114 Vi3itors to Clifton-on-Bowmont. 



a way that the classes in question may not be called 

 upon for any form of intellectual exertion. In other 

 words, you must teach not so much by books and 

 lectures as by practical illustration in the field, and such 

 illustration must not consist of experimental plots, but 

 of farms of moderate size, conducted on the lines that 

 any farmer could imitate, though, of course, attached to 

 such farms experimental plots might be formed, and 

 used for educational purposes. It is the recognition of 

 the absolute necessity for this practical teaching for 

 classes connected with land that has induced the United 

 States to start its extensive system of experimental 

 farms, and until we do so we can never expect to make 

 rapid progress with the agricultural changes called for 

 by the times. It must be considered, too, that as time 

 advances calls may arise for further and further modifi- 

 cations as communications develop throughout the 

 world, and its produce is therefore brought more and 

 more cheaply to our doors. 



That such farms would be appreciated by farmers 

 I have had the fullest practical evidence from the 

 number of agriculturists who have visited Clifton-on- 

 Bowmont, many of whom have visited the farm again 

 and again ; and the immense correspondence we have 

 had, and which, of course, has arisen out of the 

 work on the farm. We have had a fair proportion 

 of Professors of Agriculture as visitors, but few land- 

 lords and land agents : * I suppose because the two 



* The visiting list shows an improvement as regards landlords this 

 year (1904). It is as follows : — Farmers, 60 ; landlords, 21 ; land agents, 

 6 ; agricultural professors, 8 ; seedsmen, 8 ; schoolmasters, 5 ; ministers 

 of the gospel, 2 ; agricultural chemist, 1 ; farm manager, 1 ; baker, 1 ; 

 butcher, 1 ; shepherd, 1 ; ploughmen, 7 (the last are members of an 

 agricultural educational class in the neighbourhood). Olifton-on-Bow- 

 mont farm is always open to visitors. The steward will show them 

 round the farm, and he can supply from his books, when re(juested, all 

 information respecting the seeding and cropping of the different fields 

 for the last twenty years. 



