JOINT COMMITTEE'S REPORT, 1890 319 



by the Council, and a majority of the Council expressed dis- 

 approval of the minority report sent out with it. As it gives 

 a good summary of the facilities for agricultural education 

 then existing in this country, the report is reproduced here, 

 merely omitting the preliminary and historical parts : 



Approaching this matter from the farmers' point of view, we 

 have not to deal with higher agricultural education, as carried 

 on at Cirencester, Downton, and Hollesley Bay ; as, however 

 excellent the teaching of agriculture both in theory and practice 

 at these colleges, the expense of education is so high as to abso- 

 lutely preclude them from being of any value to the ordinary 

 farming class. 



There remain for consideration 



I. Examining bodies, dealing with Principles of Agri- 

 culture, and offering Diplomas, Certificates, Scholarships, cOc. 



II. Teaching bodies, affording instruction in the Practice 

 or Theory of Agriculture. 



III. Bodies engaged in Systematic Experimental Scientific 

 Agricultural Research. 



(1) EXAMINING BODIES. 



I. Dealing with the first of these heads, we find that a con- 

 siderable work is now being done by the Science and Art Depart- 

 ment ; the latest published returns, viz., for 1888, exhibiting 

 the following results : 



Students Presenting Themselves for Examination, in Year 1888, in the 



Principles of Agriculture at various Local Schools in the United 



Kingdom. 



Total 

 Passed. Failed. examined. 



For elementary stage 3816 ... 1431 ... 5247 



For advanced stage 1136 ... 390 ... 1526 



Total 4952 ... 1821 ... 6773 



In addition to the above, a large number of students qualifying 

 at English Training Colleges to become teachers at public 

 elementary schools are annually examined in the principles of 

 agriculture by the Science and Art Department. 



The Committee have to emphasise the fact that these examin- 

 ations are entirely of a theoretical character, are conducted gener- 

 ally by examiners having no practical knowledge of farming, 

 and passed by persons who are in the main connected with the 

 large centres of population, and who do not as a rule follow the 

 pursuit of agriculture in after life. 



Since the year 1868 the Royal Agricultural Society has held 

 annual examinations, of admitted stringency, dealing with the 

 science and theory of agriculture, at which rewards of money 



