TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN TROPICAL AGRICULTURE 15 



It may be briefly stated that the three grades of the 

 Imperial Department of Agriculture examinations are 

 made to correspond to the three grades in practical 

 planting life. The preliminary examination is arranged 

 to ensure in its successful candidates the amount of know- 

 ledge that may be reasonably expected in a youth leaving 

 a secondary school to undertake the first steps in an 

 agricultural career. The intermediate implies such know- 

 ledge, both in extent and kind, as may be reasonably 

 expected of the young man who has had some practical 

 experience in the more or less subordinate posts of over- 

 seer or " book-keeper," as these employes are technically 

 termed in the West Indies, implying a good all-round 

 knowledge of the routine work of an estate. The final 

 examination is planned on lines calculated to inquire into 

 the knowledge and capacity of a man capable of being 

 entrusted with the management of an estate, who is 

 capable of looking at agricultural questions in a somewhat 

 broad spirit extending beyond the acquaintance with 

 matters of estate routine. A first-class final certificate is 

 intended to indicate a good sound knowledge of estate 

 routine and practice (which would be indicated by the 

 possession of the intermediate certificate), coupled with 

 a wide outlook on agricultural affairs with some ability to 

 deal with the more difficult abstract problems of agricul- 

 tural management, all acquired in connection with prac- 

 tical (wage-earning) experience. 



The Imperial Department of Agriculture system has 

 been independently followed, with some modifications by 

 the local Agricultural Departments of some West Indian 

 Colonies which hold examinations and issue their own 

 certificates. 



The form of education just sketched may suffice for 

 the needs of many who take up agriculture as their life's 

 work. There remains, however, to be considered that 

 higher form of training which may be given in an agricul- 

 tural college. 



It is to be expected that the training to be given in an 

 agricultural college will be of a more academic character 

 than that outlined under the cadet system, but this is not 

 without its dangers, so that it is desirable there should 



