June 1, 1900.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
803 
Mr. Mackay, the Superintencient of Education for 
the province, made the following report in 1897:— 
" The Provincial School of Agriculture at Truio, 
established in 1885, has now two instructors, in addi- 
tion to the manager of the farm. The attendance 
in 1896 was 81 for full and special courses, besides 
the 14L students taking the Normal school special 
courses. The school has conveniences for the practical 
study of agriculture .and horticulture and dairying. 
The school building proper is fitted up with qualitative 
and quantitative chemical laboratories, a dissecting 
room, biological laboratory and apparatus, reading- 
room, and technical library. Under the annual ins- 
pection of the School, there are five local agricultural 
schools in the charge of graduates, who also conduct, 
in affiliation with the agricultural work, the ordinary 
public schools of the section. 
" The Provincial School of Horticultnre at Wolf- 
ville was established in 1893, by the Fruitgrowers' 
Association, with the aid of an annual grant of S2,000 
from the Provincial Government. The attendance io 
X896 was 67." 
In the Province of Manitoba, a course of agricultural 
instruction has been laid down and a text-book prepared 
adapted to the conditions of that proTince. In 
British Columbia agriculture has been introduced and 
made a compulsory part of the curriculum in the 
schools. There seems also to be a movement in New 
Brunswick, to have there an Agricultural College 
affiliated to the Provincial University — and where 
students may take advantage of certain courses of 
lectures likely to be helpful to them. All the 
provinces also employ, from time to time, specialists 
to go round and lecture in different parts of the 
country, especially on noxious insects, or " bugs 
as they are usually termed. 
Leaving the Dominion of Canada, I pass on to 
what claims to be our oldest colony— Newfoundland. 
In reply to my inquiries, the i^Iinister of Agriculture 
in this colony states that he regrets— 
" That to all your queries I have to answer in 
the negative. Agriculture is not taught in. any of 
our schools, we have neither farm schools nor 
agricultural colleges, neither have we any lecturers 
nor experiment stations. The Government of this 
colony appointed a Comm.isson last year to inquire 
into Agriculture and Industries, and in their report 
they recommend the adoption of nearly the whole 
of the methods of agricultural education above men- 
tioned, and I hope that in the near future many of 
them will be carried into effect". 
The Government however, I find, issues reports 
dealing with agricultural subjects, and Mr. Moore 
states that there is an Orphanage at St. Johir's where 
the boys are instructed in agriculture as well as in 
various trades. 
The Pieport of the Commission referred to by the 
Minister of Agriculture states, I find, that agriculture 
in Newfoundland is not as yet sufficiently advanced 
to warrant the Government in establishing .special 
institutions, such as agricultural colltges, faiming 
schools, model farms, and experimental stations, but 
it recommends instead, ■' that a modicum of agri- 
cultural instruction be imparted in our present schools, 
and under our present educational system." It is 
also recommended that the '■ high schools should 
undertake to teach an elementary course in agri- 
cultural chemistry," and that " in the colleges of the 
colony should be taught more fully than in the 
•schools already enumerated the technic of agiiculture, 
and a more advanced knowledge of agricultural 
chemistry." The Commissioners '' fui'ther recom- 
mend that the theoretical knowledge imparted in the 
schools be supplemented by instruction given by 
ravelling professors or teachers." 
It must be borne in mind, with respect to New- 
foundland, that though the agricultural resources of 
the colony are considerable, yet, in the past, they 
have been neglected, as the staple industry hitherto 
has been the fisheries. 
Leaviiip; in turn Newfoundland I now come to the 
West Indies, Here the economic conditions must be 
first studied and understood. I have to acknowledge 
my own indebtedness to Sir William Thiselton Dyer, 
the Director of Kew Gardens, for having pointed 
out to me the scope of the work undertaken in the 
West Indies in regard to agricultural education, and 
for having placed at my disposal much of the in- 
formation embodied in this paper. The aim and 
object of the agricultural instruction organised in 
the West Indies appears to be to change the system 
of cultivating crops on large estates or plantations 
by a coloured race directed by a few of a white race, 
to that of small areas owned, directed, and worked 
by the coloured race themselves, it being accepted 
as proved that under present economic conditions 
plantations and the planting sj'stem of agriculture 
is a failure. It is to bring about this change, aa 
far as I can gather, that the present educational 
policy as regards agriculture in the West Indies is 
directed. 
It must also be borne in mind that the agriculture 
to be taught here differs from that of other portions 
of the iimpire — Canada for instance — in being 
tropical. If a reference, for example, be made to 
Dr. Alford Nicholls' " Text- book of Tropical Agri- 
culture," published by the Government of Jamaica 
in 1891, it will be found that the following crops 
are treated, i, e., coffee, cacao, tea, sugar-cane, orange, 
lime, banana and plaiutain, coconut, pine-apple, nut- 
meg, clove, pimento, cinnamon, ginger, cardamous, pep- 
per, vauilli, tobacco, cinchona, castor oil, coca. Jalap, 
sarsaparilla, anatto, turmeric, logwood, indigo, miize, 
rice, guinea-corn, cassava, arrowroot, yams, and sweet 
potatoes ; and these are all new to the farmer of 
Britain or Canada. Some of the tools used are also 
new to one acquainted simply with temperate agri- 
culture, for instance, the digger or earth chisel and 
the cutlass. 
■ •*■ 
IS SUGARCANE A PROFITABLE CROP? 
To THE Editor, "Indian Gardening." 
Sir, — I have carefully perused your article on the 
aboTe subject. Your conclusions seem to be baaed 
on the result of experiments cairied on in the Govern- 
ment P,,rni in Cawnpore. In the absence of any 
detailed statement of expenses and return.^, it is im- 
posaibla to check the correctness of the figures viz., 
R910, the total proceeds of the crop, and R3,004 re- 
presenting the total cost of cultivation, which shows 
a loss of 112,09-1 on the workicg, which is in other 
words, a loss of 66 per cent., a very high percentage 
indeed ! This is a result which can only be possible 
in a Government farm, and no where else. The farms 
under the Bengal Agricultural Department, however, 
show better results. If you read the reports of the 
Sibpur and Burdwan farms you will seldom find such 
a disastrous rssult as referred to ty you. These 
farms generally pay the cost of their ciiltivatioa of 
all crops and sometimes show large profits on parti- 
cular crops. 
I have been engaging myself in the pursuit of agri- 
culture for the last seven years, and although my 
cultivations, especially of certain crops, have been 
mostly of an experimental nature, I have during 
this peri'>d never suffered such a loss. 
I experimented in sugarcane cultivation with very 
little loss, as will be seen from the appended copy 
of statement, which I submitted to the Director of 
Land Eecords and Agriculture, Bengal, for com- 
pari.^on with the results obtained in the farms under 
his Department. Of course, the result was far from 
encouraging but the loss was chiefly attributable 'o 
the free distribution of canes and juice, which in 
customary in the mofussil, and which in my e 
was greater, owing to there being no other cane 
growers in my place that year. My expenses alio 
were rather heavy and above normal, and so sua- 
oeptibie of some reduction. 
I am fully convinced, and my conviction has been 
e t ,,blibhed by long years of experiment, that the cul- 
ti\ation of Sugarca,ne is sufficiently remunerative, al- 
