and Mgazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society. 



85 



SCHOOL-GARDENS. 



are a great feature in the West Indies. We 

 read : — At Jamaica in 1900, only six schools 

 received special grants amounting to £32. In 

 1906, the number of schools had increased to 92, 

 and the special grants to £227 at .British Guiana, 

 three Government school gardens had been 

 established at Georgetown. In addition, it was 

 reported that the managers and teachers of over 

 50 schools had started small gardens in the 

 country districts. These latter are stated to be 

 earning about 80 per cent of the small grant 

 offered under the Code Regulations. In Irinidad 

 during last year, 203 schools were examined in 

 practical agriculture. At Barbados, 41 boys' 

 schools and three girls' schools presented chil- 

 dren at the annual examinations in object-les- 

 sons. About one-third of these had school 

 gardens or showed plants under cultivation in 

 pots or boxes. It is stated that the school 

 gardens are decidedly better managed than 

 before and the number has increased to 21. The 

 school exhibits at the Feasant Exhibitions 

 reached a higher standard. At Montserrat, five 

 school gardens have been started, and it is re- 

 ported that very good results have been ob- 

 tained in the cultivation of various kinds of 

 vegetables. In 1907 a new and enlarged edition 

 of L Hints for School Garden ' was published. 

 As showing the considerable growth of interest 

 that was taken in starting school gardens, this 

 edition was exhausted within a few months, and 

 now a revised edition(PamphletNo. 52*), contain- 

 ing 55 pages and a plan, is placed within the 

 reach of all who are interested in the subject. 

 Pupils should be put through a good course of 

 box and pot culture, and should thoroughly 

 master the principles underlying it before they 

 are allowed to proceed to the cultivation of 

 plants in plots. With regard to garden plots, 

 lull particulars are given as to selecting the site, 

 preparing the ground, planting hedges, laying 

 out plots, and the successive operations neces- 

 sary to establish a well-equipped and succesful 

 school garden. The latter part of the pamphlet 

 is taken up in affording special instruction in 

 regard to 26 of the principle vegetablo crops 

 grown in the West Indies. The concluding 

 pages contain simple and useful hints in regard 

 to the various processes of budding, grafting and 

 training garden plants. 



THE EXPERIMENTAL SILK FARM AT 

 PERADENIYA JUNCTION. 



after a fair trial of two years, has been 

 temporarily closed, it being found that the re- 

 sults did not justify the cost of its upkeep 

 under existing conditions. The establishment 

 was principally designed for the culture of the 

 castor oil-feeding " Eri Worm " (Attacus ricini); 

 but the land proved to be unsuited to the 

 successful cultivation of the castor oil plant, 

 which, though a common woed, flourishes only 



£ * 'Hints for School Gardens,' Pamphlet Series 

 No, 52, Price 4d. Free by post, 5d. On sale 

 by all agents of the Imperial Department of 

 Agriculture, 



in rich soil. The mulberry plants, which were 

 put in at the same time, have established them- 

 selves well, and in another year or two should 

 show sufficient growth to warrant there-opening 

 of the farm for the culture of the more valuable 

 mulberry-feeding worm (Bombi/x mori). It is 

 evident, however, that a small establishment 

 of this kind cannot bo run at a profit handi- 

 capped by the salary of a European manager. 

 With a few notable exceptions, the apathy shown 

 by the natives of the country, for whose benefit 

 the experiment was started, has been most 

 discouraging. Large quantities of silkworm seed 

 have been distributed, and the Agricultural 

 Society has guaranteed the purchase of the 

 produce at a price which has since proved to 

 be above the market value, with comparatively 

 littlo result. This is the more regrettable, as 

 a few individuals have shown praiseworthy 

 enterprise in the preparation and manufacture 

 of thread and woven cloth from locally pro- 

 duced cocoons. Some samples of hand-woven 

 silk cloth that have been submitted to me com- 

 pare very favourably with similar material im- 

 ported from India. Credit for progress in this 

 branch of the industry is entirely due to the 

 intelligent enthusiasm of some of the vernacular 

 schoolmasters, encouraged by the Department 

 of School Gardens. — E. Ernest Gkeen, — Ad- 

 minstration Report for 1907. 



THE CAMPHOR TRADE. 



New Development in South China. 



Travellers and missionaries have long known 

 heat there are many groves of camphor trees on 

 tho North River and especially throughout the 

 Kuk Kong Hsein. As they are needed for mak- 

 ing furniture, and boxes, these trees have in 

 the past been felled and sawn up into planks, 

 though apparently the trade has not been very 

 extensive when the number of the trees and 

 their age is considered. Some of these groves 

 contain many trees of huge growth, anct they 

 must have been there for centuries. One small 

 town is called 



CAMl'HOR TREE TOWN. 



It appears that the Board of Agriculture has 

 been roused to see that there are considerable 

 possibilities in the situation, and there is amove 

 on foot to endeavour to start a trade in camphor 

 that shall be useful to the people themselves, 

 by giving them employment, and also for the 

 purposes of external trade generally. As usual, 

 of course, there have been the general official 

 ratifications issued, and the 



MANDARINS ARK TO HAVE A HOLD ON THE 

 MONOPOLY 



of the trade. Already efficient persona 

 have been sent up to examine into the 

 possibilities and they have reported favour- 

 ably. Moreover, an agent has been sent 

 to the Fukien Province to secure the services 

 of a hundred workmen who are familiar with the 

 way in which camphor is prepared. One of the 

 plans before the Board is to lay down plant in 

 order to prepare the camphor for the market 

 on the spot, 



