510 



Farm Institutes. 



[Sept. 



FARM INSTITUTES. 



PAET II. 



In the August issue of this Journal (pp. 400-408^ a summary 

 was given of the training provided at four of the Farm Institutes 

 which have been estabUshed in this country. A further four 

 Institutes are described briefly below. One of these — the 

 Chadacre Agricultural Institute — has been provided entirely 

 through the generosity of the Earl of Iveagh, and is unique 

 inasmuch as board and tuition are entirely free of cost to male 

 students. 



THE SOMERSET FARM INSTITUTE, CANNINGTON, 

 Near BRIDGWATER. — Cannington Court, four miles from 

 Bridgwater, is a large mansion held on lease by rhe Somerset 

 County Council, who have had the premises adapted, furnished 

 and equipped as a Farm Institute on the most modern lines. 

 The history of Cannington Court is interesting and can be traced 

 Lack to the middle of the 12th Century when it was occupied by 

 nuns, living under the Rule of St. Benedict, who continued to 

 follow their peaceful avocation within its precincts until the 

 dissolution of the monasteries some 400 years later. Subse- 

 quently it became the residence of a noble family, then was 

 used once again as a nunnery, and more recently has been 

 an industrial school for Roman Catholic boys. Fragments only 

 of the original buildings remain, however, the present buildings 

 being partly 15th Century and mainly Elizabethan. Central 

 heating and electric light have been installed, and the interior 

 of the building, with its common rooms, class rooms and numerous 

 bedrooms, has been completely transformed. When the exten- 

 sions now in progress are completed, the hostel will accormno- 

 dato 25 women and 25 men. The Institute should attract 

 students from neighbouring counties as it is the only one of its 

 kind in the south-west of England. 



The Farm. — The farm, adjoining the Institute, covers 175 

 acres, about 80 acres being arable land — a medium loam, well 

 adapted for cultivation and general demonstration — 92 acres 

 pasture and meadow land typical of the heavy alluvial soils 

 adjoining the River Parrett, and 8 acres a grass orchard. The 

 live stock include 7 working horses, 21 dairy Shorthorn cov^'S, 

 71 ewes, which produced some excellent forward lambs this year, 

 and 72 pigs — Gloucester Old Spots, Large Blacks and Wessex 



