914 



Agricultural Education. 



[FEB., 



whereas Federal grants can only be used in aid of working 

 expenses. 



The Reading deputation proceeds to discuss the position 

 of agricultural education generally in the U.S.A. and 

 Canada. It is justly observed that, apart from the criterion 

 of results, no one can dispute or disregard the magnitude 

 of the scale on which the colleges are conceived and the 

 enterprising energy which animates their work. The great 

 differences between agricultural problems in these countries 

 and those existing here (in, for example, climatic and racial 

 conditions) cannot, of course, be ignored, and constitute a per- 

 manent difficulty in the way of utilising foreign experience in 

 promoting education and development in Great Britain ; but 

 when all is said there remains a substratum of similarity 

 which may be profitably explored in furtherance of British 

 agriculture. A factor which has fostered development in 

 America and Canada is found in the fact that the trans- 

 atlantic farmer is not, on the average, so skilled as the 

 British, and is consequently more in need of instruction. 

 Agricultural education here will not be successful until a 

 large body of specialists of proved ability and scientific skill 

 is placed at the service of the farmer. The failure to gain 

 the entire confidence of the farmer, which is an unfortunate 

 feature of the position of higher agricultural education in this 

 country, may unquestionably be attributed to this fact.' The 

 Reading deputation is convinced that in Canada and the 

 United States the colleges have completely gained the con- 

 fidence of the agriculturist, and the report is devoted in part 

 to considering how the Reading College can attain this happy 

 result in the area which it serves. Among the desiderata 

 placed before the governing body of the College, the following 

 deserve mention : — 



A greater specialisation on the part of the members of the 

 staff is called for. In the words of the Report of the Depart- 

 mental Committee on Agricultural Education: "Teachers 

 must be trained specialists." The provision of facilities for 

 post-graduate research is urgently required. The time given to 

 the teaching of pure science should be curtailed, and more 

 attention should be given to practical subjects. "The main 

 function of the agricultural college is to teach the best methods 

 of farming." Students of all grades must be agriculturists 



