270 



Agriculture Abroad. 



[June, 



AGRICULTURE ABROAD. 



AGEICULTUEAL SCHOOLS IN ALBERTA— WHEAT 

 GEOWING m CANADA. 



The following note has been communicated by Mr. J. McCaig, 

 Editor of Publications, Department of Agriculture, Alberta : — 



CTTof^-^ ^-f -M-i/i/^i/^ The Province of Alberta, Canada, is 

 System oi Middle . , . , . . . ^ p ^ - 



Agricultural becoming distinguished for its work m 

 Schools in Alberta, "f^^" education, chiefly through the 

 mriuence and work oi the Hon. Duncan 

 Marshall, present Minister of Agriculture for the Province. Mr. 

 Marshall is a frequent visitor to the Mother Country and may be 

 known to a good many readers of this Journal. In company with 

 two other Canadian breeders he recently purchased a shipment 

 of Shorthorns and Shropshires for his own farm. 



Contrary to common practice, the Alberta system of agricul- 

 tural education begins with a strong understructure rather than 

 a heavy top, as represented by an agricultural college. All the 

 provinces of Canada, in fact, are active in utilising a good body 

 of agricultural material in connection with the elementary 

 schools. This body is commonly referred to as " educational 

 agriculture " rather than " material for agricultural education." 

 A good deal has been accomplished in this elementary work in 

 Alberta. 



Both Boys and Girls. — Mr. Marshall's efforts relate specifi- 

 cally to the farm boys and girls after they have passed the 

 elementary school age. The agricultural schools are administered 

 by the Department of Agriculture, not by the Department of 

 Education, and this gives them perhaps a closer touch with prac- 

 tice and application than they could possibly have as part of the 

 general scholastic system. The schools are not integrated with 

 the general educational system, but the work done in the agricul- 

 tural schools, if students have sufficient general training for 

 matriculation, counts in their university course at the college of 

 agriculture. The outstanding service of the schools is that they 

 give direct training to boys and girls who intend to go back to 

 the farm. At present there are six of these schools in the 

 Province, one -half of them having been opened in the autumn 

 of 1920. It is expected that they will train upwards of one 

 thousand boys and girls during the year. One of the schools 

 during the last two years has done good work in training returned 

 soldiers. The Minister has expressed his intention of making 

 provision at these schools for special courses for British boys 



