THE AGUIGV LTVnAL JOURNAL. 



of this age, its wliole course of instruc- 

 tion must be elementary enougli for the 

 mental grasp of such boys, or else it must 

 be extended so as to include both ele- 

 mentary and advanced work. If it Le 

 so extended the course m;ist be inordi- 

 nately lengtKened; that is to say, must 

 not be less than four years, and the ac- 

 commodation and the teaching staff must 

 be increased. In any case, it is necessary 

 that the course of instruction at a college 

 should either include or be supplemented 

 by work on a farm conducted in the ordin- 

 ary way as a paying business. There is, 

 of course, nothing to prevent a portion 

 of the college lands being set apart to 

 be worked as an ordinary farm; but there 

 would be greater choice of variety if there 

 were farms in different districts to wliicli 

 youths could be sent for this kind .'vf 

 training. 



The original intention of the Council 

 of Agricultural Education, so far as I 

 understand it, was to establish, in dif- 

 ferent parts of the country three or four 

 farm schools for elementary agricultural 

 education, and a central college for ad- 

 vanced work. That appeared to me a 

 logical scheme. The Dookie establish- 

 ment was at first named a farm school ; 

 but the Agricultural Education Act made 

 no provision for schools, but only for 

 - colleges, and the Dookie school had to be 

 re-named a college, and has since been 

 developing into a college. At present it 

 has the difficult task of carrying out the 

 functions of a farm school, agricultural 

 college, experiment station, stud fai'm, 

 seed-distributing station, &c. 



I do not fully know the history of the 

 "Model Farm" at Eoyal Park, but believe 

 originally it was intended for educational 

 purposes. The building on it is now 

 used as a benevolent asylum. 



At present there are no farm schools 

 in the colony. If the original programme 

 — so far'as I understand it — of the Coun- 

 cil of Agricultural Education were car- 

 ried out, this want would be met. But 

 in the absence of such provisioJi, I should, 

 if I wished to send one of my sons to 

 learn farming, first of all place him for 

 two or three years on' a good farm, where 

 he would learn the elements of ordinary 

 farm work, and acquire that habit of 

 m;in:i';iii!'- animals which comes from 



early association with them. I should 

 prescribe a certain amount of book work 

 for him to do in that time, arrange with 

 the farmer to have this attended to, and 

 examine the boy periodically to make sure 

 of his progress. After the boy had com- 

 pleted this short apprenticeship, he would 

 be of an age to profit to the full extent 

 from the theoretical courses at the 

 Dookie College, and would not need to 

 spend a great portion of his time there 

 in going through the drudgery of learn- 

 ing the simpler manual labours of a 

 farm. After his college course he would 

 be fitted to take a subordinate place in 

 the management of a good farm, and with 

 the experience there gained should be 

 competent to successfully manage a farm 

 for himself. This is what I should con- 

 sider a suitable training for my own son, 

 and with my knowledge of the country, 

 1 could select a suitable farm both for 

 the first apprenticeship and for the finish- 

 ing experience. But every town parent 

 luis not this necessary knowledge. I 

 would, therefore, suggest that the selec- 

 tion of suitable farms be undertaken, offi- 

 cially by the central educational authority, 

 which should also arrange the conditions 

 for the reception of apprentices at these 

 farms, prescribe the instruction to be 

 given, and periodically inspect and ex- 

 amine as to progress. 



In reply to the objection which might 

 be raised that there would be a difficulty 

 m finding suitable farms and farmers 

 for such educational purposes, it is pro- 

 bable that if an enquiry were instituted 

 there would be found several such farms 

 in the colony. Many farmers already 

 take apprentices, providing them with 

 board and lodging and pocket money ; 

 and some of these farmers would be glad, 

 in their own interests, to have official 

 advice and supervision in the training of 

 these apprentices. The theoretical in- 

 struction of these apprentices would be 

 provided for in the classes already pro- 

 posed for farmers' sons, if the farms se- 

 lected were in districts where these classes 

 were held. 



After the youths .had received their 

 preliminary apprenticeship at the farms, 

 they would be in a position to go through 

 a two years' course at Dookie. This 

 course need not he of such a class as 



