behaviour. 



'It is undesirable that these pupils should be 

 boarded and fed at the institution where they are 

 trained. They and their parents or guardians shotild 

 make arrangements for their living under conditions 

 having the approval of the authorities responsible 

 for their training. These conditions will much more 

 closely approximate to those in which the pupils 

 find themselves in taking up wage- earning work: 

 while the acquiring of ability to look after their own 

 affairs in the matter of food and clothing is training 

 of considerable value, which is lost if the pupils are 

 boarded and fed by the educational authority. Further, 

 valuable training is acquired in that the pupils gain 

 a knowledge of the manner of governing their conduct 

 out of working hours; they find how to obtain 

 reasonable recreation, and they acquire a sense of 

 individual responsibility beyond what can be obtained 

 under a system of boarding together with its 

 consequent rules and regulations. (_)n leaving the 

 institution where they have been trained in order 

 to take up wage-earning employment, the change in 

 the manner of living is less violent, and the individ- 

 ual has useful experience to guide him. 



'Such a course of training should suffice to 

 roduce the higher grades of labourers and the 



ular care. There is too frequently preseit in the minds of 

 those responsible for it, that the purpse will be served 

 by teaching the rudiments of botajy, chemistry, ^d 

 other sciences having a bearing on Agriculture. This 

 idea is wrong and misleading, and las probably been 

 responsible for much disappointmat on the part of 

 those who have been desirous of adancing the educa- 

 tional welfare of pupils of the class pier consideration. 

 In respect to this class of pupils, agiculture and horti- 

 culture require to be regarded as arts — things to be 

 done. The rules and the reasons foi the operations will 

 be furnished by those who are direbing the operations, 

 rather than by the subordinate v)rk-people engaged 

 in carrying them out. There 

 for useful teaching, as anyone 

 tical experience in field or g 

 .Just what lines of instruction 

 must be determined by the natu:; of the occupations 

 of the district in which the schpl is situated. The 

 work of the Experiment Stations 

 is determined mainly by the agt 

 the districts in which they are si 

 an ideal means of giving instruc^on in work directly 

 related thereto. 



s abundant scope 

 ho has had prac- 

 •den well knows, 

 hould be followed 



nd Botanic Gardens 



niltural interests of 

 lated, thus affording 



It would seem a comparati 

 devise a series of scholarships fi 

 schools, to enable a limited nui 

 some, if not all, of the schools t 

 on the lines indicated, at the 

 Experiment Station of each colon 



ly easy matter to 



rn the elementary 



ber of pupils from 



receive instruction 



Botanic Garden or 



pr 



types of head men who find so large a place 



m 



In countries where the cultiition of sugar-cane 

 is the principal industry, there lay be some difti- 

 cuity of finding the means ofUntroducing these 

 trained workers into the generl economy of the 

 estate, except through the rankJof the labourers. 

 A great incentive to acquiring tfe training will be 

 given, if some better method can n thought out. bub 

 there is little doubt that work* so trained wdl 

 i|uickly show their worth, and wl be advanced to 

 positions of minor responsibility: Ihoy should form 

 a body whom the managers of cstatls will be glad to 

 have and to recognize. It is mordthaii likel}' that 

 the introduction of motors for plouliuig, cultivating, 

 and other operations of the plaiAtioii, will afford 

 openings for youths who have raeived the better 

 training. At the same time their irviecs should be 

 welcomed to fill the ranks of t\j more skilled 



