September, 1910.] 



241 



Agricultural Education. 



Persons who wish to take the exami- 

 nations must be registered as students 

 in the Reading Courses outlined by the 

 Imperial Department of Agriculture, and 

 the examinations must be taken in the 

 order named. 



Registration in the Reading Courses 

 and the payment of the fee entitle stu- 

 dents to certain publications of the 

 Imperial Department of Agriculture, 

 which are recommended for reading ; 

 students are also entitled to sit for the 

 examinations, provided they give notice 

 of their intention to do so in the manner 

 required. Notices will be sent out to all 

 the students in the Reading Courses 

 prior to each examination, with forms 

 to be filled in, signed and returned, on 

 which students may signify their in- 

 tention to sit for certain examinations. 



For all information required in regard 

 to Reading Courses and Examinations, 

 application should be made to the Senior 

 Officer of the local Department of Agri- 

 culture in each island. 



Candidates who are successful in pass- 

 ing the prescribed examinations will be 

 awarded certificates by the Imperial 

 Commissioner of Agriculture. It is 

 intended that the possession of the three 

 certificates, Preliminary, Intermediate 

 and Final, or in the special circum- 

 stances cited above, of the Intermediate 

 and Final, shall be a guarantee of a sound 

 general knowledge of the fundamental 

 principles underlying the practice of 

 Agriculture, and also cf a practical 

 knowledge of at least two crops, and 

 their products, such as Sugar, Cacao, 

 Cotton, Limes, Rice and Bananas. Pro- 

 vision Crops, including Sweet Potatoes, 

 Yams, Corn, Eddos, and the like, may be 

 allowed by arrangement to take the 

 place in these examinations of one of the 

 principal crops in those districts where 

 only one principal crop is usually grown. 



SYLLABUS. 



Reading Courses Preparatory to the 

 Preliminary Examination. 



An elementary knowledge of the follow- 

 ing subjects and topics will be expected 

 from candidates in the Preliminary 

 Examination : — 



The atmosphere and the gases com- 

 posing it. Water and its properties. 

 The chemical and physical properties of 

 sand, clay, chalk and humus. The 

 classification of soils. The functions of 

 plant food and water. Drainage of soil. 

 The construction and use of one form of 

 plough, of subsoiler, and of cultivator. 

 Tillage and its effects. The preparation 

 and properties and chief constituents of 

 31 



farmyard manure. The properties and 

 uses of the common artificial manures 

 and of lime. Green dressings and organic 

 manures, Micro-organisms in soil and in 

 relation to leguminous plants. 



Seeds : their structure and germin- 

 ation. The naked-eye structure, and the 

 outlines of the microscopic structure of 

 the root, stem, leaf, flower and fruit of 

 a plant. 



Assimilation, transpiration, and respi- 

 ration in plants. 



Plant food. The absorption and move- 

 ment of water in plants. 



The propagation of plants by cuttings, 

 by grafting and by budding. Pollination 

 and fertilization. Structure and Func- 

 tions of Farm Animals. 



The following references indicate the 

 reading which will furnish the required 

 information in regard to the foregoing 

 points. 



Fream's Elements of Agriculture, pp. 1- 

 110 and 334-86. 



Duggar's Agriculture for Southern 

 Schools. 



Cousins, Chemistry of the Garden, 



Nature Teaching. (I.D.A.; 



Lectures to Sugar Planters, lectures 

 1-4. (I.D.A.) 



Reading Courses Preparatory to 

 the Intermediate Examination. 



A more thorough knowledge of the 

 general subjects given under the pre- 

 vious heading will be required in the 

 Intermediate Examination and, in addi- 

 tion, the candidate must be familiar 

 with fungoid diseases and insect pests 

 of agricultural crops. 



The general characters of fungi. Fun- 

 goid diseases on plants. General treat- 

 ment of fungoid disease. 



General life-history of insects. The 

 principal orders of insects. The relation 

 of insects to plants. The general treat- 

 ment of insect pests. 



Fream's Elements of Agriculture, pp. 

 312-33. 



Fletcher's Soils. 



Lectures to Sugar Planters- (I.D.A.) 



Pamphlets. 

 No. 5 ' General Treatment of Insect 

 Pests.' 



No; 7 'Scale Insects of the Lesser 

 Antilles,' Part I. 



No. 22 'Scale Insects of the Lesser 

 Antilles,' Part II. 



No. 17 ' General treatment of Fungoid 

 Pests,' 



