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The paper attempts to outline the phases of agricultural 

 education available, or capable of being readily made available, 

 in several British West Indian Colonies. 



Consideration is giveri first to the teaching bearing on 

 agriculture in elementary schools : it is urged that little attempt 

 should be made to give a technical aspect to the teaching, 

 which should consist mainly in making the elementary scholars, 

 who are Largely of the peasant class, familiar with the common 

 objects and events of an agricultural district. Simple opera- 

 tions connected with the growing of plants may be demon- 

 strated and practised, and some of these exercises may take 

 place in a school garden. This affords a sufficiently wide 

 scope without attempting details of technical agriculture, and 

 provides as much as is required by the peasant who is to 

 become an agricultural labourer. 



A certain number of pupils from the elementary schools 

 require to receive further training in agricultural matters in 

 order to fit them for the higher ranks of the labouring class 

 who, in a minor degree, superintend the work of labourers, 

 the so-called drivers or head men of the West Indies. These, 

 who in the organized scheme now in existence are styled 

 Agricultural Pupils, can best receive training at some institu- 

 tion where practical agricultural or horticultural work is 

 carried on for purposes other than teaching. In the British 

 West Indies this is successfully done in connection with the 

 botanic gardens and experiment stations. 



The education offered to the scholars attending the 

 secondary schools, those of the grammar school class, con- 

 sists in a good all-round training in English subjects, 

 elementary mathematics, one classical and one modern lan- 

 guage, coupled with instruction in elementary sciences funda- 

 mental to agriculture, such as chemistry, physics and biology. 

 As in the elementary school), so in the secondary, little can be 

 done in the teaching of technical agriculture. 



A good general training in practical agriculture is given by 

 means of a system of Cadetships to a selected number of 

 scholars who wish to follow agricultural pursuits. The cadet 

 remains attached to the secondary school for purposes of 

 discipline; he also continues to receive instruction there in a 

 limited number of subjects; the remainder of his time is 

 occupied in practical work at the botanic gardens and 'experi- 

 ment stations, where he learns the method's of cultivating the 

 crops of the district, to make and keep records of work and 

 experiments, to supervise labour, to conduct correspondence, 

 and so forth. 



In a few instances posts of minor responsibility at the 

 institution are filled, for a limited time, by cadets who vacate 



