404 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



ous counties and in return provide a certain number of scholarships 

 for students from those counties. The University College of Wales, 

 at Aberystwyth, for example, receives grants from six different coun- 

 ties. The Midland Dairy Institute is a center for a number of coun- 

 ties, and the Southeastern Agricultural College at Wye is supported 

 jointly by the counties of Surrey and Kent. 



In a number of counties agricultural or farm schools have been fitted 

 up especiall}^ for this instruction, and in this undertaking adjoining 

 counties have sometimes united. These secondary schools are of dif- 

 ferent grades, some of them covering the whole range of agriculture, 

 others being devoted to dairying, while still others are farm schools, 

 giving much attention to instruction in the practical operations of 

 farming. Five or six counties have provided dairj^ schools, and at 

 least four have local count}' farm schools of different descriptions. 



The itinerant or migratory schools are a prominent feature of the 

 elementar}' work in most of the counties. In conducting these each 

 county has selected a certain number of centers, sometimes onlj- two 

 or three, sometimes as many as thirtj^ or more, where the courses are 

 given. These cover a variety of subjects, and evidently differ consid- 

 erably in character. They usuall}' comprise from live to ten exer- 

 cises, but in some cases twenty or more. In most of the counties they 

 include a traveling dairy school, and courses of lectures in agriculture 

 and horticulture. Courses in poultr}', bee keeping, farrier}^ cider 

 making, and veterinary science are also common. These lectures often 

 take the form of practical demonstrations, as in the case of dairying, 

 pruning, and farrier3\ It is mentioned, for instance, that in Somer- 

 setshire the farrier}' van visited fifteen centers, remaining for periods 

 of from two weeks to two months, and giving instruction to seventy-six 

 pupils in all. A further extension of this instruction in "manual 

 processes" includes plowing, sheep shearing, hedging, thatching, and 

 even basket making, in some counties taking the form of competitions. 



The forms of this popular instruction adopted in different counties 

 present almost an endless variety. For example, an excursion to Hol- 

 land was organized b}' the technical education committee for Essex 

 farmers, for the purpose of studving agricultural education and the 

 organization and practice of the agricultural industry in that countr\'. 

 In the County of Kent boys' gardens are maintained at twenty centers, 

 the small plats l)eing cultivated ])}' boys admitted as pupils, under the 

 supervision of a local instructor appointed by the committee^, and 

 prizes awarded by the count}' superintendent to the most meritorious. 

 Similar prizes for gardens are awarded at other places. A county coun- 

 cil garden is maintained on the Isle of Wight, where agricultural 

 instruction is given daily. In Derbyshire ' ' champion " and ' ' ordinary " 

 garden certificates are awarded on the basis of practical work. 



