614 



Farm Institutes. 



[Oct., 



• Wyandotte and White Leghorn are kept specially for egg 

 production, while other breeds include Ancona, Ehode Island 

 Bed, Light Sussex, and Indian Game, considerable trade being 

 done both with sittings of eggs and day-old chicks. Of other 

 poultry. Khaki Campbell ducks and Toulouse geese are kept at 

 present. 



Courses of Instruction. — The average age of the students is 

 about seventeen years, and those taking general agriculture come 

 usually for one year or two years, a certificate and diploma, 

 respectively, being awarded to those who pass their examina- 

 tions satisfactorily at the end of one or two years. Shorter 

 courses are also arranged, the Institution year beginning in 

 October and consisting of two terms each of 22 weeks' duration. 

 Students may also specialise in any of the other departments of 

 horticulture, dairying, or poultry-keeping. 



Considerable attention is given to instruction in all manual 

 processes so that students may be better able to understand the 

 application of science to practice with no doubts left in their 

 minds as to the reason for any particular operation. It is not 

 considered that very elaborate or costly class-rooms are essential, 

 as there is no class-room instruction equivalent to that which can 

 be given in the open fields, cowsheds, stables and workshops. 



Owing to the postponement of the erection of the residential 

 portion of the Institution buildings, it became necessary to 

 acquire accommodation for students in the form of hostels. The 

 boy students are housed in a commodious and pleasantly situated 

 house on the banks of the TJsk, within easy distance of the farm, 

 while the girls are accommodated in the farm house, a matron 

 being in charge of each hostel. 



Periodical visits are paid to the Institution by parties of 

 farmers, young farmers' clubs, and various associations of gar- 

 deners, allotment holders and poultry keepers, and these afford 

 opportunities for useful and practical discussions. Numerous 

 technical inquiries are dealt with by the staff. Small holders, in 

 particular, regard the Institution as a place to which they can 

 look for assistance and advice in all matters relating to their 

 work. While, however, the Institution is the centre of a great 

 deal of the countv's agricultural activities, it has so far, as already 

 stated, been conducted independently of the Ijocal Education 

 Authority, which employs its own County Agricultural Staff. 

 The Question of utilising the School and farm in connection with 

 the general work of agricultural education in the county has 

 recently been under consideration, and the Governors and the 



