The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-01-13

tons that have been established in the |
Windward and Leeward Islands
Then / come TO another branch or |
the duties of the department, and that |
is to encourage the teaching of agri- |
culture in elementary schools. That |
will be of two sorts. There Will be the |
theoretical teaching given by the
teachers and masters OF the schools, |
and there will be the practical teach |
ing given partly by a staff Of agricul- |
ttIral instructors that will be going
round viewing the schools and looking
after the keeping, also, of small plot
round the school, called the school
garden The school that teaches mere
ly theoretical principles of agriculture
will get a small grant. A school which
in addition to that will have school
garden round it will get double that
amount OF grant. We are going to pre-
pare for them by teaching the teach
ers first, and those teachers will be
brought from the country, and their
expenses will be paid while they are
undergoing a course of instruction at
the chief town of the colony. They Will
| have their moral teaching, they will
| then go to the botanic gardens and
spend an hour or two every day in see
| ing the practical work of the garden.
In addition to that there will be put
into their hands a small textbook
which will form tropical reader fully
illustrated and containing the prln-
ciples of agriculture in very simple
and very plain language. Now / go to
another point, and that is the scientific
teaching of agriculture in our colleges.
Scientific agriculture is the only sub
ject that is not taught in the high
schools and colleges in the West In
dies. There is not a single place in
the West Indies where scientific agri-
, culture is, at present, taught, and that
is, l think, a most extraordinary thing.
There are scholarships for this and the
other, and teachers for this and the
other, but there are no teachers for the
main business of these colonies. We
are going to have teachers attached to
such colleges as Harrison's College, in
: Barbados, the Queens College, in Trim
2 idad the college also in Demerara, and
so on. and the funds to pay the agrl-
!, cultural teachers will be supplied by
l the department We have $4,000 fOl
i that purpose. We hope also to have
: scholarships, and We hope also to see
q the day when the young men OF the
West Indies will not be rushing int
{ professions, and overcrowded profeS
- SIOuS SuCu DIS law dhu bSuiSlhC, pd
e that they will devote themselves t.
s what | consider the somewhat NOR
It effective machinery of assisting the ag
n riculture of their own country. Now
e after that will come what you have al
II ready here, and which the other island
q have not and that is horticulture
: shows. A show will be held annually
IS but the department, as a department
will assist those shows to this extent
g it will assist the shows in offerln
l prizes for the production of improve
20 fruits and vegetables, or for the i'm
1T proved packing of fruit and things fo
)e export The department will also a.
IN sist these agricultural shows by brans
5, ing models of actual machines then
Ill selves there to be shown to the Poop
Sc and explained by man who is specia
TT ly in charge of that. In addition
L that we hope to organize band OF me
ne that we call agricultural Instructor
to We find that it is not enough to HAY
at a botanical station and to have eXper
e mental grounds here or there, but
i'll you want to reach the mass of the po
he ulation in the West Indies, you mu
ry take the knowledge round to them al
o. to give it to them on the spot. u
'ly must show them, in their own groun6
ne how to prune their cocoa or their &C
ire fee: you must give them hints as l
en- CARDS raking up ground, forming 1t
IN as to allow the application and pre-
It's, aration of manures These are all il
nd nortant matters, and can assure w
In as far as Jamaica is concerned,
or enormous amount of valuable work h
the been done there, and although ,
ere maica, at this moment, is not in
rds prosperous condition as it ought to
der yet that is merely a temporary con
act ton. and 1 believe that it will sc
ar pass away.
q