EXPERIMENTAL FARMS. 141 



perfecting the work which has there been begun. 

 There cannot be a doubt but that many parents 

 who are now sending their sons to such agri- 

 cultural seminaries as those at present estab- 

 lished, for the purpose of acquiring the necessary 

 practical information which a farmer requires, 

 will experience serious disappointment : and 

 that those young men have yet " an apprentice 

 fee to pay" (as the saying is) before they 

 become masters of the art of agriculture. The 

 art of agriculture is one thing, but a general 

 notion of that art a very different thing. A 

 farmer's son can never be master of the art 

 until he is qualified to take every implement 

 of the farm, and by his own practice, not that of 

 his foreman, teach his labourer how to perform, 

 not quality of work only, but quantity also : 

 for the latter is of as much importance to the 

 farmer as the former and not quantity for one 

 hour, day, week, or month, but for any given 

 time. The servant must be conscious that he 

 is a practical man before success can attend his 

 instruction. In short, an agricultural apprentice, 

 like every other apprentice, must support him- 

 self during the last year of his apprenticeship 

 on taskwork, and none ought to be admitted 



