222 



prune fruit trees and to prepare products for use or for market, such as 

 starches, cocoa, tobacco and other crops grown locally. 



51. The greater portion of this instruction should be given on the field, 

 and should consist largely in so exercising the boys that they may efficiently 

 perform these operations of tilling the soil and of manufacturing crops, much 

 time would thus be devoid to bodily and manual training. Four or five 

 hours a day might be given to work of this kind. Some agricultural instruc- 

 tion of a kind suited to the requirements of this class of pupils might be given 

 in the form of teaching in-doors, and a certain time probably about two hours 

 a day— should be devoted to ordinary school studies, such as arithmetic, read- 

 ing and writing, arranged to meet the requirements of the scholars. 



52. The practical agricultural teaching would be under the direction 

 of the I Xperiment Station Staff, who would be assisted in the supervision 

 and carrying on of the field work by the staff attached to the school itself. 



53. The length of time these boys should be under training might be 

 3ne or two years. 



54. The boys would be lodged and fed at the expense of the Station ; 

 they should clothe themselves, and probably it may be found desirable that 

 they should be required to do this in a uniform manner, from material pro- 

 vided by the school at a moderate cost. They would be required to pay a 

 small sum for their training. 



55. School discipline would have to be maintained and any serious in- 

 fraction of order or discipline should render the pupil liable to removal from 

 the School by the Station Board. 



56. While maintaining the necessary order every care should be taken 

 to avoid any confusion in the public mind between this School and the Indus- 

 trial School. Perhaps no better method of securing this can be found than 

 rendering the admission of a pupil a matter of some formality, and also ren- 

 dering him liable to be removed, if his conduct is not satisfactory. The 

 school buildings should be quite distinct and separated as widely as possible 

 from the Industrial School. 



57. The Elementary Agricultural School might, to some extent, provide 

 for a limited number of respectable boys of the poorer class, the Government 

 bearing the whole cost of their maintenance. This course appears preferable 

 to sending such boys to the Reformatory or Industrial School, as is now the 

 case. 



58. The arrangement and working of such a school will require the exer- 

 cise of considerable thought and judgment, as well as considerable monetary 

 outlay. Taking these facts into consideration, we believe it will be wisest to 

 establish the Experiment Station on a firm basis before attempting to start the 

 Elementary Agricultural School : after the Station has been working satis- 

 factorily for perhaps two years, then steps may be taken for the formation of 

 this school. For these reasons we do not now suggest any financial provision 

 for this part of the scheme. 



59. The affairs of the Station will involve a considerable amount of secre- 

 tarial work, in conducting the necessary correspondence locally and abroad, 

 in the preparation and publication of reports on investigations, the compiling 

 of statistics and generally in maintaining that intimate contact with the agri- 

 cultural public which is so desirable. 



60. In this work the J amaica Agricultural Society may render useful aid 

 if arrangements are made whereby the secretarial work of the Station can be 

 undertaken by the Secretary of the Society and his assistants. Such a course 

 would seem to bring the Society into similar relationship with the Station as is 

 proposed in the case of the Botanical and Chemical Departments, a plan 

 which we think likely to prove beneficial to all concerned. To carry out this 

 another Assistant would probably be required. From what we can gather. 



