326 ANNUAL, RBiPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



METHOD IN USE IN IRELAND. 



Perhaps as couspicuous an example as any of what this method 

 of instruction may do for a country is seen in Ireland, where in 1905, 

 the average production of wheat was 37.8 bushels per acre, and of 

 potatoes ^07 bushels per acre. The following extract from the 

 Sixth Annual Report, 1905-06, of the Department of Agriculture 

 and Technical Instruction for Ireland explains in detail the methods 

 that have been adopted in that country for giving instruction in 

 agriculture. The facts are quoted quite fully in order to show 

 the plans used in introducing improved methods of agriculture into 

 the everyday practice of the great mass of Irish farmers, 



ITINERANT INSTRUCTION IN AGRICULTURE IN IRELAND. 



''In the year 1905-06 thirty-one County Committees of Agriculture 

 adopted the Department's scheme of itinerant instruction in agri- 

 culture, but owing to lack of qualified candidates, only twenty-three 

 instructors were appointed.* 



"The main branches of the work of the itinerant instructor in 

 agriculture are the delivery of lectures to farmers at rural centres 

 during the winter months, the carrying out of agricultural experi- 

 ments and demonstrations, and the visiting of farms for the purpose 

 of giving advice to farmers. During the year under review the 

 instructor delivered 1,169 lectures which were attended by 66,114 

 persons, the average attendance being about 56. The instructors 

 also superintended the laying down of 2,082 demonstration plots, and 

 instituted 439 experiments on the principal crops. The visits paid 

 to farms reached the total of 8,294, representing an average of 365 

 for each instructor. As the visits are undertaken only at the re- 

 quest of the farmers concerned, their number affords an index to 

 the place which the instructor fills with reference to the agricul- 

 tural industry of the county where he is employed. A considerable 

 portion of the instructor's time is occupied in affording advice to 

 farmers by letter, a course which is adopted when a personal in- 

 spection of the farm is unnecessary or not feasible at the moment." 



ITINERANT INSTRUCTION IN HORTICULTURE AND BEE-KEEPING. 



Twenty-six itinerant instructors were employed by the County 

 Committees in giving instruction in horticulture and bee-keeping. 



In each of ten counties the instructor was qualified in horticul- 

 ture as well as in bee-keeping; in eleven counties the instructors 

 were not qualified in bee-keeping, and gave instruction in horticul- 

 ture only; in each of four counties two instructors were employed, 

 one being qualified in horticulture only, and one in bee-keeping 

 only; and in one county an instructor in bee-keeping only was 

 available. 



The lectures, as in the case of other schemes of itinerant instruc- 

 tion, are usually arranged for the evening, when such subjects as 

 soils, manures, vegetables, fruit and flower cultivation, plant dis- 

 eases and insect pests are dealt with. The demonstrations are held 

 either at the established plots or in the gardens and orchards, in 

 the districts visited by the instructors, and on these occasions prac- 

 tical lessons are given in pruning, spraying, planting and grafting 

 of fruit trees, vegetable culture, modern bee-keeping, etc. 



•There are 32 counties In Ireland. 



