190 NAT1VI-: AtiRH La/tUKIi. 



7. Agricultural Education. 



Fhe reality of the danger caused by an increasing population 

 on a limited area of land has been recognised by the Transkeian 

 General Council, and a notable advance has been made to meet 

 the future. In the h.rst place, large farms were acquired at 

 Tsolo, Mqanduli, and Libode, for experimental purposes, and 

 many thousands of jjounds were spent in the ef|uipment and 

 stocking of these places. Reliable experiments are carried out 

 under expert supervision, and above all, the Natives may see 

 for themselves what modern farming means, and ac([uire the 

 best stock at nominal prices. Already a series of experiments 

 is in hand dealing with cotton as a suitable crop for certain 

 Transkeian districts, and so far the results have proved quite 

 satisfactory. Tobacco, t(JO. is being ilealt with, and all manner 

 of (juestions relating to stock-raising. 



More important still is the establishment of an Agricultural 

 College, under Mr. Sidney G. Butler, at Tsolo. It still is in 

 its infancy, and as yet comparatively few Natives have been 

 attracted to it, but the days of small things cannot continue. .\ 

 sound course of agriculture in all its branches is provided, and 

 the results obtained are astonishing. Courses are ])rovided in 

 agriculture, fruit culture, stock and stock-breeding, elementary 

 economics, elementary entomoU)gy and veterinary science, and 

 the students are taught both the theory and the practice of these 

 subjects. The Agricultural College at Tsolo cannot but be of 

 the highest value to the Natives, especially as they come to 

 understand it better, and their son> are attracted to it. But 

 surely every Native Institution in the country should have such 

 training provided as a part of the regular curriculum, and if 

 they have not been thus ])rovided, it has been because of the 

 cast-iron mould ap])lie(l to the Natives by the Cape Kducatiori 

 Department. 



The whole educational system has l)een so moulded to 

 produce Native teachers that at present the rank and tile cannot 

 understand the possibility of any other kind of education ! 

 Indeed, it is a serious weakness in our system that the Natives 

 are compelled to accept the school standards of the white race 

 rather than allowed to develop along their own national lines. 

 The two races are different by tradition, origin, and circum- 

 stance, and instead of each being alkjwed to develop along its 

 own lines, the one is arbitrarily compelled to follow the standards 

 of the other. In this paper, however, we are not specially 

 interested in the education of the Native except insomuch as it 

 concerns him from an agricultural point of view. If every 

 district in the Transkei had its own Agricultural College, a great 

 contribution would be made — at great expense — towards the 

 introduction of improved methods in agriculture. But a far 

 greater contribution would be made without anv additional 

 expense by including agriculture as a suliject in the school 



