27H 



maintained by a person who lives on the spot like the Superintendent 

 of Hope Gardens. 



To carry out the scheme properly and to obtain fair results, there are 

 several conditions necessary, viz., a special teacher of agriculture, in- 

 crease of numbers at rate of from 5 to 10 a year, free admission to 

 school for deserving boys throughout the country, provision for keep- 

 ing boys after they leave the school for 3 or 4 years 



Dealing with these points in order, an agricultural teacher is requi- 

 red. In Great Britain boys are trained in the same way as for the trade 

 of carpentry, they learn the practical part in large gardens or on 

 farms by working with experienced men. 



In the Jamaica Public Gardens, the labourers have had no training 

 as boys, and they come and go as they please so that they cannot gain 

 experience ; the only thoroughly experienced men are the Superinten- 

 dents, and their constant supervision of numberless minute details in 

 the working of the Gardens leaves them no time for actual teaching. 



Agriculture needs a better teacher than carpentry or farriery, for 

 much more is required than mere skill in the use of tools. The teacher 

 should be able to give reasons for the various operations, uniting 

 science with practice. He should be with the boys the whole time they 

 are working. 



At present I have to do the best I can, and the Superintendent at 

 Hope Gardens gives half an hour's teaching daily to all the boys in the 

 school. The boys over 12 years of age work all their time ervey day 

 in the Garden except two hours which are devoted to keeping up their 

 knowledge of reading, writing and arithmetic, while the boys under 

 twelve go on with their elementary school work, and do the necessary 

 work of cleaning, etc., in the buildings and grounds of the school. 

 Mr. Cradwick has thrown himself into his extra work with great energy 

 and ability ; the boys like his teaching and are profiting by it. A 

 warder is provided out of the Hope Gardens funds to supervise them 

 in their mechanical work. 



The school was originally planned for 100 boys, but the buildings 

 have not been completed, and there is only room for about 30, while the 

 average number is 25 to 27. While the number is thus limited, the 

 results will not be as satisfactory, compared with the expenditure, as if 

 there were 100 boys. It might not be well to increase the number by a 

 large amount suddenly, but the gradual addition of one boy a month 

 would not upset existing arrangements. The additions depend at pre- 

 sent upon the Resident Magistrates who send boys who are without 

 visible means of support. In order to keep the school full, I consider 

 that it would be a good thing to offer the advantages of the school even 

 to the sons of those who are able to support them. A certain number 

 of deserving boys might be admitted free and they might be selected 

 from those who pass the Third Grade Pupil Teachers' Examination, for 

 which many boys now enter. There has been a good deal of talk about 

 the desirability of starting industrial or farm schools all over the is- 

 land, but it would be well first to fill the school at Hope, and extend it. 



Provision in the way of barrack accommodation should be made for 

 those boys who leave the school at 16 ye&rs of age, and are kept on at 

 the Gardens. There are many difficulties in the way of actually ap- 

 prenticing these boys, but whether they are apprenticed, or stay as 



