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REPORT OF THE SCOTTISH COMMISSION 



Theory and Practice 



Theory and practice go hand in hand at these agricultural 

 stations. In the class-room instruction is given, in the evenings 

 and at other times when outdoor work is not pressing, in English, 

 arithmetic, surveying, book-keeping, and technical agriculture. 

 On the farm pupils are taught practical agriculture. It is not 

 necessary that we should describe the work at all three stations. 



DORMITORY AT ATHENRY FARM SCHOOL 



That indeed would be difficult, for we visited only two of them. 

 But the stations are all more or less alike. It will be sufficient 

 if we describe the work generally. 



Pot Culture 



At Clonakilty we found the students carrying out experiments 

 to ascertain the manurial dressings required by different fields. 

 They took from the field under experiment six or eight potfuls of 

 soil. Every pot was sown with the crop to be tested and treated 

 with different artificials. The dressing which produced the best 

 crop was the dressing which the field most needed. It was thus 

 hoped to find out the needs of the soil without analysis. 



Work in the Fields 



The students rough it in the fields like other men, for tillage is 

 of supreme importance in Ireland, and no student is allowed to 

 neglect it. At Clonakilty it is less important than in some other 



