TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN TROPICAL AGRICULTURE 53 



perform all classes of agricultural practical work under the 

 supervision of the Curator. Students other than school 

 teachers may attend these classes an advantage, as many 

 eventually become farmers. The lectures cover the 

 following ground, and provided the candidates have a 

 good knowledge of English and are of fair intelligence, 

 good should result in the future. 



CLASS I. JANUARY COURSE. 

 Theoretical Work. 



Atmosphere. Composition : oxygen, nitrogen, and 

 carbonic acid gas, water vapour; properties of each; 

 necessity for the balance being evenly maintained; how 

 this is effected in nature by breathing, transpiration, and 

 decomposition of vegetable and animal matter. Air 

 necessary to life, both animal and vegetable, and necessity 

 for it to reach the roots of plants. Water: its com- 

 position, indispensable to plant growth (containing plant 

 foods in solution). 



Plant Growth, General. Roots, various forms : tap 

 roots, fibrous roots, tuberous roots, adventitious roots, 

 aerial roots, root-hairs. Functions of roots : support, 

 absorption of water and food materials, store up food, 

 etc. Stem's, various forms : upright, woody and herba- 

 ceous, climbing and creeping, underground, and modi- 

 fications. 



Structure of Stems : Epidermis, cortex, vascular 

 bundles, pith or hard wood in centre, and the medullary 

 rays, the difference between stems of monocotyledonous 

 and dicotyledonous plants, e.g., coconuts and cocoa, 

 the method by which woody stems become thicker, the 

 functions of stems with special reference to the cambium 

 and vascular tissue (food and water channels), etc. 



Leaves : Structure, various forms and modifications 

 adopted in nature to suit certain localities; relation to 

 stem through vascular bundles. 



Stomata : Chlorophyll and protoplasm; functions 

 breathing and manufacture of plant food; transpiration. 



Flowers: Structure, sepals, petals, stamens, pistil, 



