278 The Agricultural Lessons of " The Eighties." 
of great use as a means of communication with the Houses of 
Parliament. One lesson which we have learnt, and which will, 
no doubt, be followed up, is that of combination. 
2. Education. 
Previous to 1880, agricultural education was restricted in 
its opei'ations. The examinations of the Royal Agricultural 
Society, of the Highland and Agricultural Society, and of the 
Science and Art Department, were in full force, as at present, 
but there had been no new departure for many years, and the 
Royal Agricultural College at Cirencester was the only technical 
institution devoted to the training of agriculturists, although 
there were several schools in which agricultural science was 
taught. The opening of the Wilts and Hants Agricultural 
College was announced in 1880, and shortly afterwards the 
name was altered to that of the College of Agriculture. The 
Surveyors' Institution at 12 Great George Street became, not 
only a professional, but an examining, body. The charter of 
incorporation of this institution confers powers which are likely 
to exert a most beneficial and stimulating effect upon the pro- 
fession of land agents and surveyors, and to render it for the 
future imperative upon every one who aspires to enter it to 
qualify by passing prescribed examinations. 
The air is now, indeed, full of schemes for agricultural 
education, and the lines upon which it is likely to develop are 
indicated in the report of Sir Richard Paget's Departmental 
Committee of 1887. I mast refer readers for details to the two 
bulky volumes embodying Mr. Jenkins's labours in North Ger- 
many, France, Denmark, Belgium, Holland, and in the United 
Kingdom, presented in 1883, treating, not so much of the highest 
education suitable for gentlemen farming their own land, as 
" for bailiffs and small tenant farmers, and the lower education 
for farm-labourers and peasant proprietors ; also the instruction 
in the rudiments of agriculture given in elementary schools." 
My task is to indicate the lessons of the decade, rather than 
to describe movements, however important ; and an exhaustive 
account of the various proposals, or even of recently-opened 
schools for agricultural and horticultural instruction, seems 
scarcely to bo called for within the limits of this necessarily 
short article. It does not, however, seem probable that the 
patriarchal system of the Continent will ever find a place in 
the United Kingdom. Hitherto State interference has been 
repugnant to the genius of the English people, and personal 
energy and self-help have been (he fundamental principles of 
progress. No one can say how far this condition of opinion is 
