president's address — SECTION K. 251 



farm operations and practice is made to go hand in hand with 

 theoretical instruction, of which it may be taken to represent the 

 best possible form of practical demonstration. I have been privi- 

 leged to watch the results of this type of training for close o« 

 thirty years, and can testify that, in the main, it has not fallen 

 short of the anticipation of its originators. It is certain that, 

 under no other coui'se of training could the unavoidable interval 

 which must always separate the successful student from the success- 

 ful farm manager be bridged in a shorter space of time. Like all 

 other human undertakings, however, it is not without its limita- 

 tions and incon\ eniences ; and because in the past it has served us 

 well, it does not fellow that future developments may not render 

 imperative the adoption of drastic modifications. If the means 

 of acquiring a reasonable degree cf familiarity and skill in farm 

 manual operations is to be available to all students in attendance, 

 then it is very 'clear that the number of those present at any one 

 time must be strictly limited by the farm area which can be con- 

 veniently worked from a common centre. From personal ex- 

 perience, I am prepared to assert that, from this view-point, whilst 

 60 to 70 students represent perhaps an optimvim, 100 cf them 

 represent a clear m.aximum. If, under the j)ressure of circum- 

 stances, this maximum be overstepped, one of two things is bound 

 to happen ; either the college farm is too vast aud unwieldy to be 

 conveniently ir. an aged from a common centre ; or else it cannot 

 possibly meet the continued requirements in farm practice of all 

 those in attendapce. Hence, as soon as requests for admission to 

 these colleges threaten to lift numt)ers in attendance appreciably 

 and conistently above the maximum, then, if our faith in technical 

 training is genuine, and if we shun make-believe, either new 

 colleges must be called into existence, or else the system of train- 

 ing hithertoi adopted at existing ones must receive radical modifica- 

 tions. With our limited population and shifting political condi- 

 tions, the multiplication of agricultural colleges is, for the present, 

 in my ojnnicn, neither wise ncr desirable. The efficiency of these 

 colleges is mainly dependent on their equipment, and the extent to 

 which they are supported by the public purse ; and if, on a wave 

 of passing enthusiasm, their numbers be incautiously increased, not 

 only receint creations, but old-established institutions as well, must 

 suffer when its force is spent, and the inevitable ebb sets in 

 Better no colleges at all than half-starved ones. We must con- 

 sider, therefore, along what lines existing systems of training 

 admit of modifications without sacrifice^ of their proved efficiency. 



And in this connexion it is certainly not necessary to assume 

 that all those seeking college training are inadequately acquainted 

 with farm practice. It may, ^.ndeed, be taken for granted that the 

 35 per cent, who are farm-bred, are already adequately equipped 

 in this direction. Not infrequently, indeed, I have heard farmers 

 objecting to send their sons to college on the grounds that half 



