36 



NEW ENGLAND FAR M E R , 



AfCrST S. 1S38. 



TEiMPLEMOYLE AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL. 

 The Agricultural Seminary of Templemoylc 

 originate<l at a very numerous meeting of tJie North 

 west of Ireland FiirminjT Society at Londonderry, 

 and it was at first intended that it should consist 

 of two establishments, takintr Mons. Fellenberg's 

 Institution at Iloffivyll in Switzerland in some de- 

 gree as the model : the first to be a school afford- 

 ing instruction in every science and accomplish- 

 ment aimed at by the children of the higher orders ; 

 tlie second for the education of the sons of respec- 

 table farmers and tradesmen, in the hope of dissem- 

 inating the advantages of an improved system of 

 farming with greater certainty, by combining the 

 practice and tlieory of it in the instruction of those 

 who were afterwards to make agriculture their 

 pursuit. It was hoped that the extended scale of 

 the institution would have allowed of a greater va- 

 riety of masters and lecturers, and that the profit 

 derived from the superior school would have con- 

 tributed towards the maintenance of the secondary 

 one ; but a short experience convinced the subscri- 

 bers that such a scheme was impracticable with- 

 out much larger and more certain funds than tlioy 

 could rely on ; they then gave their undivided at- 

 tention to the agricultural seminary, which through 

 their increasing exertion has attained such emi- 

 nence as may justly entitle them to look forward 

 with confidence to its increasing usefulness, and to 

 its becoming a model for establishments of a smii- 

 lar nature in other parts of Ireland. 



The school and farm of Templemoyle are situa- 

 ted about six miles from Londonderry; about a 

 mile distant from the mail-coach road leading from 

 Londonderry to Newtowlimavady. The house, 

 placed on an eminence, commands an extensive 

 and beautiful view over a rich and highly cultivated 

 country, terminated by Lough Foyle. The base of 

 the hill is occupied by a kitchen and ornamental 

 garden, cultivated by the youths of the establish- 

 ment, under an experienced gardener. The ground 

 between the garden and house is laid out in beds 

 in which all the different grasses, clovers, &c., are 

 cultivated with the greatest care. The house is in 

 the form an ||^||, with range of farming offices be- 

 hind, containing spacious, lofty and well ventilated 

 school rooms, refectory, dormitories, apartments for 

 the masters, matron, ser\-ants, &c. 



Each pupil occupies a separate bed ; the house 

 can accommodate seventysix, and the number of 

 pupils amounts to sixty. They receive an excel- 

 lent education in reading, writing, and arithmetic ; 

 book-keeping, mathematics, land-surveying, and 

 geography. This department is managed by an 

 excellent head master and assistant master, both 

 resident in the house. The pupils are so classed 

 that one half are receiving their education in the 

 house, while the remainder are engaged in the cul- 

 tivation of a farm of 130 Cunningham or 1(15 statute 

 acres, in the management of which they are direct- 

 ed by the head farmer, an experienced and clever 

 man, a native of Scotland, who has a skilful plough- 

 man under him. The pupils who are employed one 

 part of the day on the farm, are replaced by those 

 in the school, so that the education always advan- 

 ces in aiul out of doors pari passti. 



The pupils are thus instructed in all the practi- 

 cal parts of farming, and .ire also several times a 

 week on the theory of agriculture. They are 

 made acquainted with all the properties of differ- 

 ent soils, the manures most applicable, and the 

 crops best adapted to each ; points in frhich most 

 of our practical farmers displayed great ignorance. 



They are also made acquainted with all the nu- 

 merous varieties of cattle, and their qualities, such 

 as early maturity in some breeds, hardihood in 

 others, and have strongly impressed on them that 

 one of the most essential points in farming, is to 

 select the cattle and the crops best adapted to the 

 situation, soil, &c. 



The stables, harness-rooms, cow-houses, winter- 

 feeding houses,^iggeries, barn, tool-houses, are ar- 

 ranged in the best manner, and the pupils are re- 

 quired to keep them and their contents in the high- 

 est order. A respectable and intelligent matron 

 has the superintendence of the dairy, cooking, and 

 cleaning the house, and the charge of the domestic 

 servants. 



In sending a pupil to Templemoyle, it is neces- 

 sary to have a nomination from one of the share 

 holders, or from a subscriber of 2/. aimually. The 

 annual payment for pupils is 10/. a year; and for 

 this trifling sum they are found in board, lodging, 

 and washing, and are educated so as to fittliem for 

 land-stewards, directing agents, practical farmers, 

 surveyors, schoolmasters, or clerks. 



From fifteen to seventeen is the age best suited 

 for entrance at Templemoyle, as three years are 

 quite sufficient to qualify a student possessed of 

 ordinary talents and a knowledge of the rudiments 

 of reading and writing, to occupy any of the above 

 situations. 



