November, 1908,] 48( 



where e.g., in the Botanic Gardens 

 at Trivandram), the Committee thought 

 that, if their norainess were allowed 

 to spend, say, a couple of months 

 at each of three Agricultural stations 

 in succession, they would acquire some 

 little agricultural knowledge of a varied 

 character and would pro tanto be more 

 useful to the Associations than an 

 ordinary agriculturist, who had received 

 no such opportunity of improving his 

 mind. The apprentices were to be paid 

 by the Committee (through the Govern- 

 ment officers attached to the Agri- 

 cultural stations at which they might 

 be learning) for six mouths, at the end 

 of which period Agricultural Associa- 

 tions might employ them if they pleased. 

 No guarantee of employment was given 

 to the apprentices and, if they were 

 employed, the agricultural Department 

 could not be expected to give any 

 assurance regarding their qualifications 

 but would merely certify that they had 

 been given such instruction as it was 

 possible for anyone to receive who had 

 spent six mouths at certain Goverement 

 Agricultural stations. 



■'As to the class of work to be done by them 

 (the apprentices), it will naturally depend upon 

 what work they have done before and what they 

 will be expected to do after leaving." 



" (ii) The Agricultural Department 

 need not concern itself with the work 

 that the apprentices may do after leav- 

 ing the Agricultural stations ; all that 

 it has to do is to enable these apprentices 

 to see what is going on at the Govern- 

 ment Agricultural stations in the hope 

 that they may gain some sound know- 

 ledge and turn it to good account, when 

 and if they are employed by any Agri- 

 cultural Association or even for their 

 own private benefit, supposing they 

 should never be employed- 



' ' The men already sent are without any practical 

 agricultural training. This I presume is what 

 the Central Agricultural Association whishes us to 

 teach them." 



(iii) Some of the apprentices have 

 undergone a three years' training in the 

 Agricultural College at Saidapet and a 

 few others have done practical work 

 outside the College, as for example, in 

 the Botanic Gardens at Trivandram. 

 What the Agricultural Department was 

 asked to do was to help these men, in 

 the short time available, to see and 

 learn as much as they could and so far 

 as each Agricultural station could 

 provide instruction. They ought, cer- 

 tainly, to be in a position to pick up a 

 good deal of elementary knowledge, as, 

 for example, the best methods of treat- 

 ing manure, ploughing, seed-selection, 

 planting, fodder, etc, 



3 Miscellaneous' 



" The idea of the Central Agricultural Committee 

 that, if such men (the apprentices) get the round 

 of the farms spending, say, two months at each, 

 they will bo fitted for undertaking farm work on 

 their own account for some of the district 

 Agricultural Associations . . , , is a most extra- 

 ordinary delusion." 



(iv) The Central Agiculturul Com- 

 mitee is under no such ' extraordinary 

 delusion.' Nobody for a moment imag- 

 ined that an apprentice, after six 

 months ' stay at Agricultural stations, 

 could possibly become an expert or fully- 

 qualified Agricultural Inspector or In- 

 structor ; but an attentive and intelligent 

 apprentice — such as the Central Agri- 

 cnltural Committee did its best to secure 

 —might reasonably be expected to know 

 a good deal more when he left the 

 stations than he did when he came to 

 them, and to that extent at least he 

 would be more useful to Agricultural 

 Associations than a man who had never 

 seen what is being done on scientific 

 principles at the Government Agricul- 

 tural stations. 



"Obviously a year at Samalkota would not fit 

 him (the apprentice) for charge of a Malabar farm 

 and so forth." 



(v) The Board observes that an 

 apprentice, who had been at Samalktoa. 

 should certainly have learned a good 

 deal more than he knew before he joined 

 the station in regard to sugarcane and 

 that, if he were employed by an Agri- 

 cultural Association in Malabar, he 

 should be of more use at any rate as 

 regards sugarcane cultivation than if 

 he had never been to the Samalkota 

 station, and he ought further to have 

 learned something about jute, which, 

 thouh not at present cultivated in 

 Malabar, would, it is believed, do well 

 there, 



"It seems to be necessary for the scheme that 

 the men the Central Agriculural Association sends 

 should be already well-grounded in Agricul- 

 ture, theroy and practice." 



(vi) As already stated in clause above, 

 some of the apprentices have had 

 some previous agricultural education 

 and a few of them haxe received agri- 

 cultural diplomas or certificates. 



" It is further necessary for the scheme that 

 they (the apprentice) should be trained for at 

 least a year on a Government farm with climate 

 and crops similar to those of the District whera 

 they will be required to take charge lator on." 



(Vii) The method suggested by the 

 Government Botanist would, of course, 

 be preferable to the one now adopted, 

 but the Agricultural Department has 

 to do the best it can within the time 

 allotted for training by the Associations 

 deputing the apprentices. As the 

 Central Agricultural Committee would 



