400 



Farm Institutes. 



[Aug., 



of your agricultural course and am convinced of its value to 

 the country. Men of education, capacity and initiative are 

 needed in the industry. For you there is a place and a lead, 

 if you will qualify to take the one and give the other. Fortunes 

 may be rarely made in farming. But I know few careers which 

 are fuller of varied interests, few in which you can so long 

 continue to learn, few which are richer in opportunities of 

 service to your fellow men. I wish long life and prosperity to 

 the Oxford Plough Club. 



FARM INSTITUTES. 



PAET I. 



The increased provision made by the Government for agri- 

 cultural education since the War has enabled the Ministry to 

 aid the establishment of several F'arm Institutes. Farm 

 Institutes are not intended to give the student a thorough 

 training in agricultural science, or to teach him the way to 

 farm. The aim is less ambitious. The time which a young 

 man can spend at a Farm Institute is short — usually only the 

 six " winter " months. During that period the Institute en- 

 deavours to give him instruction in the scientific principles 

 underlying the practical experience which he gains on his 

 own farm, and thus to send him back to the farm with a 

 revivified interest in the work that lies before him. In one 

 or two Institutes the course extends throughout the year, thus 

 enabling instruction to be given in the field during the summer 

 months; but normally the summer is devoted to instruction in 

 dairying, etc., for women, when the Institute aims at giving 

 the woman student such training as will render her an efficient 

 partner in the management of a small farm. The farm attached 

 to the Institute is not intended only for the benefit of the 

 students, for their stay at the Institute is at a time when 

 farm operations are reduced to a minimum. It certainly 

 provides material for teaching', and the Farm Institute course 

 is made as practical as possible; but beyond this the farm 

 is the headquarters of the county staff of agricultural lecturers, 

 serving to keep them up-to-date in farm practice. It is also 

 a centre for experiments and demonstrations intended for the 

 benefit of all farmers in the county. 



From the brief resume of courses, fees, etc., at the Farm 

 Institutes which is given at pp. 477-80 of this Journal, it will be 



