228 



NATURE 



[May 22, 19 19 



tion, and few desirable recruits would have 

 entered it. 



All this was changed in igio with the appoint- 

 ment of the Development Commission, and the 

 thoroughness with which that body did its duty by 

 encouraging agricultural research and education 

 deserves wide recognition. Colleges and research 

 institutions were enabled to build up staffs with 

 adequate technical knowledge and expert in study- 

 ing agricultural problems. The country has 

 already derived considerable benefit ; during the 

 war it must have recovered most of its expendi- 

 ture as a result of having at its service a body of 

 experts already trained, instead of having to wait 

 until new men could learn the work. 



After eight years of its first scheme the Board 

 of Agriculture is clearly satisfied with the results, 

 for it has now decided on a still further develop- 

 ment. The Board's proposals involve an expendi- 

 ture on agricultural research and education, not 

 of 5o,oooZ. a year, but of 400,000/. a year. Re- 

 search, it is understood, is to be subsidised at the 

 rate of ioo,oooZ. a year; the colleges are to 

 receive 50,000?. a year; the remainder is intended 

 for country and other work. 



A certain number of men (and presumably of 

 women also) who have distinguished themselves in 

 natural science at the universities will receive 

 scholarships that will enable them to specialise in 

 agricultural science and to fit themselves for ap- 

 pointments at research institutions and agricul- 

 tural colleges. A scholarship scheme has been in 

 existence since 191 1, and useful experience has 

 been gained of its operation. Perhaps the most 

 notable feature of this accumulated experience is 

 the serious responsibility placed on the teacher 

 who nominates a candidate. It has happened that 

 unsuitable men have been put forward by well- 

 meaning sponsors who realised that their candi- 

 date was not quite good enough for pure science, 

 but hoped he might do for agriculture. Indeed, 

 one or two schools of pure science are in rather 

 bad odour at agricultural institutions for this 

 reason. Unfortunately agricultural science, while 

 offering excellent careers for men of the proper 

 outlook and calibre, is the blindest of blind alleys 

 for those who are unsuitable. 



Given the right type of man, a career will be 

 open to him. At the present time there are some 

 forty permanent research posts at the agricultural 

 institutions. It is proposed (according to the 

 Times) to raise this number gradually to 150. 

 The salaries, we learn from another source, will 

 compare favourably with those offered at the 

 universities, the headship of a small department 

 being equivalent to a senior lectureship and that 

 of a large department to a professorship; in addi- 

 tion, the university superannuation scheme is to 

 apply. The work, we know, is of the highest in- 

 terest and importance. 



Agricultural education is also to be developed. 

 There are already in existence a number of agri- 

 cultural colleges to serve the country — in England 

 and Wales alone there are about twelve, without 



NO. 2586, VOL. 103] 



counting the Scottish and Irish colleges — and they 

 will receive further grants enabling them to 

 develop on more extensive lines. 



The work of the colleges is mainly related to 

 the needs of the coming generation of farmers ; 

 it is proposed, however, to bring them into closer 

 touch with men at present farming by the estab- 

 lishment of demonstration farms and other organ- 

 isations calculated to achieve the same purpose. 



At the present time the link between the college 

 and the school is not very definite ; we have in 

 this country very few schools similar to the Rural 

 High Schools of the United States. Oundle 

 among the large schools, and Dauntsey and Bre- 

 wood among the grammar schools, have agri- 

 cultural sides where boys receive the proper train- 

 ing preliminary to an agricultural college course, 

 but there are few places to which a farmer or 

 labourer could send his son if for any reason the 

 long school and college course were not possible. 

 It Is proposed to erect more farm institutes where 

 intelligent boys can go for winter courses, and 

 girls can be taught in summer ; a certain amount 

 of this kind of work has been done, and its value 

 demonstrated. Finally, there is to be provision 

 for giving short courses to school teachers who 

 will be engaged in the new continuation schools 

 In rural districts. 



Although full details are not yet published, 

 sufficient is known to show that the scheme is of 

 the first importance, and the Board of Agriculture 

 is to be congratulated on the bold lines of the 

 •proposal. The scheme has yet to be accepted 

 by the House of Commons, and may undergo 

 changes; It cannot be fully discussed until it is 

 officially published In all its details. For the 

 moment the great point for satisfaction is that 

 the Board of Agriculture has shown itself so com- 

 pletely alive to the need for research and educa- 

 tion, and has so fully satisfied itself that science 

 can help agriculture. The band of scientific 

 workers who have rendered such devoted service 

 during the probationary period may also be con- 

 gratulated on the result of their labours. 



Some of these workers have themselves issued 

 through the Agricultural Education Association a 

 memorandum on the reconstruction of agricultural 

 education in England and Wales, 1 which is of 

 interest as showing their side, and will be of still 

 greater _ Interest when the Board's scheme is 

 finally issued. The memorandum Is very wide 

 in its scope, and deals with rural continuation 

 schools, county work, farm institutes, agricultural 

 colleges, university agricultural education, agri- 

 cultural research, dairy education, horticultural 

 education, poultry-keeping, co-operative experi- 

 mental work, experimental and other farms, status 

 of workers, and co-ordination in educational work. 

 The general summary is contained in sixty-two 

 paragraphs at the end, and as It relates largely 

 to matters of detail It cannot well be further 

 shortened. In the main the 191 1 scheme is judged 

 to have succeeded, though it now needs consider- 



hL^!'' aI]'''''^ a°™ '^^ ^^^'^'^.^ °^ ^t^ Agricultural Education Association, 

 Harper Adams Agricultural College, Newport, Salop. 



