FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 227 



turers, wlio are also practical experts, and who, upon invitation 

 from agricultural societies or county councils, go forth as lecturers 

 upon their special subjects. Each adjacent county makes an an- 

 nual grant of £75 to the college funds, and is privileged to nomi- 

 nate students to attend the college agricultural course at a reduc- 

 tion of twenty-five per cent on the usual fee. In 1898-'99 the 

 Board of Education granted to fifteen colleges and associations in 

 England and "Wales the sum of £7,200. The colleges were the 

 Yorkshire College at Leeds, Durham College of Science at New- 

 castle-on-Tyne, University Extension College at Reading, Univer- 

 sity College at ISTottingham, Southeastern Agricultural College at 

 Wye, and in Wales the University Colleges at Bangor and Abe- 

 rystwith. 



Besides the direct Government subsidy to higher education, the 

 state grants to the several counties part of the money raised from 

 the excise (" drink money ") for educational purposes, out of which 

 at least £78,000 were spent by the committees in 189G-'97 in pro- 

 moting agi'icultural education. 



Still further. Parliament puts into the hands of the Science 

 and Art Department large sums of money to be expended as grants- 

 in-aid of " technical education." The state recognizes instruction 

 in the principles of agriculture as instruction in elementary science, 

 and through this Science and Art Department's grants to primary 

 and secondary schools, and to teachers' colleges, it encourages agri- 

 cultural education as a technical study. In 1896-97, 1,023 pupils 

 passed examination, and the respective school managements re- 

 ceived as grant on their account a total sum of £140,150.* 



In 1897 the Royal Commission on Agricultural Depression in 

 England made its report. Among other declarations made by the 

 commission were these: "We believe that it is essential for the 

 welfare of agriculture that there should be placed within the reach 

 of every young farmer a sound, general school education, includ- 

 ing such a grounding in the elements of sciences bearing upon agri- 

 culture — e. g., chemistry, geology, botany, and animal physiology 

 — as will give him an intelligent interest in them and familiarize 

 him in their language." f 



They further recommend that hereafter the control of all funds 

 for technical agricultural education be placed with the Board of 

 Agriculture, and that the entire income of the Customs and Excise 

 Act of 1890 should be devoted to educational purposes, agriculture 

 receiving its adequate share. Should the first recommendation 

 carry for all divisions of the United Kingdom, agriculture would 



* Appendix to Report of Science and Art Department, 1896-97. 

 f Page 152 of Report. 



