494 



The New Farm Institutes. 



[Sept., 



Summer Courses. — Having devoted the winter months to the 

 education of farmer's sons, and incidentally of a few women 

 who wished to farm on their own account, the Farm Institute 

 should provide a third course of three or four months' duration 

 in the summer for the instruction of the farmer's wiie or 

 daughter. The object of the course should be to render the 

 v/oman student an efficient partner in the management of a 

 small farm. The course of instruction on the agricultural side 

 Yvould deal with the care of live stock, especially dairy cows, 

 poultry and pigs, and with the management of a dairy a::d 

 garden. The domestic side of the course should include the 

 preservation of foodstuffs, e.g., jam-making, fruit-botthng, bacon- 

 curing, cooking and housewifery generally — whatever is neces- 

 sary to make the woman an efficient participator in the economy 

 of a farm. It should not aim at teaching women to farm ; those 

 who so desire should share in the men's course of instruction. 



General Assistance and Advice. — While the Farm Institute 

 should thus be the centre for instruction by means of 

 short courses, it should also become the permanent place 

 of assembly of the various instructors working in the 

 county area. Farmers should be encouraged to call there 

 and bring their difficulties; special lectures and discussions 

 for farmers should be held, and old students led to 

 form the habit of turning to the Institute for advice. The 

 farm with which an Institute should properly be equipped, while 

 providing material for teaching as indicated above, should also 

 be a centre for more permanent experiments and demonstrations 

 than can usually be carried out co-operatively with farmers in 

 (he area. For example farmers ought always to be able to see 

 trials of the newer varieties of cereals and other farm crops. 



The Somerset County Council's Institute at Cannington Court 

 was described in the March. 1920, issue of this Journal, and 

 an article describing the Staffordshire County Council's Farm 

 Institute at Rodbaston is printed at p. 495 of this issue. 



A preliminary notice regarding Farm Institute ct)urses which 

 Vvill commence in the ensuing autumn has been printed separ- 

 ately and is obtainable on demand. As the new Institutes 

 provide additional residential accommodation for only some 150 

 to 175 students, and as the flow of students to all kinds of 

 educational institutions, including those of agricultural educa- 

 tion, shows little signs of abating, it is very desirable that early 

 application should be made by all who wish to avail themselves 

 of the facilities provided at Farm Institutes. 



