Daily Gleaner, February 12, 1894

The only section of the Report [of the Director of Public Gardens and Plantations] that deals with instruction and training in Agriculture is the one referring to Hope Industrial School, The object of it, Mr. FAWCETT says, is to turn out boys at the end of their term at the school, not only good labourers, but with some idea of the reasons for various agricultural operations and some knowledge of proper methods of preparing produce for market. This requires constant drilling in digging, forking, raking, hoeing, weeding, rolling, mowing, watering, &c., and these things require training by a man who understands the work. They cannot be taught by simply turning the boys into the garden and telling them to weed or dig. In England in giving such instruction boys are passed on from one special instructor to another, till all the processes to be taught have been mastered. In the gardens as they are, there are none but the Superintendents who can do this work. They have not time to do it as it needs to be done. Mr. FAWCETT would, therefore, get a teaoher from one of the Agricultural Colleges of England or America to undertake the teaching. To those who object that such a person could have no personal experience of tropical agriculture and therefore could not teach here, he properly replies, that the principles of agriculture are the same in all climates, and that a competent man would be capable of adapting himself to new circumstances. If we have not already got the man in the island Mr. FAWCETT'S answer is the right one.