ox AGRICULTURE TO CANADA 67 



school, and transport the children by waggon twice daily. To test 

 this system and set an example, Sir William founded four con- 

 solidated schools in Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince 

 Edward Island, with classes in manual training, household science, 

 and nature study based on work in school gardens. The cost of 

 these schools was 180,000 dollars for three years. This example 

 was at once followed by local trustees (school boards), and con- 

 solidated schools are rapidly ousting the small inferior country 

 school. In Nova Scotia alone there are now twenty-two consolidated 

 schools in room of fifty-three schools of the old and inferior scale. 

 ConsoHdation allows of special teachers for each subject, therefore 

 better teachers ; it permits the inclusion of manual training, nature 

 study, agriculture, etc.; it raises the whole system of education at 

 once to a higher standard ; and it has increased the daily attendance 

 ratio from 50 to 100 per cent. 



Macdonald Institutes 



The educational reforms outlined above at once created a 

 demand for specially trained teachers of nature study, agriculture, 

 manual training, household science, etc. Recognising that this 

 demand for teachers must be supplied, Sir William Macdonald pro- 

 vided, at the Ontario Agricultural College at Guelph, two large 

 buildings equipped for the residence and training of teachers. These 

 institutions are a constituent part of the Ontario Agricultural College, 

 and Principal Creelman is head of both, but it will be convenient 

 to consider the Macdonald Institution apart from the College, 

 keeping in mind, however, that the association of training centre 

 with agriculture, and the utilisation of the agricultural staff are 

 essential features of the work. 



The following are the departments of the Institute : — 



1. Department of Home Economics 



With two objects in view. The one to bring to the vocation 

 of home-making the same kind of help which the Ontario Agricul- 

 tural College brings to the business of farming, the other to provide 

 for the training of Home Science teachers for the public schools. 

 This department includes four courses : — 



(a) Normal course in Domestic Science. (Two years). 



(b) Housekeepers' Course. (Two years). 



(c) Home-makers' Course. ^One year;. 



{d) Short course in Domestic Science. (Three months). 



The subjects dealt with in these courses are too numerous for 

 mention in detail, but they include physiology, hygiene, foods, 

 cooking, sanitation, etc., among the more practical and teaching 

 methods, and child study among the more theoretical. The short 

 courses are distinctly practical, and the shortest course of all, of 

 three months, provides for no examination or certificate. The 

 students of the Department of Home Economics are all women. 



