Agricultural Education. 



144 



[August, 1910. 



awaking sooner to the significance of 

 this movement than the people who 

 have not had superior educational 

 advantages, who are uot wont to be 

 enthusiastic over the technics of edu- 

 cation, but who are keenly alive to 

 its practical (or unpractical) tendencies 

 and results. While these people have 

 not been backward in asking for a type 

 of education practically related to their 

 own conceived needs, they have not 

 usually assumed to formulate its require- 

 ments into a working course of study. 

 This duty still remains to be done by 

 men already experienced in the schools ; 

 but its real value will be pretty accu- 

 rately and promptly gauged by the 

 patrons for whom the school in fact 

 exists. 



This consideration emphasises the im- 

 portance of spreading the work of edu- 

 cating teachers who shall be qualified 

 both pedagogically and practically for 

 shaping this new educational develop- 

 ment to meet the prevailing needs in 

 each State and locality. In some States 

 the new work can probably best be done 

 through the State university, in others 

 by the agricultural college, the agri- 

 cultural high schools, the State normal 

 schools, or all of these in co-operation. 

 In other States, like new York, Michi- 

 gan, and Nebraska, it can be advan- 

 tageously dealt with in the county 

 normal training classes. And in still 

 other conditions, as in Iowa, the mov- 

 able institute school of instruction may 

 prove most serviceable, especially in the 

 earlier stages of extension development. 

 In all these cases the essential desider- 

 atum is so to rationalize our methods of 

 industrial and extension instruction as 

 to bring them into effective co-ordi- 

 nation with the standard educational 

 systems that have amply demonstrated 

 an enduring value, 



Recent remarks of King Edward in 

 relation to the inclusion of applied 

 science and agriculture in the scheme of 

 university education are interesting as 

 reflecting an attitude in England which 

 is becoming more widespread. At the 

 opening of the new buildings of the 

 University of Leeds in July, 1908, he said : 



" The high standard of moral and 

 intellectual discipline for Avhich our 

 schools and universities have been dis- 

 tinguished has not been lowered, nor 

 has the pursuit of literary and his to 

 rical studies been checked by the inclu- 

 sion in the university curriculum of 

 those scientific studies, and especially of 

 those branches of applied science for 

 which such ample provision has now been 

 made. I rejoice to think that the oppor- 

 tunities open to the young men of our 



great industrial communities of acquir- 

 ing a knowledge of subjects of commer- 

 cial utility in an atmosphere of academic 

 culture are being so greatly increased, 

 and I find it difficult to express my 

 appreciation of the manner in which the 

 great responsibilities which rest with 

 the authorities and teachers of a uni- 

 versity such as this have been dis- 

 charged. It is a source of pleasure to 

 me to know that you have provided also 

 for the study of the theory and practice 

 of agriculture, for I am convinced that 

 the best possible results cannot be 

 derived from the industrial and natural 

 ability of our farmers unless they are 

 properly instructed in the scientific 

 aspects of their work." 



SCHOOL GARDENS IN ENGLAND. 



(From the Agricultural Netvs, Vol. VII., 

 No, 164, August, 1908.) 



The question of school gardens, and 

 the methods of working them so that 

 they shall be of the greatest value for 

 the purposes of instruction is discussed 

 in a thoughtful article that appeared in 

 the Gardeners' Chronicle of June 6 last. 

 It is evident that in some parts of 

 England as in certain of the West Indiau 

 Islands, the full development of school 

 garden work is hindered by the difficulty 

 of obtaining sufficient and suitable land. 



In the following extracts from the 

 above-mentioned article the advantages 

 of the system of working in which each 

 pupil cultivates a separate plot are com- 

 pared with those resulting from the 

 cultivation in common by the pupils of 

 a larger area on which it is possible 

 to carry out more extensive cultural 

 operations :— 



Broadly speaking, there are two 

 systems of school garden work in general 

 use in England, and they sprang from 

 the opinions of two clever and thoroughly 

 practical gardeners, Mr. John Wright, 

 V. M. H., who has had charge of the 

 work in Surrey from its inception, and 

 the late Mr. Robert Cock, in Stadford- 

 shire, these two countries having been 

 pioneers of gardening as applied to 

 teaching in elementary day schools. 

 Much work is now being done in all the 

 different couutries, but it is largely 

 based upon the experience that was 

 gained a t the outset in Surrey ank Stad- 

 fcrdshire, 



In Surrey, reliance is placed upon the 

 individual plot system in which each 

 scholar is assigned a piece of ground 

 varying in extent from half a rod to a 

 rod, and very occasionally slightly more ; 

 in Stadfordshire the communal plot is 



