■180 AN EDUCATIONAL EXPERIMENT. 



and the instructor pass in supervision, and all are worked in 

 accordance with the instruction given. The point is that the suc- 

 cess or failure rests with the individual. From the plots a good 

 indication may be derived of the character of the pupils. They 

 all put in an hour a day, except at certain seasons, on these plots. 

 In the wet season the ordinary kraal crops, such as mealies and 

 beans, are grown, and in the dry season green vegetables, which 

 have to be watered. Irrigation is not possible. Prizes are given 

 each term for the best worked plots. Immense keenness is shown, 

 and boys often run off at odd times to give a touch to their plots. 

 It is hoped that when they see that from their own efforts greater 

 yields have been got from smaller areas, and those areas by rota- 

 tion and manuring have been in constant cultivation, these boys 

 will have assimilated lessons which will bear fruit when they return 

 to their kraals. I should mention that in all our field work we 

 have the advantage of the advice and assistance of the experts 

 of the Agricultural Department. 



Under the guidance of Mr. Henkei, formerly Forestry Expert 

 in Natal, and now happily in charge of our Forestry Department, 

 we have instituted a course in tree planting. Pupils are informed 

 of the value of afforestation, and are taken through the various 

 stages of planting the seeds, transplanting the seedlings, and taking 

 care of the trees in their growth. Owing to so much of our wood 

 being soft timber, and subject to borers, this course will be of 

 great value to the people in their home requirements. 



It is hoped, as the farm grows, to include systematic instruc- 

 tion in other branches of farming operations. But first we seek 

 to give the Native knowledge and practical experience of what 

 he ought to be able to do in his home, both in improving his house 

 and its surroundings, and in the growing of his food. Though 

 direct vocationalism is not contemplated, but rather an all-round 

 training of a simple and useful nature, it is hoped to fit Natives 

 to perforin the more responsible duties in European employment, 

 so that we may train a supply of drivers, dairy hands, poultry- 

 men, thatchers, gardeners, and the like. I hope and believe that 

 our training, with our discipline, will so stabilise the character, 

 and increase the efficiency, of those that pass through our hands 

 that they will be welcomed by those employers who value good and 

 reliable workmen, and are prepared to give them good treatment 

 and remuneration. 



Side by side with all this industrial activity, which for five 

 days a week occupies seven hoars a day, there is given a sound 

 literary education. The curriculum may not be strictly orthodox 

 in the eyes of the schoolman, but it aims at widening the Native's 

 horizon, informing him of values, building on his natural apti- 

 tudes, and drawing out his capabilities. The educated Native 

 must be of greater value than the uneducated, provided his educa- 

 tion has been on right lines. For the mass the time for literary 

 preoccupation has not yet come. It is well that they should learn 

 that education is not incompatible with work, but rather a help 

 and a preparation for better work. Our pupils have one and a 



