462 Abstract Report of Atjricultural Discussions. 



scutecl to them. He Lad seen, especially in the earlier days of tliat 

 institution, young men entering Avho left the general school at about 

 fourteen or fifteen. Having afterwards lived for three or four years 

 on their fathers' faiTUS, and, he was afraid, spent a large portion of 

 their time in hunting and shooting, they had then come to the institu- 

 tion perfectly impreparcd to take advantage of the opportunities of 

 improvement which were offered to them ; in fact, the knowledge 

 which they should have acquired passed completely over their heads. 

 Therefore, •while he fully admitted the great importance of practical 

 details, he thought it was also very important that there should be a 

 good general education, and that boys should not leave school to gain 

 a Icnowledge of the practical details of farming at such an early period 

 as had been suggested by Mr. Morton. 



Mr. MooKK did not quite agi'ce with some of the previous speakers 

 in the opinion that sporting contributed to the improvement of the 

 young farmers. He maintained that j'oung men should go u2)on a farm 

 to learn the business, and while there should stick to it. There was 

 such a tendency in outdoor occujjation to create a disinclination for 

 reading and office work, that he made it his rule never to take a pnpil 

 without a distinct understanding that there should be no sjioi'ting 

 during the time he might be with him. "Whatever st^lf-dcnial and self- 

 discipline they were thus called upon to exercise, he believed they would 

 be the better for in after life. Whatever might be done by the Society 

 to fm'ther agricultural education in this country, lie hoped they would 

 not mix themselves up with the question of tlie general education of 

 the people ; because, although there Mas a class of farmers who under- 

 valued education, and felt little concern for their sons in that respect, 

 yet he was happy to say that that class was rapidly diminishing. As 

 a body, the farmers were becoming as anxious as any other class to 

 avail themselv( s of the advantages of education. 



The other day ho visited the Agricultural College at Cii'cnccster, 

 and Mr. Constable mentioned to him that tlie Farmers' Club at Kings- 

 cote had recently made an arrangement, by which Mr. Church, the 

 chemist at the college, was to deliver a series of lectures in connexion 

 with that Society, and extending over a considerable period ; and he 

 added that a large number of farmers' sons had put their names down 

 with subscrijitions of five guineas a-piece to pay for these lectures. 

 He, Mr. Moore, did not by any means undervalue the local Societies ; 

 but the great mistake connected with them was, that tlicy had gene- 

 rally confined tliemsclves to shows of live stock, &c. Eight or ten 

 years ago, he had assisted in the establishment of a library at Farriug- 

 don, and in connexion with that they had a course of lectures in the 

 winter, the attendance at which had varied from fifty to seventy. The 

 effect of that institution had, he believed, been very beneficial. Still, 

 he must say that the books in the library were not read so much as he 

 could wish. If the Royal Agricultural Society could in any way helj) 

 f 01 war? a movement of that kind, they would be doing a great good to 

 the agricidtural conmiunity. 



Sir Walter Stirling said, it seemed to him that the question was 

 one between practical iiitelligence and scientific acquirements ; whether, 



