LGiafi 



itliii^-^J 



a FORTNJGHTJ.Y REVIEW 



OF THE 



IMPERWL DEPARTMENT OF MICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. l^^^c. 



Vol. XVI. No. 408. 



BARBADOS, DECEMBER 15, 1917. 



OTANIC' 



P«ICE Id. 



CONTENTS. 



A^jrirultural Colleges for 

 the Tropics 



Agriculture in Barbados 



Cotton Notes: — 



Britsh Cotton Growing 



Assficiation 



Sea Island Cotton Mar- 

 ket 



Cotton Production in 

 California 



Dasheens, Tannias, and 

 Eddoes, I'ses of 



Department News ... 



Departmental Reports ... 



Education, Stimulation of 

 Interest in 



Food Conservation 



Fresh Fruits and Veg- 

 etables as Substitutes 

 for Meat and Bread ... 



Page. 



392 



.'?89 



390 



390 



.•»2 



398 

 39.5 

 397 



385 

 393 



393 



Paoe 



Fruit Trees, Desirable ... 391 

 Gleanings ... ,39ri 



Insect Notes: — 



The Melon Fly in 



Hawaii 394 



Items of Local Interest ... 398 



Maize Products .391 



Market Reports 400 



Nitrogen of The Air, 



Fixation of 393 



Notes and Comments ... 392 



Settlement .Sclieme for 

 East Indians, Proposed 388 



South Africa, Progi-ess- 

 ive Dessication in ... 393 



Weeds in Cane Fields, 

 New Method of Killing 394 



West Indian Products ... 399 



Stimulation of Interest in Education. 



,' N this article it is proposed to deal with the 

 'relationship of local educational systems to 

 'technical training in agriculture, interest in 

 the subject having been roused by the appjintment 

 in St. Lucia of a Commission to enquire into and to 

 report upon educational matters. In two recent 

 articles reference has been made as to how far ques- 

 tions relating to agricultural knowledge and practice 

 can fairly influence the work in primary and secondary 

 schools. In these articles it was pointed out that more 

 or less successful attempts had been made to advance 

 matters from time to time in various West Indian 

 colonies, and some of the difficulties and limitations 

 were pointed out; while it was agreed that much 



remains to be done to put matters on a sound footing, 

 and that the time for systematically considering the 

 whole question is opportune. 



The teaching to be given within the four walls 

 of a school, though presenting difficulties, some of 

 them serious, must proceed along fairly obvious lines, 

 and have as its object the general education of the 

 pupils in the strict academic sense. The requirements 

 of daily life lead at times to a wish on the part of 

 thoughtful people that the teaching in the school 

 might more adequately fit the pupils for their duties 

 in after life, and that at school they might learn some- 

 thing of the manner of carrying out the duties by 

 which they may have later to earn their living. 

 Hence we see attempts to introduce matters of com- 

 mercial concern into the higher classes of some of the 

 schools, shorthand, typewriting, and commercial 

 conespendence being in some cases taught as school 

 subjects. Some of these matters present little diffi- 

 culty, and lend themselves fairlj- well to treatment as 

 educational subjects in secondary schools. 



This has led to the idea that the science subjects 

 taughti in the schools might be so developed as to give 

 the pupils an insight into the working of land and the 

 production of crops. It has been pointed out thai the 

 secondary schools cannot properly carry out these 

 duties, and that it will be detrimental alike to the 

 school and to the pupil to attempt to make 

 technical agricultural training the subject of school 

 work. It is admitted, however, that there is urgent 

 need of this technical training in agriculture, thati 

 the youths of these colonies are sadly handicapped for 

 lack of it, and that the progress of the colonies them- 

 selves is materially retarded thereby. 



