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the theory was not long in coming. To-day he is acquainted with those 

 works that contain brielly the- best inlbrmation on the subject of agricul- 

 tural chemistry. 



I do not despise theory, but I do not think it is always wise to com- 

 mence a course of instruction with it. 



Circumstances must be ri!ckoncd with. With our farmer, we must 

 shoot straight to the target ; he must be shown the practical result, so that 

 he can lay his finger on it. If you put into his hand a treatise on agrii;ul- 

 ture, very likely he won't read it ; but if you tell him to look at the practical 

 improvements in a neighbouring field, he will listen to the eloquent voice 

 of the charmer. 



I want the agricultural instruction in these farm-schools to be essen- 

 tially practical. When an intelligent practice has once been established, 

 there will not be much trouble about adding the theory. 



One of the best books ever written on agriculture, St<!phens' " Book of 

 the Farm," was the work of a man who was educated on a farm. 



What I am now saying, I consider as very important. When I was 

 only a private member of the Council of Agriculture, I proposed one day 

 the above system of practical instruction, and some one said to me : "You 

 are going to make the pupils nothing but farm labourers." In spite of that, 

 some of them adopted the idea, followed this road, began to practice, and 

 they it is w^ho to-day are the most successful of all ; they who were not 

 ashamed of starting as labourers, are now^ the princes of the occupation. 

 (Cheers.) This Stephens, whose work I just mentioned, after having 

 entered himself on a farm as a simple workman, raised himself by degrees, 

 and ended by being decorated by Her Majesty as a laurtnite of agriculture. 

 He leapt from the plough to that distinguished position. He began by the 

 practice, and he ended by writing the best book on the theory of farming. 



Work, personal observation, an individualistic habit of taking the 

 initiative : these are the elements of success. 



I do not mean to indulge in useless recrimination, but I must say of 

 our agricultural schools, that they, in my opinion, have not followed the 

 right road to success. It has not always been their fault ; they had not a 

 choice of pupils. There was no systematic plan to guide their choice. 

 They lectured the lad who presented himself on agriculture, although he 

 frequently showed indisputably, that his heart was far from being interested 

 in that subject ; they did not send him to work on to the land often 

 enough to let him feel the annoyance of storm and tempest, the inevita- 

 ble lot of the farmer; they did not submit him to the salutary test of 





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