igo6.] Grants for Agricultural Education. 627 



is found to exist in regard to many of the details of this form 

 of instruction, it is interesting to find that success may be 

 achieved by a variety of methods, and the results of the inquiry 

 set forth in the Appendix can hardly fail to be of use not only 

 to counties that are about to start school gardens, but also to 

 those which already possess them. 



A general survey of the various forms of agricultural instruc- 

 tion provided by County Councils throughout England and 

 Wales is given in Appendix III., and Appendix IV. is a 

 statement showing the amount received from the Residue 

 Grant under the Local Taxation (Customs and Excise) Act, 

 1890, and the expenditure upon agricultural instruction by 

 County Councils in England and Wales. This shows that 

 during the past four years there has been a very serious 

 diminution in the aggregate amount of the grant. The total 

 available for use in the year 1901-2 amounted to ,£764,353, 

 whereas in the year ending March, 1905, it was only about 

 ^693,000. Notwithstanding a steadily falling grant available 

 for the years up to 1904, the County Councils were able to 

 increase the aggregate sum expended on agricultural educa- 

 tion during that period, but the figures for the succeeding year 

 show that expenditure in this direction has had to be curtailed, 

 and, in fact, is now less than it was in 190 1-2, when the amount 

 available under the Act of 1890 was much greater. Turning to 

 the various forms of agricultural education, it appears that ex- 

 penditure on dairying, poultry-keeping, and bee-keeping has 

 remained fairly steady, whereas there has been diminishing 

 support in the direction of agricultural lectures, farriery, and 

 manual processes. The sums set aside for the provision of 

 scholarships have undergone little change during the past four 

 years. Grants to colleges and schools, on the other hand, 

 have been much reduced, a condition of things probably 

 accounted for, in large part, by abnormal expenditure on 

 buildings during previous years. 



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