426 Development Fund and Farm Institutes, [aug., 



Education;* It is intended that a Farm Institute should serve as the 

 headquarters for the miscellaneous and itinerant work of the Agricul 

 tural Staff, other than that done in regular local courses of instruction, 

 and for educational demonstrations and similar purposes, and that it 

 should also provide accommodation for central courses of instruction 

 in agriculture and kindred subjects. These central courses might 

 include, for example, (i) a 16 to 20 weeks' winter agricultural course 

 for the sons of small farmers, who have acquired some practical 

 experience on the land since leaving Elementary Schools, (ii) shorter 

 courses in dairy work, poultry-keeping and the like during spring and 

 summer, and (iii) vacation courses for teachers of rural subjects in 

 local continuation courses. The buildings of an Institute should include 

 (a) an educational block with class-rooms, laboratories for students 

 and staff, dairy, poultry stores, carpenters' and smiths' shops, &c, 

 and, where necessary, bee-keeping and fruit-preserving stores, (b) resi- 

 dential accommodation for the Principal, and (c) such other accommo- 

 dation as may be desirable. Suitable equipment for the educational 

 work will, of course, be necessary, and additional provision may in 

 some cases be required for the institution of an Information Bureau 

 and a Library in connection with the work of the Staff outside the 

 Farm Institute. 



3. Aid will be granted from the Development Fund towards both 

 the provision and the maintenance of Farm Institutes. The grant in 

 aid of the provision or enlargement of a Farm Institute will be limited 

 to an amount not exceeding in any case 75 per cent, of the total 

 approved cost of the provision or enlargement. The maintenance of a 

 Farm Institute will be aided in two ways. The Authority providing 

 the Farm Institute will receive grants under the Board's ordinary Regu- 

 lations for Technical Schools, &c, in respect of the instruction given 

 by the County Agricultural Staff in regular courses. To these will be 

 added a contribution from the Development Fund in respect of the 

 miscellaneous and itinerant work of the Staff, which will be so limited 

 that the total Exchequer aid distributed by the Board shall not exceed 

 50 per cent, of the total approved cost of maintaining the Institute and 

 its Staff. The small amount of aid at present given towards the mis- 

 cellaneous and itinerant work of a County Staff under Article 34 of 

 the Regulations for Technical Schools, &c, will be discontinued, and 

 the Board's Grants, otherwise than out of the Development Fund, will 

 in future be limited to regular courses of instruction. 



4. On educational grounds the Board of Education regard it as 

 essential for the successful working of a Farm Institute that there 

 should be available and in close proximity to it a farm and garden. 

 These will not only be required in connection with the internal courses 

 of the Institute, but should also serve as an object-lesson to the farmers 

 and gardeners of the country. In some cases a " small holding " for 

 demonstration purposes may with advantage be added. The farm and 

 garden should be conducted on business principles, so far as may be 

 consistent with their primary use for educational purposes; but it is 

 probable that such use will as a rule entail some annual deficiency upon 

 a profit and loss account. Under the Memorandum of xArrangements 



* To be obtained from Messrs. Wyman & Sons, Fetter Lane, E.C. Price, 3I 



