AGRieULTURAL  mAGSZinG, 
COLOMBO. 
Added  as  a Supplement  Monthly  to  the  “ TROPICAL  AORTGULTURIST." 
The  following  pages  include  the  Contents  qf  the  Aynimiltural  MayaAne 
for  November:  — 
Vol.  VII.] 
NOVEMBER,  1895. 
[No.  5. 
AGEICULTURAb  EDUCATION. 
RIliFbY  stated,  the  object  of  ngri- 
cultuval  education  is  to  teach  the 
most  enlightened  methods  in  the 
cultivation  of  the  soil,  so  tliat  the 
cultivator  may  secure  the  best 
results  while  the  fertility  of  his 
land  is  maintained.  As  the  \ye:ilth  of  a nation  de- 
pends upon  the  agriculture  of  the  country,  it  is  but 
fitting  that  agricultural  education  should  receive 
Government  aid  in  as  largo  a measure  as  any  other 
department  of  education.  At  the  same  time  agri- 
cultural education  should  be  made  as  attractive 
as  ])Ossible  to  all,  for  there  are  few  persons,  par- 
ticularly in  the  Colonies,  that  have  not  a 
direct  or  indirect  interest  in  the  soil.  It 
is  a mistake  to  imagine,  as  some  do,  that  the  results 
of  agricultural  teaching  can  be  ganged  by  the  num- 
ber of  scholars,  who  after  tlieir  training  at  school 
cultivate  their  own  lands.  If  this  test  were  applied 
to  agricultural  colleges  abroad,  it  will  be  found 
that  the  maj'’'iity  of  tho.-e  who  are  being  trained  at 
these  schools  are  by  no  means  intended  to  be  far- 
mers. The  moie  ibe  individuals  of  :icommunily— 
no  matter  in  what  cu)acUy  they  are  serving,  whe- 
ther as  professional  men,  G ovenunent  servants,  or 
in  private  employ— know  of  agriculture,  of  the  soil 
and  the  plant  in  all  their  bearings,  the  better 
tor  the  coramanity  and  the  country  to  which  they 
belong.  We  do  not  think  of  limiting  the  literary 
education  of  a boy  because  he  may  not  intend  to 
l)e  a literary  man,  or  what  is_ popularly  called  his 
“ scientiftc  education,”  bec.uise  he  h is  not  made 
up  his  mind  to  be  a worker  in  science.  The  'Ob- 
ject of  education  in  its  widest  sense  is,  we  Lake  it, 
to  expand  the  mind  and  enable  men  to  think 
and  act  under  the  various  circumstances 
in  which  they  may  be  ))laced.  It  is  but  meet  that 
we  should  make  thennelves  acquainted  with  our 
natural  surroundings — the  soil,  the  air,  plants  and 
animals,  and  the  various  relations  in  which  they 
stand  to  one  another.  Unfortunately  there  are 
some  people  who  are  proud  to  own  their  ignorance 
of  these  matters,  and  others  who  imagine  or  pre^s 
tend  that  they  know  all  about  them, when  in  fact 
tlieir  ignorance  is  prodigious. 
in  this  countjy 've  should  greatly  desire  to  see 
all  minor  native  officials  possessed  of  an  up-tOt 
date  hnowledge  of  agriculture,  such  as  will  equip 
as  well  as  actuate  them  to  take  an  active,  in- 
telligent, and  honest  interest  in  the  w'elfare  of 
their  more  ignorant  and  conservative  brethren  who 
are  engaged  in  agricultural  operations. 
♦ 
OCCASIONAL  NOTES. 
The  fertility  of  soils  is  always  a subject  of  in- 
terest, and  we  therefore  direct  attention  to  a series 
of  papers  on  this  subject  written  by  Professor 
Edward  Xinch,  the  well-known  chemical  lecturer 
at  Cirencester,  the  first  of  which  appears  in  our 
present  issue. 
We  have  been  favoured  with  a copy  of  the 
“ Memoranda  of  the  origin,  plan,  and  re.s.ilts  of 
the  field  and  other  e.viieriments  conducted  on 
the  farm  and  in  the  laboratory  of  Sir  John 
Bennett  Lawes,  Bart.,  D.c  L.,  ll.d.,  Sc.D., 
at  Rothamsted,  Herts.”  The  present  year  is  the 
fifty-second  year  of  the  experiments.  The  pam- 
