i9t 



NA rUKE 



[December i6, 1909 



showing for different counties the number of men 

 engaged in agriculture, and the percentage of the 

 "whisky money" spent in agricultural education. It 

 is a remarlcable fact that the four counties which 

 spend least, \o\. or less per looo male agriculturists, 

 are purely agricultural, whilst, on the other hand, 

 those with tiie smallest agricultural population expend 

 about 150/. per looo male agriculturists. In spite ot 

 all that has been said and written on the subject, Prof. 

 .Vliddleton is driven to conclude that "if we except the 

 organised work connected with the institutions, 

 nothing approaching a system of agricultural instruc- 

 tion exists in England." 



No one acquainted with the history of agricultural 

 education in England will be astonished at this con- 

 clusion, or at the scepticism of the farmer. The first 

 attempts by the old -Science and Art Department to 

 foster agricultural education brought the movement 

 into disrepute. The village schoolmaster was _ en- 

 couraged to read up a small text-book, was examined 

 on his knowledge of the text-book, and was awarded a 

 certificate to the effect that he was competent to teach 

 the "principles of agriculture." .So long as he re- 

 mained in his class-room he was secure, but directly 

 the farmer got hold of him and began asking his 

 advice, he was found out. Nor were later attempts 

 more successful. Things are remembered for long in 

 villages, and the movement has in some counties never 

 recovered from the early errors thus committed, whilst 

 practically everywhere these blunders have constituted 

 a sad legacy 'which has only been lived down by 

 years of hard work on the part of the institutions. 

 These unpleasant facts are recognised, but are not 

 allowed to paralyse further endeavours, and Prof. 

 Middleton proceeds to sketch out a plan of agricul- 

 tural education. 



In the first instance, the general elementary educa- 

 tion in country districts must be such that it arouses 

 the intelligence of the boys and brings them to see 

 the advantage of higher education. A beginning m 

 this direction has alreadv been made. Between the 

 age of fourteen and seventeen the boy should still 

 receive a general education either in secondary schools 

 or at evening schools, according to his circumstances. 

 Me will not specialise in agriculture, but will develop 

 what he has already learned, be trained to read m- 

 telligently and to observe closely. He may form 

 collections of insects, grasses, minerals, &c., but the 

 subject itself is of less moment than the ability of 

 the teacher to teach it well. The teacher will pre- 

 sumably be allowed great elasticity in framing his 

 time-table. From the age of seventeen to twenty 

 special systematic instruction is to be given at an 

 agricultural college. After he has left and started as 

 a farmer, his education is continued at local classes 

 by itinerant instructors, who could also deal with 

 those who had not been to college. 



In principle the scheme is excellent, but its success 

 would depend entirely on the men whose duty it was 

 to carry it through. The British farmer never ap- 

 preciates the beautv and symmetry of a scheme, but 

 he can appreciate a man. It was largely through 

 ignorance on the part of the officials of this important 

 trait in his character that the earlier efforts failed. 

 Consequently the problem reduces itself to the pro- 

 vision of a 'sufficient number of suitable instructors. 

 llnfortunately. Prof. Middleton does not tell us how 

 these are to be forthcoming. He knows they do not 

 exist at present, and he also tells us why. If a student 

 is willing to go abroad, his prospects of earning a 

 livelihood are satisfactory, but not if he wishes to 

 remain in England. Thus it happens that the best 

 men studying in our agricultural departments look 

 forward to a career outside England, and move off to 

 NO. 2094, VOL. 82] 



India, South Africa, Egypt, or elsewhere at an early 

 opportunity. There is no reserve of good men. A 

 very important reason lies in the way the colleges are 

 managed. Prof. Middleton is probably the first 

 official to discover that the only person on the whole 

 college staff who receives a salary w-orth aiming at 

 is the principal. No one, unless he possesses other 

 means, can afford to remain in any other post, and 

 when a well-trained man accepts a position on the 

 staff, he stays only until he has picked up the technical 

 part of his subject, and then takes other work else- 

 where. Further, as it is not worth the while of a 

 competent assistant to remain on with a view of 

 becoming the head of the department, he accepts the 

 first good place abroad that offers, knowing he will 

 have to go sooner or later. The consequence is that 

 there arc not at the colleges any number of promising 

 young men who could be put into responsible posts 

 and trusted to carry out such a scheme as Prof. 

 Middleton recommends. 



It is not simply a case of getting a little more 

 money to pay the staff. A farm is always a one-man 

 business, and the farmer cannot understand anything 

 else. The governing body of the agricultural college 

 has the same bias ; it recognises the principal, but not 

 the members of the staff, excepting occasionally and 

 collectively. 



There are, however, signs of a change. A move- 

 ment is alreadv on foot, although little or no reference 

 is made to it in the report before us, for affiliating 

 the agricultural colleges to the universities. If, as we 

 hope, the universities rise to their responsibility, they 

 will see to it that the teaching at what is virtually 

 their agricultural department is as good as in any 

 other department, and they will know how to secure 

 this end. Our hope for tjie future lies not so much 

 in the action of the local committees, or even of the 

 Government boards, helpful though these may be, as 

 in the action of the universities themselves. As soon 

 as they take the problem in hand matters will be 

 righted, and the supply of young men wanted for 

 such a scheme as Prof. Middleton 's, and for .the posts 

 that are opening up in the British possessions beyond 

 the seas, will soon be forthcoming. 



ixmu WALSINGHAM'S COLLECTION OF 

 MICE O-LEPIDOPTERA. 



IT is not much more than two centuries ago since 

 it was possible in England to regard a taste for 

 collecting insects as presumptive evidence of lunacy; 

 and a century ago Kirby and Spence thought it neces- 

 sary to replv to the current objections to entomology, 

 which represented it as a trifling pursuit, concerned 

 chiefly with nomenclature, and leading to cruelty. _ 



At a much later period complaint was made in 

 some quarters that none of the trustees of the British 

 Museum was interested in natural history; but for 

 many years past this reproach has not existed, several 

 of the trustees being men of high standing as 

 naturalists, and even specialists in certain groups. 



.Among the foremost of these eminent specialists is 

 Lord Walsinghain, who took up the study of the 

 smaller moths (the micro-Iepidoptera) of the world 

 about forty vears ago, and devoted himself to the 

 formation of 'what is now incontestably the finest and 

 most valuable collection of these insects in the world, 

 his lordship having supplemented the large collec- 

 tions made bv himself in California, Oregon, South 

 Europe, North Africa, Src, bv the purchase of all thr 

 most important collections of micro-lepidoptera which 

 came into the market, especially that of Prof. Zeller 

 In i<)oi Lord Walsingham's collection was convevecl 

 to the trustees of the British Museum by deed of gitt, 



