460 Abstract Report of Agricultural Discussions. 



tlius they did not obtain any exj^erience of farming beyond tlie range 

 of a circle of 10 or 12 miles. That was a very great drawback. If 

 farmers' sons after leaving school could go out for a time and see 

 something of what was going on at a distance from their homes, a very 

 great point would be gained. 



The best way for that Society to cncom-agc education was by the 

 institution of scholarshij^s, rather than the giving of prizes. There 

 was a suggestion thrown out on that point by Mr. Morton, which had 

 occiuTod to another very active member of the Society, who was on 

 the Education Committee, namely, that they should call in the assist- 

 ance of farmers in different localities, and that, in fact, scholarships 

 should be instituted by local authorities acting in conjunction with the 

 Council of that Society. 



Within the last twenty years ho had seen twelve yoimg men cither 

 succeeding to farms or preparing to succeed to them, not one of 

 whom, as he believed, ever v/ent away from his father's farm to learn 

 the business of farming. He had cndcavom-cd to impress on farmers 

 in his neighbom'hood the advantages to be derived from pursuing a 

 different course ; but he was always met with the remark that the sons 

 were such useful, reliable, and steady fellows — and he could cer- 

 tainly endorse that account from observation — that they could not be 

 spared. 



In some letters which had been published on this subject in the 

 ' Agricultural Gazette,' he found the writers making great complaints 

 that the yoimg farmers of the jiresent day were too fond of amusement, 

 and did not stick sufficiently close to work. lie did not think the 

 Society could cure that which was rather a tendency of the age. The 

 race of farmers was, in fact, getting much larger than it had been. 

 Many young men were now going into farming as a pleasant occupa- 

 tion ; and having a good capital, perhaps they thought that one of the 

 pleasantest jiarts of farming life was to take some share in the amuse- 

 ments of the hunting-field. 



Mr. IIoLLAXD, M.P., expressed the pleasure he had felt in listening 

 to Mr. Morton. As regarded the mode in which Mr. Morton proposed 

 to improve the educational position of the futm-c farmers, he thought 

 they must all agree with him as to the connexion which should exist 

 between the Eoyal Agi-icultiu-al Society and the local societies. The 

 education of the futm-e farmers was of course mainly in the hands of 

 their relatives, so many of whom were members of local Societies. If, 

 therefore, the Eoyal, acting in concert with these Societies, were 

 enabled to send examiners through the coimtry, the educational wants 

 of farmers might be supplied without the creation of much further 

 machinery than that which at present existed. Mr, Dent had alluded 

 to the fact that while young men were employed in farming they took 

 their recreation like other people who lived in the coimtry. There 

 was no harm in that ; on the contrary, good would result from men 

 being called together and passing over tracts of coimtry which they 

 might otherwise never visit. But they must look at another circum- 

 stance. Education was entering more largely into agriculture than 

 ever ; and in this country it invariably happened that a large additional 



