440 ANNUAL. RBPpRT OF THE Off. Doo. 



by men wlio have little or no interest in farmers — except to get 

 their votes at election time. In consequence of this, farming 

 interests are woefully misrepresented in the legislative halls of the 

 North American Continent. Six farmers elected to the Parliament 

 of Canada recently, yet our population is overwhelmingly a farming 

 population! Is this not enoii^h to make farmers stop and consider? 



More direct interest in, and control of, agricultural institutions 

 b^' farmers is another need. Too often when a vacancy occurs, 

 which ought to be filled by a farmer, the politicians appoint a life 

 insurance agent, a storekeeper, a lawyer, or somebody else to the 

 post who has been a good party worker, but who has about as few 

 qualifications for the position as a man could have and "hold the 

 job." Farmers, these things ought not to be! We think also that 

 it would be better if the men and institutions connected with 

 agriculture were located more frequently in an agriculture atmos- 

 phere and environment. In order to obtain a proper viewpoint and 

 to get in touch with a subject, a man must be in direct contact with 

 the things he would serve. When a novelist wishes to write a 

 story with reference to any country, or subject he goes to that 

 country, or farmiliarizes himself with every phase of the question 

 about which he proposes to write. He thus gets the proper view- 

 point and breathes an inspiring atmosphere. So with reference to 

 agriculture. Instead of having the men and the institutions who 

 are supposed to lead agricultural thought and practice, located in a 

 city, with city environment and atmosphere which tend to give 

 wrong agricultural "impressions, these men and institutions ought 

 to be located so far as possible on the farm. If this were done we 

 should have fewer impracticable ideas from leaders, or supposed 

 leaders, in agriculture. 



My last point is that we need more agricultural education of a 

 scientific and practical nature. Here again is a weakness in agri- 

 cultural methods of teaching. Frequently the men who are teaching 

 agricultural subjects lack the farm training which is essential for 

 a proper viewpoint, hence many farmer's sons are dissatisfied, with 

 the teaching given at Agricultural Colleges. It is too theoretical they 

 say — and with some justice. We should be inclined to say that no 

 one is competent to teach agriculture who has not breathed the 

 very smell from the soil, respired the air of the stable, and lived 

 in the farm house, until these have become a part of his very being. 



The 'agricultural education of the future, it seems to us will pro- 

 ceed along two distinct lines — a scientific training based on actual 

 practical farm experience for expert agricultural scientists; and a 

 practical training based on scientific principles for the man who 

 expects to make his living out of the soil. Too many Agricultural 

 Colleges are trying to combine these two with the result it is not 

 satisfactory to either class of students. 



