EDUCATION, 141 



be disputed that in a vast majority of cases these holding's are imperfectly 

 cultivated, and that the habitations upon them are, speaking- generally, both 

 inferior and ill-kept. Under these circumstances, and considering- that the 

 settlement of the land question, under the Act of 1870, has turned the atten- 

 tion of the public to the g^eneral condition of the farming- classes, and has given 

 an impetus to many improvements in the management of farms, the present 

 has seemed to his Excellency a favourable occasion for an endeavour to direct 

 attention to this very large and important class of agriculturists. In doing so, 

 I am to state that he does not desire to raise or pronounce any opinion on the 

 very difficult question of the proper size of the farms. He would carefully 

 avoid that, but at the same time he is confident that that most interesting 

 question cannot be satisfactorily solved in this country until the small farmers 

 of Ireland avail themselves of the means at their disposal for careful tillage 

 much more extensively than they do now. Among the methods employed to 

 promote good agriculture, his Excellency is of opinion that nothing has been 

 more calculated to benefit the small farmers than the school farms or gardens 

 under the inspection of the National Board of Education, which, he is glad to 

 observe, are gradually increasing in number. Accordingly, it has occurred to 

 him, more in the hope of seeing his action, if successfully carried out, imitated 

 by others than from any notion that so small a contribution can have any very 

 considerable eff'ect in itself, to offer, on certain conditions, prizes to be adjudged 

 in connection with certain of these school farms. He has selected eight of 

 them in various parts of the country, viz. : — 



In Leinster — Garryhill and Ballinvally. 



In Ulster — Cornagilta and Parkanour. 



In Munster — Tervoe and Grange. 



In Connaught — Castlehackett and Killasolan. 



And, taking round each of them a radius of five or six miles, he proposes to 

 give annually for the next five years three prizes, to be called ' The Spencer 

 Small-farm Prizes,' and consisting of ;;^3 los., ;^2 los., and ;^i los., respec- 

 tively, to the occupiers of the three holdings in each of the areas above 

 described, and valued under ;^8 a year, which shall be adjudged to be the most 

 commendable on the score of (i) the neatness and cleanliness of the house ; 

 (2) the amount and quality of the produce of the land ; (3) the character and 

 condition of the live stock of all sorts, from horses and cows down to poultry 

 and bees ; (4) any other circumstances that may attract the favourable atten- 

 tion of the judges." 



The Commissioners received this scheme with much satisfaction, and 

 unanimously resolved to place at the disposal of your Excellency their 

 agricultural inspectors for the adjudication of the prizes. In each of the 

 five years of the experiment the Commissioners received a report from their 

 inspectors which satisfied them that the scheme proved to be a great success, 

 not only in encouraging the small farmers to make the most of their humble 

 resources, but in stimulating the landlords to look with a more earnest 

 solicitude upon the industry and improving fortunes of their small tenants. 



But whilst your prize scheme was still in its infancy, a Departmental Com- 

 mittee, 1873-4, under the presidency of Mr. W. H. Gladstone, M.P., was 

 appointed by the Treasury to investigate (along with other Irish Depart- 

 ments) the affairs of the National Board of Education. The agricultural 

 branch of the National system naturally came under the survey of this com- 

 mittee ; and they reported, inter alia, that, exclusive of Glasnevin, they 

 found that there were in the other twenty agricultural schools but thirty- 

 three resident pupils. 



