ia 
local papers inviting candidates to present themselves at a 
competitive entrance examination, which is held by the Super- 
intendent of Agriculture at the Botanic Garden. The pupils 
are then examined in the elementary subjects of a seventh 
standard public school, whereby some idea of their fitness to 
receive the agricultural course of training is fairly well ascertained. 
The field work performed by the boys is of a light but useful 
nature, consisting of: Pruning lime trees, dressing wounds ; 
mixing and applying insecticides and fungicides ; ; sowing green 
dressing seed; budding limes; applying manures; pollinating 
vanilla flowers ; planting nursery beds; potting cocoa, &c. 
Practical demonstrations on tapping Hevea brasiliensis, and 
preparing rubber are also given. During their course 
instruction in practical agriculture, the pupils are always under 
the supervision of an officer of the Department. 
The subjects of class instruction are :— 
Air and Water. 
Soil and oe 
Manure 
Pests ive Diseases of Plants. 
Agricultural Botany.—Pollination and _ Fertilization, 
Elementary Physiology, pruning, grafting and budding, 
and other means of propagating plants. 
Economic Botany or the cultivation and preparation 
of the principal economic products of the tropics with special 
reference to the West Indies. 
The object of the agricultural training given to pupils is to 
fit them for taking up positions either as overseers or managers 
on planters’ estates. 
Many of the boys are the sons of peasant proprietors, and 
very often after completing the course of instruction at the 
Botanic Garden they return home and help their parents until 
old enough to take up planting on their own account. 
Many such boys who have taken up planting have done 
remarkably well. The successful onion-grower referred to in a 
previous paragraph was at one time an agricultural pupil; to-day 
he is a prosperous planter, and a walk through his estate would 
convince the most sceptical of the benefits to be derived from a 
sound training in agriculture. Unlike many others, this planter 
believes in having more than one string to his bow, for in 
addition to Limes, Cocoa, Sugar, Coffee, Grape fruits, and 
Washington navel oranges; such crops as Maize, Onions, and 
French beans are also grown 
Other Efforts in connection with Agricultural Progress.— 
Since the inception of the Agricultural Department its energies 
have been directed to aiding all sections of the planting 
community. 
