Agricultural Education* 



140 



[August, 1910. 



course of study should be especially 

 adapted to boys from seventeen to twenty 

 years old who have already had some 

 practical instruction in agriculture or 

 horticulture. Short winter courses in 

 colleges have been held with success and 

 should be continued, and this is true 

 also of local winter courses " which 

 should be encouraged until longer and 

 more systematic courses of instruction 

 are available at winter agriculural 

 schools," 



The committee calls attention to satis- 

 factory instruction now being given in 

 a number of special subjects, such 

 as forestry, dairying, and veterinary 

 science, and recommends that greater 

 attention be given to such instruction 

 in future. 



With regard to the organization of 

 agricultural instruction the committee 

 believes that " agricultural instruction, 

 when provided by universities, university 

 colleges, agricultural colleges, farm insti- 

 tutes and winter schools, or by means 

 of special classes or courses of lectures 

 in agriculture and kindred subjects {e.g., 

 dairying, horticulture), should be under 

 the direction of the Board of Agricul- 

 ture ; while all instruction in agricul- 

 tural subjects forming part of courses in 

 primary, secondary, or such evening 

 schools as are in definite continuation of 

 the education given in primary schools 

 should be under the Board of Education." 



Credit is given to national agricultural 

 societies for good educational work, but 

 it is stated that local societies have given 

 little aid to either agricultural education 

 or research. Greatly increased funds are 

 needed for agricultural education, and 

 these apparently must come mainly from 

 national sources. The committee be- 

 lieves that the Board of Agriculture 

 should first aid existing and projected 

 institutions to strengthen their staff and 

 improve their general equipment, and 

 then assist local authorities to make 

 provision for the agricultural work con- 

 ducted by them. 



All members of the committee sub- 

 scribed to the conclusions and recom- 

 mendations in this report, but one 

 member, J. 0, Nedd, believes that 

 certain points of vital importance to the 

 effective organization of a national 

 system of agricultural education have 

 been omitted. One serious defect in the 

 English system which he considers im- 

 portant is the lack of intermediate 

 schools of agriculture corresponding to 

 ecoles pratiques d'agriculture de Prance 

 and to some of the agricultural high 

 schools in this country. He believes 

 that no system of instruction is com- 



plete which does not provide for the 

 continuous instruction of boys from the 

 age of 14 to 18. Winter schools will not 

 entirely fill this gap, and it can only be 

 filled by the establishment of a few 

 intermediate schools with courses extend- 

 ing over two or three years. He calls 

 attention to the fact that the expense of 

 equipping and conducting such schools 

 is too great for their universal establish- 

 ment, but believes that they should be 

 established where conditions are favour- 

 able and where there is likely to be a 

 demand for them. 



Mr. Medd further strongly recom- 

 mends the holding of conferences of 

 representatives from affiliated or asso- 

 ciated counties at their respective 

 university or college centres for the 

 purpose of co-ordinating and strengthen- 

 ing their work. With reference to the 

 literature published by the Board of 

 Agriculture and Fisheries, he points out 

 that many of the witnesses were un- 

 familiar with particular reports or leaf- 

 lets, and recommends that all literature 

 issued by the board be distributed, free 

 of cost, to all agricultural and horti- 

 cultural colleges and schools, farm insti- 

 tutes, chambers of agriculture, farmers' 

 clubs and agricultural or horticultural 

 societies. 



The report as a whole indicates that 

 the committee has made an exhaustive 

 and careful study of all the facilities 

 available in England and Wales for 

 promoting technical instruction for its 

 youth along agricultural lines, with the 

 single exception of the public elemen- 

 tary schools in rural districts which are 

 under the administration of the Board 

 ol Education. These latter schools are 

 alluded to in Mr. Medd's supplementary 

 statement in a paiagraph calling atten- 

 tion to the provisions made by the Board 

 of Education to train teachers along 

 agricultural lines for them. The con- 

 clusions of the committee show that 

 there is a strong growth of public senti- 

 ment in Great Britain in favour of a 

 complete national system of agricultural 

 education to take the place of the widely 

 varied types of colleges and schools 

 which now afford instruction along 

 agricultural lines. As an indication of 

 the growth of such sentiment it is 

 reported by the committee that agri- 

 culture now receives recognition in all 

 the universities in that country, and 

 that the Royal Agricultural College at 

 Cirencester, and other agricultural insti- 

 tutions which have hitherto been oper- 

 ated under private control, are consider- 

 ing the advisability of taking, or have 

 already taken, steps to become public 

 institutions. 



