Agricultural Education. 



244 



[September, 1910. 



PAMPHLETS. 



No. 5 ' General treatment of insect 

 pests,' id. 



No. 7 ' Scale insects of the Lesser 

 Antilles,' Part I, id. 



No. 22 ' Scale insects of the Lesser 

 Antilles,' Fart II, id 



No. 17 ' General treatment of fun- 

 goid pests,' id. 



No. 29 ' Lectures on the Diseases of 

 the Sugar-cane,' id. 



No. 45 'A.B.C. of Cotton Planting,' Qd. 



No. 53 'A.B.C. of Lime Cultivation, 'id. 



No. 54 'Fungus disease of Cacao and 

 Sanitation of* Cacao Orchards.' 

 No. 58 ' Insect Pests of Cacao.' 

 No- 61 ' Grafting of Cacao,' 



Candidates can also obtain very useful 

 information from publications of the 

 Imperial Department of Agriculture 

 other than those specially mentioned in 

 the above list. It is recommended that 

 the Agricultural Neivs, the West Indian 

 Bulletin, together with Reports on local 

 'Experiment Stations and pamphlets, 

 should be regularly consulted. 



WEST INDIAN BULLETIN. 



The Flower-bud Magerot of Cotton, by 

 H. A. Ballon, Vol. IX, p. 1. 



• Scarabee of the Sweet Potato, by H. A. 



Ballou, Vol. X, p. 180. 

 Treatment of Cotton Pests in the West 



Indies, by H. A. Ballou, Vol. IX, p. 235. 

 Root Disease of the Sugar-cane, by F. A. 



Stockdale, Vol. IX, p. 103. 

 Insect Pests affecting Sugar-cane, by H. 



A. Ballou, Vol. VI, p. 37. 

 Fungus Disease of Cotton, by L- Lew- 



ton-Brain, Vol, VI, p. 117. 



AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



' Natural History of Insects.' ' Orders 



of Insects-' 

 'Articles on the Life-History of the 



Fungi.' Vol- VIII, Nos. 190-2. 



BOTANIC AND EXPERIMENT STATION 

 REPORTS. 



THE PROBLEM OF AGRICULTURAL 

 EDUCATION. 



(From the Agricultural Neivs, Vol. IX., 

 No. 206, Barbados, iMarch 19, 1910.) 



II. The Means op Education. 



In the last article on this subject the 

 chief attention was given to the more 

 advanced stage of agricultural educa- 

 tion. In the present one, its elemen- 



tary, or primary, stage will be dealt with 

 more particularly. The importance of 

 this does not only arise from the fact 

 that it is concerned naturally with a 

 larger number of those who are in re- 

 ceipt of education, but from the circum- 

 stance that its methods should indi- 

 cate, generally, the plan according to 

 which the more advanced work should 

 be conducted. This plan is continuous 

 throughout all the stages, and consists, 

 broadly, in the circumstance that the 

 mind should receive training with the 

 aid of the exhibition of facts in a con- 

 crete, rather than an abstract, form. 



It is evident that the pupil leaving 

 the elementary school differs most 

 largely from all others in the fact that 

 he ceases to be the recipient of inform- 

 ation given in an organized manner at 

 an early age. Thus, only a compara- 

 tively short time is at the disposal of 

 his teachers for the purpose of giving 

 him the mental training which will best 

 fit him to fill the position to be occu- 

 pied by him ultimately. The very 

 shortness of this time makes it all the 

 more important that the greatest care 

 shall be exercised iu the matter of edu- 

 cating him according to the most effi- 

 cient methods. This does not mean that 

 any attempt should be made in the 

 direction of equipping him as fully as 

 possible with a knowledge of some 

 technical subject. An endeavour will be 

 made to present the correct interpre- 

 tation by means of the following con- 

 siderations. 



A clear view of the position is given 

 in a statement by one who could speak 

 with authority concerning the profes- 

 sional side of education — the late Bishop 

 Creighton : 'If a boy is going to be 

 educated till eighteen, it does not matter 

 that his knowledge should be in a very 

 confused state at fourteen. But if his 

 education ends at thirteen or fourteen, 

 it is necessary that he should understand 

 then why and what he was taught.' It 

 is to be noticed that, in this statement, 

 importance is not given to the fact of 

 being taught or to the kind of teach- 

 ing, but to that of understanding the 

 matters that the educational system 

 brings forward. The work of the edu- 

 cationalist is to find the best means 

 to bring about this state of under- 

 standing. 



In July of last year a Conference on 

 Rural Education was held in England. 

 At this, teachers and those who have 

 the planning of methods of education 

 in their hands mot together for the pur- 

 pose of finding the way in which the 

 education of pupils in elementary 

 schools, should be brought into line witU 



