160 president's address SECTION G. 



more enliglitened than liis father with regard to modern improve- 

 ments in artificial manures, drainage, management of stock, new 

 implements, and better methods of cultivation. 



I am aware that a grave objection to this scheme of education 

 in the minds of many of our small farmers wovdd be the expense, 

 not only in the actual outlay for fees (which would probably be 

 made very small), but also in the loss of the boy's services at a 

 time when he is becoming useful on the parental farm. 



As one who is proud to acknowledge his indebtedness for his 

 education, and the consequent pleasure of doing, or trying to do, 

 some useful work for his fellows, to the vmselfish love of parents who 

 preferred their children's interests to their own personal comfort 

 and luxury, I would venture to assert that nothing our farmers can 

 do for their children will be more likely to bear such a rich harvest 

 of filial gratitude and unmixed satisfaction in after years as the 

 memory of the sacrifices they made for their children's sake in the 

 pioneering days when they were struggling with a new farm and a 

 young family. Evei-y true parent who wishes to see his children 

 rise to a higher plane of usefulness in the commonwealth, and 

 attain to greater success than he himself has been able to do, will 

 think little of the strict economy and personal privations that will 

 be necessary to enable him to give his children the best education 

 the State can afford, and to allow them the fullest opportunities of 

 improving their knowledge of their profession, and thus becoming 

 as valuable citizens as possible to the country at large. 



Doubtless the system of bursaries which prevails at our ixniver- 

 sity and at our high schools will be extended to this class of school 

 also, and thus settlers and struggling farmers who cannot pay the 

 necessary fees, however small, as well as lose their son's valuable 

 services just as he is becoming of use to them, will be able to see 

 their boy educated at the cost of the State by the aid of a scholar- 

 ship earned by his own honorable industry and perseverance. 



When a lad has spent two years at such a farm school he should 

 have such a knowledge of stock, farm implements, and general 

 farming operations as to be fit either to return to his father's home 

 as a useful assistant, or to go on to a higher school of agricidture, 

 where the scientific subjects allied to agriculture will receive fuller 

 attention. 



To show how much these schools are valued on the Continent, I 

 may mention that in Prussia alone there are thirty-two of them, 

 and the same number in France, together with a large number of 

 apprentice farms, on which the owners of first-class farms are 

 allowed to take students to learn the principles of their calling, a 

 bonus for each student being paid by the Government. 



In these countries the system of agricultural education has de- 

 veloped on no fixed plan, and does not therefore present an 

 harmonious whole. Each part of the system has been forced upon 

 the State by the exigencies of the times, and there is therefore 



