CHAPTER XV 



EDUCATION 



The training of farmers is much discussed, 

 grants are being made, books written and the 

 matter aired, but chiefly it seems for the small 

 men. The sons of large farmers are still, one 

 gathers, to be trained in their own homes, and 

 the sons of large estates in Agricultural Colleges. 

 I have little faith in either. The Agricultural 

 College teaches theory, but of all failures, farming 

 by theory is the most appalling, for farming is 

 all detail, a thousand trifles a day, each of which 

 may earn or lose a penny and only the practical 

 man gets the penny. In each district farmers have 

 their own times for working the land, sowing, 

 reaping, and thrashing; their own ideas on manur- 

 ing, crop rotation, and a myriad points. These 

 customs seem antiquated and arbitrary, but after 

 observation are found to be based on the experi- 

 ence of previous generations and mostly right; 

 so that they who farm according to the custom 

 of the county may not make fortunes, but they 

 keep steadily going. The theorist who comes 



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