OBJECT OP MODEL YARMS. 471 



husbandry based thereupon, and made public by means of the 

 local press — must be of the greatest benefit to the landholders 

 and the community at large. 



In countries, such as England, where thousands of acres are 

 the property of wealthy landlords, where scientific information is 

 at ready command, private individuals may, either by their own 

 exertions or by liberal encouragements, correct the theory or 

 improve the practice of agriculture ; and yet agricultural 

 societies, even there, are of the greatest advantage. 



But in countries, like France, where properties are subdivided 

 into small allotments, and particularly in such colonies as the 

 West Indies, where the proprietary body is either impoverished 

 or actually bordering on ruin, individual exertions generally 

 remain sterile, and voluntary societies are powerless to do 

 good. 



It has, therefore, been deemed necessary in France to form 

 model farms, and to organise a " Central Board of Agriculture * 

 under the control of the Government. 



The West India islands, compared with France, are in a 

 still worse position than the latter as compared with England ; 

 and model farms, with agricultural schools, supported by the 

 Government, are the only channels through which to convey to 

 the people theoretical as well as practical instruction, and the 

 only means for eventually improving the art of husbandry in 

 this archipelago. 



Sincerely impressed with this conviction — myself a humble 

 individual, but deeply interested in the prosperity of this fine 

 colony — I presume to intrude on your lordship's valuable time 

 by offering, for your perusal, the following ideas, or sketch of a 

 model farm. Such an establishment, properly conducted, would, 

 in my opinion, be of no less benefit to Trinidad than any past 

 or present scheme for immigration. 



At no other period, perhaps, will the Colonial Government 

 have a better opportunity of purchasing, at a moderate rate, one 

 of the numerous sugar-estates now abandoned, and investing the 

 same as Colonial property. In case the Government could spare 

 a sufficient sum of money, two model farms might be established 

 —one in Victoria, and the other in St. George; say, in Nap* 

 rima for the former, and Tacarigua, or St. Joseph, for the latter 

 county. 



