REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE FRUIT INDUSTRY. 521 



Education Department. From the evidence of the two last named it 

 appears that something is done, though not very much, in the elementary 

 schools, both in England and Wales, and in Scotland. According to Mr. 

 Leaf, horticulture may be taught in elementary schools in England and 

 Wales, and grants are given for it to those schools which include it in 

 their curriculum. But, as a matter of fact, in 1904 such grants were 

 given to only 349 elementary schools in England and Wales out of a 

 total of 20,264, of which about 11,000 were in agricultural districts. 

 Taking the principal fruit-growing centres, we find that eighteen of 

 these schools are in Kent, ten in Worcestershire, seven in Gloucester- 

 shire, six in Herefordshire, and two in Cambridgeshire. The subject 

 is, of course, entirely an optional one, and it is not the policy of the 

 Board to take active steps to encourage it. The initiative, indeed, in 

 such a matter would rest entirely either with the local managers, or with 

 the local education authority to whom the grants would be paid. Two 

 practical difficulties stand in the way of further immediate extension — 

 the difficulty of obtaining school gardens and the difficulty of getting 

 competent teachers. Practical horticulture is not taught at any of the 

 training colleges, and the nature-study which is taught and often en- 

 couraged in them is quite theoretical. In Scotland even less appears to 

 have been done up to the present ; but tho Scotch Education Department, 

 in their Revised Code for 1903, issued certain suggestions for special 

 courses for children between twelve and fourteen years of age. One of 

 these suggested courses is called the Course of Rural Schools, in which 

 horticulture is specially included. It is also suggested that there should 

 be school gardens, but, as Mr. Struthers added, these gardens " have to be 

 established yet for the most part." The Committee feel strongly the im- 

 portance of the teaching of practical horticulture in elementary schools in 

 rural districts, not because they desire to see the introduction of a particu- 

 lar branch of technical instruction, but because few subjects will be found 

 which help so forcibly to stimulate inquiry and quicken observation in 

 children, whilst at the same time affording scope for immediate practical 

 application out of school. It is frequently asserted, and probably with 

 truth, that the present system is largely responsible for what has been 

 termed the "rural exodus" — the tendency of the children of country 

 parents to migrate to the towns— and the Committee feel that one of the 

 best ways to arrest this tendency would be to interest them in tho natural 

 objects around them, and in the^ occupations and industries of country 

 life. Now that the management of elementary schools in England is 

 vested in local bodies, instead of in a centralised office in London, there is 

 a greater possibility of modifying the curriculum to suit local circum- 

 stances, and the Committee hope that the local educational authorities 

 will take steps to encourage the teaching of practical horticulture, and 

 the provision of school gardens. The Committee would further draw 

 attention to the provisions of what is usually known as the Robson Act, 

 whereby in England and Wales boys of a certain age may, subject to 

 certain by-laws, become "half-timers," spending six months on the land 

 and six months in school. Unfortunately, there appears to be the 

 greatest ignorance of these provisions, and the Board of Education has 

 taken no steps to make them known. Mr. Leaf, indeed, was perfectly 



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