211 



Apprentices from Jamaica. 



1 am somewhat averse from taking apprentices under the existing 

 Apprenticeship Law, but 1 have made an exception in the case of one- 

 Thomas, who has had a good education and has already been working 

 on a tobacco plantation under Cubans for two years. A lad who has 

 been well educated, who has had previous training of this kind, and un- 

 derstands the responsibility of his situation as an Apprentice, is likely to 

 succeed and fit himself to be manager on an estate. 



Other boys who show signs of an intelligent interest in the work, 

 and are capable of re>;>onding to teaching, are encouraged to read books 

 and otherwise fit themselves for good positions. 



Boys from Jamaica High School. 



Three boys from the Jamaica High School come into the garden 

 four mornings a week for actual garden work. Half an hour of this 

 time is given up to attending a demonstration by the Superintendent 

 or the Assistant Superintendent. 



Report by Superintendent on Progress. 



u Practical lessons and demonstrations on agricultural operations 

 have been given in the Gardens at Hope, and regularly attended by the 

 Industrial School boys, several of whom evince a great interest in agri- 

 cultural work. 



"Great pains have been taken to give reasons for each operation 

 and explanations of those reasons ; so that the boy, in being made to 

 understand his work, has his interest awakened, with the result that a 

 love for the work is developed. 



"The chief subjects for lessons and demonstrations have been the 

 cultivation of cocoa, coffee, oranges, grapes, pine-apples and tobacco ; 

 propagation by budding, grafting and cuttings ; the raising of seedlings, 

 and general routine work of nursery and plantation. Care has been 

 taken to work into the lessons as many as possible of the principles of 

 agriculture. 



"The three boys from the High School, Simms, Johnson and 

 Thomas, have worked in the garden for two hours in the mornings of 

 four days a week since 31st January. I have noted their progress from 

 time to time, and have concluded that the experiment has so far been a 

 little disappointing ; for, although particularly quick at learning the 

 theoretical, they are far behind the Industrial School boys in the prac- 

 tical manipulation of plants, the use of tools, etc. They appear to be 

 greatly interested in the lessons and demonstrations which are given 

 daily to a class consisting of the Industrial School boys, the apprentices 

 and themselves, but in comparing the practical work done by the whole 

 class there appears to be in that of the High School boys a lack of 

 regard for a plant as a living thing, somewhat suggestive of the idea 

 that budding and grafting is much the same as carpentering ; no doubt 

 this will in time disappear, but it nevertheless tends to show the neces- 

 sity of an earlier association with plants,earlier teaching in their functions 

 the effects of different phenomena upon them, etc." 



