248 Journal of Agriculture. [8 April, 1907. 



Mr. G. S. Mackay. By the personal efforts of the members of committee; 

 public inertia and opposition to scientific instruction as such were overcome ; 

 pockets were reached ; parents were persuaded to allow their boys, so useful 

 at home, to be enrolled as scholars ; and with the aid of an efficient lecturing 

 staff and by means of circulars information as to the scope and aims of 

 the school was sent to all parts of the district. It was by no means an 

 easv task. It should be mentioned that the A.N. A. Society rendered good 

 assistance to the committee. Among the reasons assigned for the need 

 of such schools were the following: — 



The advance of other countries in obtaining school power in the direc- 

 tion of agriculture and the splendid results obtained thereby ; 



the consequently keener competition to which the coming farmer will 

 be subjected in every open market ; 



the need for intense cultivation and for a more uniform and better 

 quality in production ; 



the desirability of changing the attitude of boys to city life and posi- 

 tions by giving them an interested knowledge of the country, of farm occu- 

 pations, and of machinery ; 



the value of capable, well-informed labourers, and of scientific experts ; 



tliat a large body of progressive agriculturists meanis an increased 

 wealth tO' our country ; 



that interest and knowledge will make farm life attractive and satis- 

 fying. 



The intention is to catch the scholars young, and give earlv a rural 

 bias to their inclinations. The children in the lower classes of everv State 

 primarv school have nature-study as a subject of the ordinary course. This 

 is not the old object-lesson under a new name, but is " nature studied in its 

 relations bv the child from the child's standpoint by the teacher with the 

 children."' It makes the child know and love his surroundings; it leads 

 him to appreciate what he receives from nature, and what he owes to 

 nature. Each child tecomes an interested investigator. 



The Director of Education strongly encourages the school garden as a 

 necessary adjunct to every school. As an educative agency, the school 

 garden has great possibilities, but much of the teacher's energy has been 

 wasted for lack of systematic organization and expert superintendence. 

 Seeds and trees have been planted, in many cases, without due regard to 

 satisfactory experiment or design, and consequently with not a tithe of the 

 good that should have resulted from the labour. However, the interest 

 has become so general that there are now but few Victorian schools where 

 the children have not more or less pride in their garden plots. It is to be 

 hoped that an organizer of school gardens, as recommended bv the Director 

 of Agriculture, will soon be appointed, and will systematize and direct the 

 efforts of teachers and scholars. 



The senior classes in the State schools may, if the teacher wishes, take 

 agriculture as the science subject. In schools where this is being done, the 

 results are gratifying. A handful of soil has become an object of interest ; 

 it is a storehouse, it is a laboratory- . Teachers and children display 



special liking for the lessons; the school life is connected with the home 

 life ; the children are in contact with real life and its betterment ; thev 

 ha\-e a manual training and get good physical exercise ; they learn to^ re- 

 spect labour and the labouring man ; their mental alacrity and reasonin"- 

 powers are developed ; the whole schoo^l life is quickened ; there are direct. 



