204 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



Agricultural Education in Jamaica. — In an article on this subject Agriciiltunil News 

 describes the attention which has been given to agriculture in the training of teach- 

 ers for the elementary schools as a preliminary to the introduction of agricultural 

 instruction in schools of that grade. Since 1900, 4 courses of lectures for teachers 

 have been held, each lasting about 4 weeks, and including considerable practical work 

 at the Hope (iardens. Nearly 200 of the Jamaica teachers in charge of schools have 

 now attended such courses of instruction. Agriculture also occupies a prominent i)lace 

 in the curriculum of the training colleges, regular instruction being given in that 

 subject during the 2 (jr 3 years that the students are in residence, together with 

 considerable practical work. For a year past opportunities have been given at the 

 government laboratory for young men intending to become planters or farmers to 

 obtain an education in agricultural science as related to tropical agriculture. The 

 course lasts for 2 years, and at its close a diploma may be granted by the board of 

 agriculture. In addition to the above agencies there are 2 traveling instructors 

 wlio give their whole time to lectures and demonstrations among the small settlers, as 

 well as .3 local instructors under the agricultural society. 



School Garden Exhibit. — What was probably the largest exhibit of tliis kind ever 

 held in this country was made at the School of Horticulture at Hartford Septem- 

 ber 18. There were 150 individual exhibits, made by the boys and girls who have 

 been working in the gardens and teachers who have been taking the course in gar- 

 dening this year. The exhibits consisted of a long list of vegetables and several 

 kinds of flowers. Prizes were awarded for the best-kept gardens, the best kept 

 notebooks, and the best exhibit of products grown. An attractive feature of the 

 afternoon was the hoeing contest, participated in by the second and third year 

 pupils. Although the ground was very heavy with recent rains, this contest showed 

 very good results. Flax and hemp, especially the former, were shown in all stages 

 of their development, from the seed to the finished cloth, two flax-spinning wheels 

 and a loom being in operation. The experimental plats of the school showed a 

 great variety of field crops and vegetables, medicinal herbs, nursery stock, flowers, 

 etc., and a series of fertilizer experiments on vegetables. In the evening there was 

 an outdoor exhibition of magic-lantern slides, showing school gardens throughout 

 the United States and in several foreign countries. 



This year the school has had 120 boys and girls from the public schools, 27 from 

 the AVatkinson Farm School, and a class of 22 teachers from the Hartford public 

 schools. The teachers commenced February 14, working every Saturday morning, 

 beginning with greenhouse work and concluding with a garden 10 by .30 ft. for each 

 teacher. Much interest has l)een displayed in the work. 



Meeting of the American Pomological Society. — The twenty-eighth biennial meeting 

 of the American Pomological Society was held in Boston, September 10-12. About 

 200 members were present, and the meeting was an enthusiastic and successful one. 

 The sessions were held in the new Horticultural Hall of the Massachusetts Horticul- 

 tural Society, where there was put on exhibition an extensive display of fruits repre- 

 senting all sections of the United States and Canada. 



In his opening address President C. L. Watrous urged the desirability of experi- 

 ments in cross pollination and the growing of seedling fruits in order that new varie- 

 ties adapted to particular localities might be obtained. He favored a Federal law 

 securing to originators of fruits exclusive right to their productions for a series of 

 years, and also a law to control the shipping of nursery stock between States and 

 foreign countries as a means for the 1)etter control of fungus and insect pests. 



Prof. L. H. Bailey delivered an address on The Attitude of the Schools to Country 

 Life. He pointed out that our present school system originated with the universities, 

 and the ladder of learning was thus let down from above. The agricultural colleges 

 are not filling quite the place it was expected they would. They have developed 

 agricultural literature, established agricultural science, and raised the tone of farm 



