358 



Agricultural Education. [august, 



made for affording scientific and technical instruction in 

 agriculture in England and Wales, and to report whether, in 

 view of the practical results which have already been obtained, 

 the existing facilities for the purpose are satisfactory and 

 sufficient, and, if not, in what manner they may with advantage 

 be modified or extended. 



The Committee was constituted as follows : — The Right Hon. 

 Lord Reay, G.C.S.I., G.C.I.E. (Chairman), the Lord Barnard, 

 the Lord Belper, Lord Moreton, Mr. Francis Dyke Acland, 

 M.P., Mr. David Davies, M.P., Mr. Norman Lamont, M.P., Mr. 

 Thomas Latham, Mr. John Charles Medd, Professor Thomas 

 Hudson Middleton, M.A., M.Sc. (one of the Assistant Secre- 

 taries of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries), Professor 

 William Somerville, D.Sc, Mr. Henry Staveley-Hill, M.P. Mr. 

 A. E. Brooke-Hunt acted as Secretary and Mr. H. L. French as 

 Assistant Secretary to the Committee. 



The Committee made an exhaustive inquiry into the subject 

 and examined in all 113 witnesses, consisting of landowners, 

 farmers, farm managers, estate agents, scientific experts and 

 investigators, together with members of the teaching profession 

 in its various branches associated with agriculture, or with 

 general university education. The report is signed by all the 

 Members of the Committee, while a short supplementary report 

 by Mr. J. C. Medd deals with certain points not touched on in 

 the main report. 



The first portion of the report contains a brief review 

 of the history of agricultural education in this country 

 up to the present time. The existing facilities for agri- 

 cultural education in England and Wales are discussed and 

 the progress of practical and scientific instruction in this 

 country during the past twenty years is referred to as satis- 

 factory, though the Committee are of opinion that much remains 

 to be accomplished before the subject is placed in the condition 

 which its importance demands. There is unmistakeable 

 evidence that the attitude of farmers towards education, 

 which was formerly one of indifference, has undergone, or is 

 undergoing, a marked change ; keen interest is now taken in 

 the work of many institutions, and a number of improvements 

 in farm practice can be directly traced to their influence. 



Higher Agricultural Education. — As regards the higher 



