Vol. V. No. 99. 



THE AGEICULTURAL NEWS. 



37 



EDUCATIONAL 



Agricultural Scholarships. 



The Agricultural Scholarships for the Windward 

 and Leeward Islands, of the annual value of £75, 

 offered by the Imperial Department of Agriculture, 

 and tenable at Harrison College, Barbados, have been 

 awarded as follows : — 



The Winchvard Idanch Scltolarshij:) to C. A. 0. 

 Phillips, Grenada. 



The Leeward Islaiuh Scholarship to Norman 

 Leacock Yearwood, Antigua. 



Both scholars are e.\pected to arrive by the next 

 mail steamers, and to take up their studies at Harrison 

 College during the pi-esent term. 



various islands in the West Indies. Perhaps, a few short 

 essays on the different islands, and the drawing of a few 

 maps, would benefit the pupils, because they would 

 afterwards be in a better position to draw coni]>arisons 

 between the islands. 



St. Vincent Agricultural School. 



The following is the report of the examiner 

 (Mr. F. A. Stockdale, B.A.), on the recent half- 

 yearly examination, of the Agricultui'al School in 

 St. Vincent : — 



Two boys took the paper set for the senior class and 

 both sent in satisfactory answers. Wright is decidely good 

 throughout, and has again improved, obtaining over 78 per 

 cent, of the total marks. His essay on the cultivation of 

 Sea Island cotton is indeed a credit. Not only is the 

 English good, but it clearly shows that all the points in the 

 cultivation of this crop are clearly understood. The method 

 of picking and sorting is e.xhaustively treated, and a good 

 knowledge of the pests and their treatment is shown. The 

 other senior — Harry — owing to weak papers in agriculture 

 and dictation, has obtained only about G2 per cent, of the 

 total marks. 



Of the twenty-two juniors, only si.x have obtained over 

 .50 per cent, of the total marks. Eight of these have been 

 admitted since the last examination, but do not seem to have 

 made much progress with the science subjects. 



McConnie, who has been in the school only about 

 a year, is at the head of the juniors with 70 per cent, of the 

 total marks. If it be thought that he has had sufficient 

 grounding in the elementary i)arts of the subjects which he 

 presented for examination, he might be promoted to the .senior 

 class. Of the juniors t]int sat for the e.xamination last June, 

 T. Liverpool, Issac, and Melville occujiy the lowest positions. 

 Melville is particularly weak throughout, having obtained 

 only 28 per cent, of the total marks. 



Of the more important papers, the arithmetic is the 

 best, the answers of several pupils being worked out very 

 clearly and neatly with accurate results. The agriculture 

 and botany are fair, but the chemistry and geography are 

 particularly weak. In chemistry, not a single boy obtained 

 over half marks ; the question dealing with Bordeaux 

 mixture was attempted only by three boys, who clearly 

 showed that they knew very little of this fungicide. As the 

 syllabus included only a very small amount of this subject, 

 it would have been expected that more would be known 

 about those parts that have been treated. I should strongly 

 recommend that during the next half-year, much more 

 attention be paid to this subject, and that the preparation of 

 the more important fungicides and insecticides should be 

 performed. They should be used practically in the gardens, 

 and their actions explained. 



Jlore attention should be paid to geography, as the 

 boys have but little idea of the relative positions of the 



LOCKED-STILL EXPERIMENT IN JAMAICA. 



The following is a report by Mr. H. H. Cousins, 

 M.A., F.C.S., Government Agricultural and Analytical 

 Chemist, Jamaica, on the results of the installation of 

 a locked still at Denbigh estate : — • 



I am novi- able to report that the locked still at Denbigh 

 Las been efficiently installed, that it is a complete success as 

 a mechanical advantage for handling rum, and that it is now 

 agreed by practical men who have inspected it that the 

 ' Colder ' attachment to prevent robbery of high wines from 

 the retorts is an efficient safeguard, and the installation may 

 now be regarded as complete. 



The completed installation has cost the board 

 £378 lis. 1(/. It should be noted, however, that the spirit 

 safe itself cost only £27, and the main bulk of the expendi- 

 ture has been spent on structural alterations of decided 

 benefit to the estate. The objection that the .sugar industry 

 fund has been squandered on a revenue matter is therefore 

 quite groundless, and I submit that the considerable benefit 

 to the estate is a legitimate charge falling on the £1,000 

 especially allocated for 'alterations and new plant for estates' 

 distilleries ' on the sugar estimates. 



Whereas, before, the rum used to issue from the worm 

 end quite hot, the new 'Colder' cooling arrangement secured 

 a distillate that was never over 8P to 82° F. The can-pit 

 man, who carried the spirit, has been rendered unnecessary ; 

 and the distiller is no longer tied down to the can-pit to see 

 that the rum is not stolen. The distiller can now leave the 

 safe for one or two hours and attend to other business while 

 the distillate is flowing automatically into a locked receiver. 



I am informed that the records of the local police court 

 show that, in past years, Denbigh was a bad centre for rum 

 stealing, and that the police used to capture twelve to four- 

 teen cases each season which were traced to this estate. 

 During the past crop season not a single case of rum stealing 

 has been reported by the police from Denbigh. I would 

 suggest that the Resident Magistrate and the police be con- 

 .sulted to confirm this statement. 



Mr. Muirhead informed me that all the rum stealers- 

 had left his estate and were reaping an easy and plentiful 

 harvest in the distillery of ' Parnassus,' the next estate. In 

 previous years, quite a large proportion of the time of the 

 head book-keeper was occupied in attending court and 

 assisting in prosecutions for rum stealing. The advantages- 

 to the estate are apparently as follows : — 



(1) saving of one man's wages during crop ; 



(2) relieving the distiller from constant attendance at 



the worm end while the still is running and 

 enabling him to do other work in the intervals of 

 his control of the spirit safe ; 



(3) reduction of previous loss from imperfect cooling 



of rum ; 



(4) prevention of all pilfering and removal of a constant 



source of anxiety and demoralization in the 

 distillery. 

 I submit that this has been a valuable experiment both 

 to the planters and to the Government, and that we now have 

 a concrete basis upon which the general bearings of the 

 policy of locked stills can be considered so as fairly to equate 

 the interests of the revenue and of the planters. 



