Miscellaneous. 



480 



[November, 1908. 



of the existing distributing contrivances 

 therein are the causes why sufficient 

 quantities of water are not supplied at 

 proper time. 



The Committee are prepared to point 

 out these defects to the authorities. 



Agreed, that a recurrence of similar 

 disaster could to a considerable extent 

 be prevented if orders are laid down 

 fixing the number of inches that the 

 respective sluices should be raised, and 

 fixing the period of time that they 

 should remain so open. 



Resolved, that these proceedings should 

 be translated into English and submitted 

 to Government. 



J. D. Patiratna, 

 Hon. Secretary. 

 Tissamaharama, August 28, 

 —Ceylon ndependent. 



AGRICULTURAL INSTRUCTION IN 



ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. 



The following is the substance of a 

 speech given by Dr. Francis Watts, 

 C.M.G., P.I.C., at a recent meeting held 

 in the Bishop's School-room at Antigna. 

 The speech, which is taken from The 

 Antigua Churchman of April 1908, 

 followed, and was based on a discussion 

 which took place concerning the con- 

 ditions and difficulties of agricultural 

 teaching in the elementary schools of 

 the presidency:— 



At the outset of his speech, Dr. Watts 

 remarked that it appeared to him that 

 a great deal of difficulty arose from 

 too much stress being laid on agricul- 

 ture, and too little upon teaching, What 

 one wanted was to teach general 

 principles which would appeal to and 

 broaden the minds of children, and not 

 merely to draw attention to the drudgery 

 of agricultural operations. One wanted 

 children to be in a position to appreciate 

 the fundamental facts underlying the 

 growth and development of the crops 

 amongst which they worked and on 

 which they lived, and to know some- 

 thing of the soil, the plants, the animals, 

 and other tangible objects by which 

 they were surrounded. 



The garden therefore should become 

 the teacher's laboratory in which he 

 can permit children to elucidate facts 

 for themselves— facts which must have 

 an educational, even more than, an 

 agricultural bearing. In these gardens, 

 children may conduct small experiments, 

 and may acquire useful information 

 about the best kinds of vegetables, 

 food crops, and the like. 



Dealing with the subject of school 

 gardens, and the interest created in 

 the minds of the children by successful 

 crop growing on these plots, Dr. Watts 

 referred to the successful manner in 

 which cotton had been grown as an 

 object-lesson at St, George's school, 

 Nevis. This cotton had been cultivated 

 and reaped in a systematic manner, 

 samples had been exhibited at the 

 Agricultural Show, and had gained a 

 second prize in open competition. This 

 small crop had been baled, shipped to 

 the British Cotton Growers' Association, 

 and the proceeds returned, the enter- 

 prise throughout constituting an object- 

 lesson of the greatest utility. 



The excellent exhibits which had been 

 made at the Antigua Agricultural Show 

 were also mentioned. There were good 

 displays of vegetables which had been 

 well grown, well prepared, and taste- 

 fully arranged. In addition to vege- 

 tables, there were good exhibits of 

 decorative and other plants grown in 

 pots. The preparation and ownership 

 of such things as these must exercise 

 a profound influence on the mind of 

 the scholar. 



Prom the school gardens, it was 

 pointed out, information can be diffused 

 amongst the parents who will thus learn 

 to take an interest in the school work, 

 while at the same time gaining in- 

 directly useful items of knowledge from 

 the lessons taught in the school. As 

 a result some improvement might take 

 place in the gardens of the peasants, 

 and perhaps even the day's work of 

 the labourer might be brightened and 

 stimulated as the outcome of some 

 thought carried home by his child from 

 the school. The objection of parents 

 to children working in school gardens 

 has in most instances disappeared, and, 

 as indicated above, it has actually 

 been found that parents are quite 

 capable of taking a strong interest in 

 the work carried on by their children, 

 once they recognize that there is no 

 attempt to exploit the children's labours 

 either for the benefit of the school or 

 of the teacher, but that the object of 

 the work is the instruction and benefit 

 of the children themselves. A ready 

 means of aiding the removal of this 

 objection lies in the possession, by the 

 children, of the crops which they 

 themselves have grown. 



Where at present this objection is 

 apparent, it may be well for the time to 

 dispense with the garden, and to carry 

 on the work in boxes and pots. 



Dr. Watts said that in his own ex- 

 perience with teachers, whenever he 

 had come in contact with them he had 



