Education. olo 
always on the look out, especially on the skirts of his beat, to see 
that the woods are not injured by trespassers, ivy, or rabbits (it 
is hard to say which do most harm), to help the keeper in his 
work, and to be generally accountable for the safety and well- 
doing of the portion of the estate entrusted to his care. 
V. Education of the Agricultural Population. 
One of the avowed objects of the Society is " to take measures 
for the improvement of the education of those who depend on 
the cultivation of the soil for their support." I am, therefore, 
directly following one indicated line of the Society's operations, 
in discussing the state of education among the labouring agri- 
cultural population of this county. 
The importance of this topic at this time is very great, even 
if regarded from a farming point of view alone. That the pre- 
sent, and yet more the future, success of agriculture largely 
depends on labour-saving machinery in the field and in the barn ; 
that this machinery requires knowledge and intelligence for 
quietly working it, instead of carelessly injuring it, or riotously 
destroying it, are propositions which need no proof. 
Tliat there exists a certain amount of apathy and prejudice 
in the minds of the farmers with respect to the education of their 
labourers' children, cannot be denied. As a body, they have 
hardly yet realised their duties, or understood their true interests, 
as persons largely interested in the intellectual and moral im- 
provement of their labourers. They value, indeed, these things, 
but think it is not their business, but the parson's, to care for the 
poor in these respects, not considering that the master's influence 
is paramount with the servant. They dislike, too, the extension 
of education beyond (in their opinion) its proper limits. They 
doubt whether the higher instruction given in the more advanced 
— or, as a school inspector would call them, the more promising 
— national schools, tends to make the rising generation more 
faithful servants to themselves, or more loyal subjects of the 
Crown. Besides, they find themselves sometimes at odds with 
the schoolmaster, who wants to keep the children at their learn- 
ing, while the farmer requires their labour. On hiring a man, a 
stipulation is not unfrequently made for the services of the boys 
of ten years old, to assist the carter and shepherd, and their 
exertions are stimulated by an increase of 6c?. a week, according 
to what they can do. " I saw that little chap," said a farmer to 
me, "take my team down the hill, as proud as a lion, on my 
raising him." These are permanent engagements. At certain 
seasons, for bird-keeping, couch or stone picking, girls as well 
as boys are wanted. 
Nor can we wonder that parents should prefer the field to the 
