State Aid to Agricultnre in Ireland. 47 



being improperly treated: as regards funds, or else by the 

 Council of Agriculture. 



In connection with the count}' schemes, and indeed with all 

 the work of the Department, the educational bases on which the 

 whole structure of State aid to agriculture is being reared requires 

 some explanation. Of all the agricultural problems which the 

 Department have had to solve, that of gi-adually leading Irish 

 farmers to appreciate a good agricultural education for their sons 

 has been the most difficult, and has received the most attention. 

 To induce the farmer to make some sacrifice to give the son, who 

 is to succeed him in the holding, a technical education suitable 

 to his calling, it is necessary first of all to convince him cf its 

 advantages. As it is impracticable to bring the farmer himself 

 to school, the only way of teaching him the application of 

 science to agriculture is by sending round instructors to give 

 lectures in the evenings, and to visit holdings during the daj- 

 and discuss privately with the occupiers the various problems 

 which confront them in their daily work. Such an officer, if 

 he is armed wdth a thorough knowledge of his business, both 

 scientific and practical, rarely fails to convince a farmer of the 

 fact that he would have been more successful had he received 

 an agricultural education, and that it is to his son's advantage 

 that he should be given one. The whole educational scheme 

 of the Department starts on those foundations, and its details 

 may be summarised vmder seven divisions as follows : — 



(1) To provide at one central institution the highest form 

 of technical education for the training of men who are to 

 become teachers and specialists in agriculture. This has been 

 done by founding a Faculty of Agriculture at the Royal College 

 of Science, Dublin, in connection with the farm and college 

 at Glasnevin. The College provides courses in the natural and 

 applied sciences, and was attended during the session 1909-10 

 by 12t) students. The College is strong, as is to be expected, on 

 its agricultural side, and provides, for the students who need 

 them, lectures on agriculture, agricultural biology, agricultural 

 chemistry, and of course geology, mineralogy, botany, zoology, 

 &c. Courses on rural economy and school gardening are also 

 given ; a portion of these are carried on at the College and 

 the remainder at the Albert Agricultural College, Glasnevin, 

 and at the Kingstown Technical School Gardens. 



(2) To provide at least one high-class agricultural college 

 which would form a stepping-stone for men desirous of entering 

 the Royal College of Science, as well as men, the sons of well- 

 to-do farmers, who wish for an education to enable them to 

 manage their own farms ; and men who desire to become 

 creamery managers, or who wish to have a special training to 

 fit thorn as horticultural «>r poultry experts, stewards, land 



