352 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 
The Director of Education for Warwickshire writes: ‘ It is practically impossible 
at the great majority of schools to give anything in the nature of a practical 
agricultural training. Except at the larger schools there would not be sufficient 
number of boys to enable a special class to be formed. Also it would mean the 
engagement of special teachers, and that the great majority of such schools are too 
hard hit financially to contemplate this extraexpense. Littleis possible in this direc- 
tion unless the secondary schools receive much larger grants from the Government.’ 
The Director for West Riding points out that local industries absorb the attention 
of boys with a practical bias; he refers to the Knaresborough Rural Secondary 
School as the only school in the district with an agricultural bias. He states that 
‘the school has been an undoubted success, but that there has not been a sufficient 
demand for education of this type to lead my committee to establish another school 
on similar lines.’ 
The West Riding Council offer Agricultural Exhibitions tenable at Leeds University 
and at the County Farm, Garforth. These exhibitions provide for free tuition at the 
University and atthe Farm. In addition, the Council contribute 25s. per week during 
the session as an allowance towards maintenance and travelling expenses. Exhibitions 
are also provided for dairy courses at the County Farm. 
The Secretary of the Berkshire Education Committee writes as follows: ‘ Until 
1913 my committee dealt with agricultural education as part of secondary education, 
but since that date agriculture had been in the hands of two other committees. 
Under the working agreement between the Board of Education and the Ministry of 
Agriculture, the Education Committee still deal with instruction of an agricultural 
or technical kind given to students under sixteen in schools or in evening classes. 
‘ During the last twenty years we have made many efforts to arouse interest in 
this subject, but experience has shown that, except in the case of school gardens, 
there is no constant demand for systematic training. Scholarships were offered year 
after year without attracting a single suitable applicant, more often no candidates at 
all. I understand that the Agricultural Instruction Committee find that this 
difficulty continues. Efforts to give an agricultural bias to the curriculum of our 
secondary schools (seven are maintained secondary schools out of eleven) have not 
been successful as a whole. 
‘The curriculum of these schools is, as a rule, sufficiently varied to admit of both 
boys and girls getting a fair amount of practical instruction but without any direct 
connection with farm work. 
‘ As regards the county itself, the profits to be made in farming were not sufficient 
to encourage students to take up courses either in schools or colleges, and we have 
found that farmers’ sons, as a rule, have been sent to boarding schools rather than 
to secondary day schools. The same is true of the daughters, who, however, on 
returning home, have in many cases been willing to take up classes in dairying and 
poultry management, but did not often go further, except in the case of horticulture.’ 
Canon Sewell, Chairman of the Gloucester Higher Education Sub-Committee, 
writes ; ‘My committee, ever since 1903, have taken a great interest in what has been 
called ‘‘ practical education.’ Gloucestershire has done more than most rural counties 
to provide opportunities for boys and girls in the elementary schools to make things 
and do things. They have for many years made a point of providing workshops, 
usually for woodwork but sometimes for ironwork also, in connection with new 
schools and where possible old ones too, in which boys can familiarise themselves with 
the use of tools and design and make and mend things useful in the garden, on the 
farm and in the home. They have also developed school gardening and the care of 
poultry and other live stock, and I enclose copies of recent reports which record their 
experience. 
“Domestic Science Centres are provided wherever possible for the girls. 
‘While this kind of teaching has its vocational uses, its educational value more 
than justifies it. It is undoubtedly true, as you suggest, that it has a beneficial effect 
upon the character of the individual and leads to a clearer understanding of, and a 
happier attitude towards, the other studies. As soon as they are seen to have a 
practical value they are pursued in quite a different spirit. 
‘While it has not yet been possible to give this practical bias to the work of the 
secondary schools, the desirability of doing it has never been lost sight of. Head- 
masters and governing bodies have been approached on the subject and it has been 
suggested that in rural schools science should be taught with an eye to the farm. 
‘At present time the committee have under consideration the provision of a 
