204 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



All members of the committee subscribed to the conclusions and 

 recommendations in this report, but one member, J. C. Medd, believes 

 that certain points of vital importance to the effective organization 

 of a national system of agricultural education have been omitted. 

 One serious defect in the P2nglish system which he considers im- 

 portant is the lack of intermediate schools of agriculture correspond- 

 ing to ecoles pratiques d'agriculture de France and to some of the 

 agricultural high schools in this country. He believes that no system 

 of instruction is complete which does not provide for the continuous 

 instruction of boys from the age of 14 to 18. Winter schools will 

 not entirely fill this gap and it can only be filled by the establishment 

 of a few intermediate schools with courses extending over two or 

 three years. He calls attention to the fact that the expense of equip- 

 ping and conducting such schools is too great for their universal 

 establishment, but believes that they should be established where 

 conditions are favorable and where there is likely to be a demand 

 for them. 



Mr. Medd further strongly recommends the holding of confer- 

 ences of representatives from affiliated or associated counties at their 

 respective university or college centers for the purpose of. coordi- 

 nating and strengthening their work. With reference to the litera- 

 ture published by the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, he points 

 out that many of the witnesses were unfamiliar with particular 

 reports or leaflets and recommends that all literature issued by the 

 board be distributed, free of cost, to all agricultural and horticultural 

 colleges and schools, farm institutes, chambers of agriculture, 

 farmers' clubs and agricultural or horticultural societies. 



The report as a whole indicates that the committee has made an 

 exhaustive and careful study of all the facilities available in Eng- 

 land and Wales for promoting technical instruction for its youth 

 along agricultural lines, with the single exception of the public ele- 

 mentary schools in rural districts which are under the administration 

 of the Board of Education. These latter schools are alluded to in 

 Mr. Medd's supplementary statement in a paragraph calling atten- 

 tion to the provisions made by the Board of Education to train 

 teachers along agricultural lines for them. The conclusions of the 

 committee show that there is a strong growth of public sentiment in 

 Great Britain in favor of a complete national system of agricultural 

 education to take the place of the widely varied types of colleges 

 and schools which now afford instruction along agricultural lines. 

 As an indication of the growth of such sentiment it is reported by the 

 committee that agriculture now receives recognition in all the uni- 

 versities in that country and that the Royal Agricultural College at 

 Cirencester, and other agricultural institutions which have hitherto 



