894 EXPERIMENT STATION" RECORD. [Vol.41 



tion school age. Thereafter students fitted for higher instruction should be 

 encouraged by scholarships or otherwise to proceed to a farm institute or pos- 

 sibly, in cases of outstanding ability, direct to the higher college. It is fur- 

 ther recommended that provision be made for instruction in the best methods 

 of performing the more highly skilled operations of the farm and allied work, 

 that lectures and short courses to farmers, gardeners, and others, as well as 

 field demonstration work, should be continued and extended, and that county 

 educational staffs should be considerably augmented. 



It is desired by the association that relatively short courses (with a standard 

 course of between one and two years) be provided at farm institutes, and 

 longer courses of not less than two years at the agricultural colleges. It is 

 suggested that at the farm institute sound practical instruction should be the 

 basis, while the 2-year (certificate) and 3-year (diploma) courses at the col- 

 lege would give a sound knowledge of the scientific principles underlying the 

 practice and economics of agriculture and allied industries. The provision of 

 scholarships tenable at the farm institutes is recommended to enable the more 

 able students to pass to the college or university for more advanced courses. A 

 farm suitable for teaching purposes is recommended for the farm institute. 

 The farm at the college, in addition to serving for educational purposes, should 

 be utilized as a central experimental farm for the Province. 



The association is of the opinion that the university should be relieved of the 

 duty of providing courses of a lower than university standard ; further, that 

 while a degree course based primarily on the history and economics of agri- 

 culture and the development of rural law and local institutions might serve 

 better the needs of the working farmer taking a university course for its 

 general educational rather than its technical value, the number of such stu- 

 dents in attendance at present (except perhaps at the older universities) is 

 not sufficient to warrant any radical departure from the existing type course 

 based primarily on science. For students intending to go out as specialists in 

 one of the sciences bearing on agriculture, it is recommended that an honors 

 degree course in pure science should be followed by a post-graduate course in 

 agriculture and agricultural .science. The necessity for adequate facilities for 

 research on the part of the university teaching staffs is emphasized, and it is 

 insisted that the demands of administrative duties should not encroach unduly 

 upon the time available for teaching and research. 



As regards agricultural research, while increased financial provision is 

 needed as the work develops, the present problem is considered the provision 

 of trained men rather than of means. The organization of a definite research 

 service is suggested, which would guarantee a satisfactory career and thus 

 attract and retain the best men. The establishment of a national agricultural 

 research committee to survey periodically the whole field of research and or- 

 ganize cooperative work on important problems, it is suggested, might be pro- 

 ductive of great good. 



The association qualifies farms for purposes of agricultural education as 

 follows : Central experimental farms, attached to a research station and used 

 entirely for purposes of experiment and research ; institutional farms attached 

 to a university, college, or other teaching institution and used partly for 

 teaching purposes and partly for experiment ; county experimental and demon- 

 stration farms, used for the duplication under different conditions of experi- 

 ments carried out at the two preceding types of farms, and for the local 

 demonstration of new crops, improved varieties, etc. ; and illustration farms, 

 run on strictly commercial lines, and intended to demonstrate in a given locality 

 the possibilities of the system of farming deemed by the local advisory author- 

 ity to be the best lor the area in question. 



