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 ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 



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Vol. 11 May, 1915 No. 5 



Elementary Agriculture and Horticulture in Rural and 

 Village Schools of Ontario, Canada 



S. B. McCready 



Director of Elementary Agricultural Education, Department of Education, 



Toronto 



The story of the development of a scheme of teaching Agriculture 

 in the elementary schools of Ontario is a long and interesting one. 

 All the story cannot be told here. The sketching of a few outstand- 

 ing features will show, however, the relationships between the past 

 and the present and how our educational history in this matter 

 is repeating itself. 



Early Attempts to Secure Agricultural Instruction 



When our system of public instruction was organized in 1847 

 under the superintendence of Dr. Egerton Ryerson, the training 

 of teachers was provided for by the establishment of a Normal 

 School in Toronto. Right at the commencement the teachers-in- 

 training were given daily instruction in Agriculture by Mr. Hind, 

 a mathematical and science master brought out from Ireland; 

 oral and written examinations were held at the close of the term 

 and a School Garden (not called by that name then however) 

 containing an elaborate series of experiments and demonstrations 

 on fertilizers, farm crops and methods of cultivation was con- 

 ducted on the grounds of the model school which was associated 

 with the Normal School. There must have been considerable 

 public interest in the matter at the time, for Lord Elgin, the 

 Governor General of the Province, known then as Upper Canada, 

 donated prizes of £5 and £3 to the candidates taking first and 



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