NEED OF ORGANISATION 91 



relied upon to train to " Better Farming." Knowing at the time 

 what valuable results experimenting and demonstration had pro- 

 duced in German agriculture, I, in the early 'eighties, ventured, at 

 the semi-annual meetings of the Royal Agricultural Society, to 

 press the matter upon the attention of the council of that body. In 

 doing so I was to some extent supported by the late Dr. J. A. 

 Voelcker. However, my voice was far too feeble to produce any 

 effect. A good deal has, no doubt, in this matter been done since ; 

 but not nearly enough. On this ground, recognised by the several 

 authorities as being of the greatest importance, Canada and the 

 United States have now far eclipsed, not only ourselves, but also 

 the Germans, who were the first to take up the Rothamsted teach- 

 ing systematically on a national scale. As will still be shown, 

 teaching by demonstration is in those countries highly developed, 

 and it yields excellent results, and appears destined to yield far 

 more still in the future. What the ear takes in, even if the brain 

 grasps it, is only too likely to evaporate. Newspaper paragraphs 

 and advertisements are notoriously often deceptive. What the eye 

 can take in will bear no gainsaying ; and the almost unavoidable 

 result is : " Go and do likewise." Obviously, however, demonstra- 

 tion must not remain confined to experiments with plants, say, of 

 different competing species or under varying treatment. Live 

 stock wants to be demonstrated with as well. And not least impor- 

 tant is, in the present day, demonstration with implements and 

 machinery, which have become almost the ruling factor of farm 

 work, and are bound to assert their importance more and more as 

 time goes on. It is very difficult to impress upon mere readers or 

 listeners the precise degree of value or utility possessed by some 

 new implement or machine and the proper way of using it. The 

 most speciously eulogised may turn out not worth the money, and 

 the correct handling of these things is the standing crux of the 

 problem. Practical use tells the whole tale at once, and practical 

 handling teaches the tran-tran in a few minutes. 



With better vocational schooling and college teaching, discus- 

 sion, face-to-face instruction, research, and its discoveries made 

 available for farmers by good practical demonstration, farming 

 ought to become steadily better in quality if, in addition, such 

 helps as necessarily have to come from authorities, simply because 

 there is no one else there to render them, are given by autho- 

 rities. There ought to be facilities afforded for the formation of 

 societies — not purely buying and selling societies, but also societies 

 for joining together of common interests and for discussion. For a 



