1906.] Agricultural Education in Canada. 



31 



The Ontario Agriadhtral College. — This college is main- 

 tained by the Government of the Province of Ontario, and 

 I do not think I have ever been more favourably impressed 

 with the methods of any educational system than I was 

 with the practical character of the education given there. 

 The whole system of education is based upon the assumption 

 that the brain of the agriculturist is reached not by academic 

 discourses in a town laboratory, where the student may be un- 

 fitted for the work of the farm, but through the eyes and finger- 

 tips, by the practical handling of animals and materials, and the 

 visual demonstration of the right way in which acts of hus- 

 bandry should be done. 



Gratuitous instruction in judging live stock and seed grains 

 is offered by the college to the farmers of the Dominion in 

 short fortnightly courses. There are also short courses in 

 poultry management and in dairying. The farmer is thus 

 enabled to learn, at no expense to himself for tuition, the most 

 scientific and up-to-date methods of managing a cow byre and 

 a dairy, of selecting seeds and sires, of judging and fattening 

 stock, and of keeping poultry. 



The conservative farmer, who as a rule is prejudiced against 

 the teaching of the academic theorist, is at once in sympathy 

 with this form of instruction, which is based upon a demonstration 

 of actual facts. There are, in addition, the regular courses for 

 students in the college ; two years leading to a diploma from 

 the college, and two more years (four in all) leading to the 

 degree of Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from Toronto Uni- 

 versity, the provincial university with which the Ontario Agri- 

 cultural College is affiliated. 



As an instance of the practical character of the education and 

 illustrations given by the college, I might refer to an experi- 

 rhent I saw in course of operation in connection with poultry. 

 There were four poultry-houses, all of varied construction, re- 

 sulting in different temperatures inside during the winter. The 

 result of this experiment has been to prove that the poultry kept 

 in the house of cheapest construction, consisting of one thick- 

 ness of wood only (i-in. boards), and with no artificial heat, pro- 

 duce most eggs and keep in the best condition. 



The service rendered to the Dominion by the college in con- 