N. B. — Upwards of two hundred young men, 

 natives of sixteen different counties in Ireland, 

 have passed through or remain in the school. Of 

 these between forty and fifty have been placed in 

 different situations, such as land-stewards, agents, 

 schoolmasters and clerks, or employed on the ord- 

 nance survey. Nearly one hundred are now con- 

 ducting their own or their fathers' farms in a man- 

 ner very superior to that of olden time ; and the 

 accounts of those who have been placed from the 

 seminary are such as to gratify the gentlemen who 

 have its interest at heart, and to convince them 

 that the good seed sown is producing an ample 

 and valuable harvest. 



Templemoyle, Oct. 14, 1837. 

 [It gives us unqualified pleasure to lay before 

 our readers the above gratifying account of an in- 

 stitution so eminently calculated to confer lasting 

 benefits upon the country. We have been long 

 strenuous advocates for the establishment of agri- 

 cultural schools in all parts of Ireland, feeling as- 

 sured that they would ultimately be the means of 

 breaking down those absurb prejudices which have 

 been hitherto the most insurmountable obstacles 

 with which agriciiltiiral unprovement had to con- 

 tend.] — Editors Britkh Farmer's Magazine. 



NOTICE OF AN EXPERIMENTAL FARM LN 



FRANCE. BT COL. LE COUTEUR. 



It is situated in a beautiful and fertile country, 

 well wooded and watered, but cultivated by the 

 Breton fanners just as their fatliors tilled it '200 

 years since. The college or experimental farm 

 appears like a garden in a smiling wilderness, so 

 far as culture goes. I rose at four in the morning, 

 in order to witness the whole course of labor in 

 this interesting institution. 



There were from 80 to !I0 students under the su- 

 perintendence and tuition of a director, a professor 

 of agriculture and agricultural chemistry, a veteri- 

 nary surgeon, and an agricultural implement maker. 

 At half past four they took a slight repast, and as 

 the clock struck five, all were employed ; some in 



harnessing the horses and oxen, others in cart 

 out and properly disposing the implements in 

 field, others set to hoeing, others weeding, so 

 ploughing, some hay making, in a word to all 

 various labors of the season. 



The school is divided into working parties 

 ten ; at the head of each is a steady younor n 

 of experience, called the ' decurion,' who dire 

 the work of his party. In all difficult operatio 

 a regular farming laborer is at hand to perfc 

 them ; but such is the ardor and perseverance 

 tlie youths, tliat they rarely allow any difficulty 

 arrest their progress. The duty of one ' decui 

 or ten, is to dress, litter and feed tlie cattle, w 

 as much regularity a; a cavalry corps dress th 

 horses ; also to keep the farm-yard in order. Tl 

 all, in turn, are made acquainted with every thi 

 counected with a farm, whetlier in regard to h 

 ses, oxen, cows, pigs, or manures. These last i 

 made and husbanded with the greatest care, 1 

 mi-xons being formed of sweepings, leaves, a 

 weeds that had not seeded, in alternate layers w 

 stable manure. 



The drainings of the stables and straw-yard, I 

 into a tank, to be pumped out when required 

 liquid manure, which is the best, most portab 

 but least known in this country. 



The learned professor M. Donku, who is an f 

 mirable practical farmer, as polite and communic 

 tive as he is learned, complained that he had no' 

 sufficient quantity of manure. I urged him to bi 

 the underwood and decaying timber of the lar 

 adjacent forests, through which wide roads we 

 cut, which would enable him to obtain an inexhai 

 tible supply of ashes the best of all manures eith 

 for turnips and wheat ; tlie cartage of ashes bei 

 easy, and the quantity required to dress the la 

 not being great ; in which he entirely coincided 

 At nine all come into their studies, when th 

 write remarks on the various operations of t 

 morning. From eleven to twelve is the breakfa 

 hour. From twelve to three is the time forrecre 

 tion and study, which embraces for the first cla 

 questions of tlie following nature: — "His farm 

 GOO acres, one eighth of which is always to be 

 beet-root, is to be divided into the most elio-ible r 

 tation of crops ; show the most profitable cours 

 and describe the nature and the chemical props 

 ties of tlie soil in each field, the proper manures 

 be applied to tliem, the quantity of seed requiri 

 for the crop, its culture by previous ploughings, I 

 after-hoeing or weeding, and the cost and labc 

 and the probable return I" 



The plans of farming given by some of tl 

 youths, would have done credit to an experience 

 farmer, and demonstrated clearly that thougli thi 

 ory alone in farming is an absurdity, the combini 

 tion of the practice witli scientific acquirement 

 will soon operate great melioration in the agricu 

 tural world. ' From three till seven they prosecul 

 their labor in the fields, being eight hours work i 

 the day. They then come in for dinner. At eigl 

 the director receives the report, from every deci 

 rion, of the day's work of his party of- ten. H 

 then orders the work for the ensuing day, giving 

 concise lecture on the subje<;t when necessary t 

 the culture of any unusual crop. A library of ag 

 ricultural works is open to the students till be 

 time, quarter past nine. * » * The crop ths 

 appeared to me to be most carefully cultivated, wa 

 beet-root in drills, which produced per acre aboi 

 750 pounds of sugar, selling at ton pence per lb. i 

 fast as it could be manufactured. — Cultivator. 



