THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



119 



do more than merely glance at the loading features of tliis 

 important department of agricultural economics. The 

 testimony is so far complete, that the ordinary hranches 

 of education — reading and writing — are gcnsrally within 

 the easy reach of farm lahourers' children ; more espe- 

 cially in Scotland, where the excellent and well-known 

 parochial school system gives great facilities to all classes. 

 Evidence, however, is not the less convincing, that an 

 unfortunate eagerness exists amongst the parents to take 

 their children from scliool as soon as they can ohtain 

 work — no matter of how trivial a nature. The result of 

 this is, that the children are only partially educated — in 

 some cases so partially, that the lessons they receive are 

 so evanescent in their nature that they shortly escape 

 altogether from the memory. The truth then seems to be, 

 not that education is so dillicnlt to be attained — although 

 we do not ignore the fact, that a vast deal is yet to be 

 done ludlonaUy before education can be obtained by all — 

 but that the time to allow of the education to be com- 

 pleted, or at least carried on to a useful stage, cannot be 

 obtained, or, what is worse, will not be given. Hence, a 

 movement has recently been commenced, having for its 

 aim the establishment of the " half-time system" in rural 

 districts. This idea is borrowed from the manufacturing 

 districts of Lancashire, Avhcre, by Act of Farliament, not 

 only are boys prevented from working in a mill under 

 tbii'teen years of age, but by which aluo they are allowed 

 so many hours a-day for the pui-pose of attending school 

 and having recreation. We see much in favour and little 

 against this plan. If education is worth having at all, it 

 is worth while to make such arrangements as will enable 

 it to be had in a proper way. And it certainly is a melan- 

 choly fact, that agricultural labourers value education so 

 little, as to prevent their children possessing themselves of 

 its advantages. The consideration of the expediency of 

 legislative interference in such matters of social polity 

 is not ^vithin the scope of this paper ; but if the advan- 

 tages of the half-time system are really established in the 

 manufacturing districts, it is hard to see why similar 

 benefits could not be obtained from it by its establish- 

 ment — legislatively or voluntarily — in the rural districts. 

 Masters have an immense power in their hands, of 

 influencing agricultural labourers to appreciate the 

 advantages of education. Let them make it distinctly 

 understood, that a youth must be able to read and write 

 before he will get employment, and that in the case of 

 adults, the best work will be given to the best educated, 

 and the labourer will soon learn to appreciate the value of 

 education — such appreciation being, I regret to say, not by 

 any means general amongst them. The system 

 of education — s>ich as it is — obtainable by the 

 agricultural labourer, is not as yet generally adapted 

 to give him that distinct and peculiar species of 

 knowledge useful to him in his daily avocation. 

 Agricultural education, strictly so called, is, in point of 

 fact, rarely given ; hence, a general ignorance amongst 

 labourers of the very first principles of the art which gives 

 them subsistence. It is here, I think, quite unnecessary 

 to point out the advantages derivable fi-om a knowledge of 

 the principles of agi'icultural science ; one point only may 

 be adverted to, and that is the interest which this know- 

 ledge would create — the farmer would find in his servant 

 a readier help in carrying out improved modes of culture 

 or farm processes, instead of the prejudiced sneer, or the 

 helpless, hopeless, indifference which meets him too often 

 now, when he is mtrodncing new tilings. Knowledge gives 



a man a quickening interest in the processes in which he is 

 engaged, and an interested man will make a better servant 

 than an indifferent one. In proportion as we find a man 

 elevated in his ideas, just in proportion are his services 

 rendered of the higher value. ^Ve find this to hold true 

 in other callings: why should it not in that of agriculture? 

 At the same time, I must not conce.il what, I find, is the 

 opinion of a considerable number of my correspondents, and 

 which 1 know also to be held by many farmers throughout 

 the country — namelj-, that this superior education of the 

 labourer is not required. On the contrary, it is in noway 

 to be desired, inasmuch as it seems — so they think — to 

 unfit him for his work, raise him above it, in point of fact. 

 If, then, this is the case, and that a cultivated intellect and 

 the routine of farm labour are incompatible, let us hope for the 

 rapid realization of the period wlien much of its mechanical 

 drudgery shall bo done by the aid of improved modes of work- 

 ing, in which the work of human sinews shall be done by the 

 untiring aid of the steam-engine, and the imfettering of tho 

 body of the labourer from dull and dreary work, sh.all 

 leave him free to carry on processes demanding more of 

 skill, and a wider exercise of his inteUeet, than is now tho 

 case. But, whatever education is, it should not, I con- 

 ceive, be that which has reference to the cultivation of the 

 intellectual powers only. I do think that the present ten- 

 dency of education is too much in the wrong direction — 

 getting up the polish, the pith of the man and woman is 

 neglected. The heart requires proper training, as well 

 as the head; and in this direction, the lessons of tlie school 

 may be ably supplemented by the precepts and examples of 

 the hearth — the labours of the teacher in the school aided 

 by the authority of the parents at home, To this end, the 

 parent must become himself a ready and willing scholar 

 in the school of self-discipline, self-control, and self-denial. 

 Ever aiming at self improvement, he will best be able to 

 improve his children ; and, ever learning, he will make all 

 the better teacher. But, to complete the education of the 

 labourer, another thing wiU still be wanting — namely, the 

 teaching of example, this being carried out by the master. 

 I have, assuredly, a strong conviction that an immense 

 amount of good will be effected by raising the social condi- 

 tion of the labourer, by the persistent, every-day-displayed 

 example of masters whose daily Ufe proves that they them- 

 selves are actuated by the highest of motives and tho 

 purest of principles. The whole gist of the matter in this 

 direction is pithily put by a correspondent, liimself one of 

 ihe ornaments of the agricultural world, who says that 

 " the master is the true educator of the servant, and that 

 in the long run, and on a large scale, the master will be 

 served just as he deserves.'" Worth thinking of, this, 

 fellow-members of the Club. As indicative of what prac- 

 tical men think of the question of education, I give here 

 an extract or two from the coumiunicatious of my con-e- 

 spondents : " There can be no doubt," says a correspond- 

 ent, *' but the labourers are much better educated in the 

 agricultural districts now than formeriy. Schools have 

 been built, within the last few years, in almost every 

 viUace, either under the inspection of the Government 

 oflieials, or by the clergy or some influential landowner j 

 but in many of these schools, it has been found from ex- 

 perience, the children have been taught much that proves 

 but of little advantage to them in after-life, and tho more 

 useful knowledge has been sadly omitted. This applies 

 more particularly to females. It has also been found that, 

 since a higher-class education has been imparted to the 

 labourers, the less are they inclined for the mere labourers' 



