12 THE PLACE OF RURAL ECONOMY 



staffs, for guidance in the many difficulties that oppose 

 them. They frequently purchase their manures and 

 feeding-stuffs, regulate the feeding of their animals, and 

 lay their plans to guard against or eradicate injurious 

 insects, fungi, and weeds, on the advice of the local 

 experts. Agricultural societies and associations have 

 even been known to pass resolutions of thanks to 

 County Councils for the educational help that has been 

 given to them in their calling, and deputations of agri- 

 culturists have waited on the Government to urge them 

 to extend their beneficent operations. Although it is 

 the present generation of farmers who give voice to 

 their appreciation of the advantages that they have 

 derived from the recent educational movement, it is to 

 the rising generation that we must look for solid 

 results. Only in their case has the education been 

 systematic and thorough, and for the most part they 

 have not yet had the opportunity of fully putting into 

 practice what they have learned. Sixteen years ago 

 the number of students pursuing a systematic course of 

 education in scientific agriculture at a collegiate centre 

 in England and Wales could have been little more than 

 100 ; while local classes, such as are now a prominent 

 feature of village life, were practically non-existent. 

 In the Report of the Board of Agriculture on the 

 Distribution of Grants for the financial year 1903-4, 

 the number of students who were pursuing a systematic 

 course at one or other of the institutions aided by the 

 Board was put at rather more than 1,000 ; while the 

 number of those who were reached by short village 

 courses was computed at 22,000. For the year recently 

 closed I estimate the number of internal agricultural 

 students at a central institution at 1,500, and the number 

 of those reached by peripatetic instruction at 32,500. 



