Report of the Executive Committee 29 



as have now been achieved, he would have been regarded as an optimist 

 or a dreamer. 



'* It is quite certain that the progress which has been made in the 

 great majority of centres has exceeded all anticipations, while the 

 average merit of the work has steadily risen year by year. 



"Apart from the benefits which must accrue to the diligent youths 

 who have acquitted themselves so well, a lesson of significant import has 

 been taught on the amenability of the soil to increased productiveness, 

 whatever its natural state may be. 



" It has also been demonstrated in the most cogent manner possible 

 that this can be effected by the intelligent, loving labour of youths (some 

 of whom walk from I to 2 miles to their gardens), under the guid- 

 ance of able, striving local teachers, who add tact and zeal to their 

 knowledge, as powerful factors in attaining the object. 



*' Difficulties have to be encountered in all kinds of educational work. 

 In conducting lessons on the land they are met with in various forms — 

 such as of site, soil, and weather, youthful peculiarities, and sporting 

 indulgences; but difficulties only act as stimulants to earnest men, and, 

 with few exceptions, yield to well-judged persevering effort suitable to 

 each case." 



Economic Entomology 



This subject was very largely taken up in the section, 

 and when taught on informal lines it offers an opportunity 

 for encouraging outdoor and even indoor observations 

 on the part of children. In some cases the subject was 

 theoretically considered from a very advanced point of view, 

 but the actual collections shown were generally unimportant. 

 The exhibition of "breeding-cages" pointed, however, to the 

 fact that sometimes the students work out the life-histories 

 of insects for themselves. 



Botany 



One of the interesting features in this respect was the 

 original maps prepared by Mr. R. Smith and Mr. W. G. 

 Smith for the regional botanical surveys of Scotland and 

 Yorkshire shown by the Yorkshire College, Leeds. The 

 College of Science, Durham, in its exhibits, specialized in 

 economic agricultural botany and in agricultural bacteri- 

 ology; the latter subject also formed the principal part of 



