104 OUR ENGLISH LAND MUDDLE. 



and, in cases where it is necessary, irrigation 

 plant. Elementary agricultural schools, devoted 

 to the teaching of agriculture alone, are estab- 

 lished in the suburbs of the biggest cities. 

 Teachers and scholars of all schools are en- 

 couraged to enrol for rural camp schools during 

 the holidays, when they acquire first-hand know- 

 ledge of farming. The purpose of all this is 

 rather to attract the young mind at its earliest 

 stage of impressionableness to thoughts of the 

 land as a means of livelihood than to give actual 

 practical training, though these early lessons in 

 the elements of plant and animal life are not 

 without their value. The chief gain, however, 

 of the primary school garden, the school courses 

 on agriculture, and the rural camp schools is 

 that at the youngest age a child is reminded that 

 one of the pleasant ways of making a livelihood 

 is to become a farmer or a farm worker. 



All this might be imitated in England. It is 

 true that in city centres it would be rare to 

 find land available for garden plots around the 

 school buildings. But almost everywhere it 

 should be possible to find an area for a school 

 garden in some accessible place. I notice among 



