76 REPORT OF THE SCOTTISH COMMISSION 



miles west of Montreal overlooking the Ottawa river, and its property- 

 comprises 561 acres arranged in three main areas (1) the Campus, 

 with plots for illustration and research in grains, grasses, and flowers, 

 containing 74 acres ; (2) the Small Cultures Farm of 100 acres for 

 cereal husbandry plots, horticulture, and poultry keeping ; and (3) 

 the Live Stock and Grain Farm of 387 acres. 



The buildings are admirably arranged, and in their construction 

 and fitting are beyond all praise, and perfect to the verge of 

 extravagance. 



It is questionable if an expenditure of public money on the same 

 scale would be justifiable, but it is fortunate for the province and for 

 the Dominion of Canada, and possibly for the Empire, that such a 

 magnificent donation has taken form and substance to serve as an 

 inspiration and stimulus to agricultural education all over the 

 American continent and the British Empire. 



The College is divided into three schools, and a student is enrolled 

 in the one in which the major portion of the work is taken. 



1. The School for Teachers, which provides a comprehensive and 

 thoroughly practical training in the art and science of teaching. 



2. The School of Agriculture, which aims to provide a theoretical 

 and practical training in the several branches of agriculture. 



3. The School of Household Science, in which young women 

 receive training which will make for the improvement and greater 

 enjoyment of home life. 



In the School of Agriculture and the School for Teachers the 

 tuition is free to Canadians, in the School of Household Science there 

 is a fee of 25 dollars per session. The charges for board and lodging 

 are, for each occupant of a double room with single beds, 3.25 dollars 

 per week. The courses of instruction are on the same general lines 

 as those described as part of the Ontario College curriculum. The 

 College is affiliated with the M'Gill University from which the higher 

 degree is received. The outstanding feature of this College is the 

 combination from the beginning and not as additions, of three 

 schools, so organised that while each supplies a special training 

 for a definite end, the foundational teaching is the same in all. The 

 roots of the College draw, as it were, from all sources to form a 

 stem of knowledge applicable to the country ; knowledge of climate, 

 weather, plants, animals, of simple physiology and physics, in a 

 word, of Nature. On this common stem are grafted three branches, 

 each bearing fruit according to its kind, but each fruit tinged and 

 flavoured by the common stock from which it springs. The ad- 

 vantages of the combination are clear. The embryo rural teacher 

 is never far from rural problems, and always in sight of farming and 

 gardening on the best principles. The student of Household Science 

 is taught the dependence of the farm on the house, and the house on 

 the farm, and the agricultural student, having shared the elementary 

 knowledge with the teacher and the home-maker, takes a wider, finer 

 view of his own occupation and of its social and national importance. 

 Professor Robertson, the presiding genius of the Macdonald College, 

 is an idealist full of practical enthusiasms and common sense. He 

 has planned the College so that it is the expression of modern thought 



