April 27, 1888.] 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



405 



Landwirthscliaftsschulen. The function of these estab- 

 lishments is to provide a continuation of general and 

 technical education for the sons of tenant farmers and 

 small proprietors. 



Such schools as Aspatria, in Cumberland, and the 

 King Edward's School, near Banff, are examples of 

 schools of this nature in Great Britain ; and for a certain 

 class they have their advantages. I am, however, dis- 

 posed towards Mr. Druce's view, that general education 

 is enough burden to lay on a boy during his early years, 

 and so far as technical education goes, I should prefer 

 that he should enjoy a little farming and a little practice 

 among his father's cows, and sheep, and horses during his 

 holidays, in a thoroughly spontaneous and enjoyable 

 manner. Absolute training in technicalities may well be 

 put off till a later period. It would likewise be easy to 

 show conclusively, from evidence adduced from foreign 

 experience, that the system of mixing technical and 

 general instruction has never been very satisfactory. In 

 Denmark, where agricultural education has, or is sup- 

 posed to have, done so much for dairy industry, prac- 

 tical and theoretical education are kept rigidly apart, and 

 a system of apprenticeship on a farm, with due cer- 

 tificates as to general and scientific education, are the 

 methods relied upon. 



The Higher Technical Education {Landlord, Agent, 

 Surveyor). 



No one doubts for a moment that technical instruction 

 is absolutely necessary, whether gained by long years of 

 bitter experience, or by the pleasanter paths of appren- 

 ticeship or pupilage. This no one doubts, and it is 

 therefore unnecessary to take up the time of the meeting 

 by proving it. The question is — How is it best done in 

 the particular case before us, viz , that of agriculture ? 

 Let us at once recognise the essential differences as well 

 as resemblances in the three cases which really take up 

 the whole agricultural field. I allude to the differences 

 between landlords, farmers, and labourers. These three 

 classes form, it must be allowed, a definite series, giving 

 rise to Mr. Jenkins's classification of an upper, middle, 

 and lower agricultural education. The division is at 

 once natural and inevitable, and is recognised in all 

 countries. Alike in Germany, France, and Belgium, 

 provision is made for the higher, the intermediate, and 

 the lower agricultural education. There is no escape 

 from this conclusion, and the more clearly it is 

 appreciated the less likely are we to fall into confusion. 

 When doubt is thrown upon the value of the higher 

 agricultural education, with its chemistry, geology, botany, 

 physiology, political economy, forestry, and theoretical 

 agriculture, to an honest farmer of the farmer class, the 

 doubt is well founded, and I join with Mr. Morton heartily 

 when he says, " the young farmer certainly does not need 

 it at all." In this I believe Sir Thomas Dyke Acland 

 concurs, and it has always appeared to me that much 

 misunderstanding would be avoided if we would remem- 

 ber that the kind of knowledge required by legislators, 

 landlords, commissioners, professors, great agriculturists 

 and agents differs in important respects from the know- 

 ledge required by the ordinary tenant of from 250 to 500 

 acres of land ; just as the knowledge required by such a 

 tenant differs from the sort of knowledge needed by the 

 labourer, the carter, or the shepherd. Such differences 

 exist, and we are not responsible for them ; it is never- 

 theless our duty to provide for them. More attention 

 has, I admit, been bestowed upon the higher educa- 



tion than upon the middle and lower, and it is not 

 difficult to account for this preference. In the first 

 place, the points of contact between it and scientific 

 and historical, or legal knowledge, are much more 

 numerous. The adaptability of various soils and situa- 

 tions to different systems of cultivation, the theory of 

 fertilisers, the comparative merits of different breeds of 

 animals, the history of agricultural progress, the laws of 

 health, the origin and propagation of disease, the planting 

 of timber, and many others of the subjects we teach, are 

 of evident value to the large landowner or his agent. 

 In other cases they bring with these acquirements possi- 

 bilities of rising in the world to positions of eminence, 

 and they throw an interest around country affairs. 

 Superimposed upon public school and university educa- 

 tion, they complete and embeUish the inner man, and are 

 at once seen to be desirable. They assist the county 

 member in his speech, the magistrate in his judg- 

 ment, the agent in his agreements or his advi:e 

 to tenants, the surveyor in his arbitrament. They 

 are required by examining bodies such as the Surveyors' 

 Institution, the Royal Agricultural Societj', and the High- 

 land Agricultural Society, and this alone causes them to 

 be studied. There is, in fact, a demand for this kind of 

 agricultural education, and the demand has been met in 

 this country and more than met in other countries. If 

 this were all, we should be able to prove not only the 

 value of the instruction, but that ample means exist for 

 obtaining such knowledge. The difficulty dees not lie 

 here. The classes interested can pay for their instruc- 

 tion, and it would be strange indeed if a healthy demand 

 of this kind should not call up a supply of the article 

 needed. 



The Middle Technical Education {The Farmer o} 

 Steivard). 



The best preparation for a young man intending to be a 

 farmer, is a question which I should keep separate from 

 the best preparation for a man who will eventually pre- 

 side over a number of tenants. The aims are narrower, 

 and the objects more urgent, in the direction of immediate 

 commercial success. Thorough business knowledge, 

 coupled with bodily activity, manual dexterity, sharpness 

 of eye, strong commercial instincts, strong will, acute 

 perceptions, tact, skill, and knowledge of mankind — these 

 are the qualities we must endeavour to cultivate. If it 

 is objected that these qualities are as important for the 

 landlord or the agent as for the farmer, I would observe 

 that the cases differ chiefly in degree. The farmer must 

 necessarily keep his attention on routine — on minutiae — 

 on a host of small circumstances and small transactions. 

 He is constantly required to settle such questions as to 

 which horse is to go into which cart, which collar has to 

 go on to which horse ; concerning petty repairs of imple- 

 ments, orders for oil, sack-twine, tar-line, or plough-shares. 

 He is often called out to examine animals suffering from 

 illness oraccident ; heisthe finalcourtof appeal in allcases, 

 and must know everything that goes on upon his limited 

 area — from the death of a fowl to the threshing of a wheat 

 rick. The other case is different. The issues are larger 

 and the duties rather those of direction, suggestion, and 

 administration. The large farmer, holding several farms, 

 each looked after by an able foreman, or bailiff, is cer- 

 tainly in the same position, and requires to exercise 

 qualities of deliberation, administration, and organisa- 

 tion. 



{To be continiud.) 



