Technical Education in Agricidture. 
101 
ance with, and skill in tlie actual performance of, those multi- 
farious manual operations which make up farm work. Whilst 
no one will be inclined to dispute the assertion that familiarity 
with farm practice can only be acquired on a farm, there has 
probably been no question more widely debated than that con- 
cerning the possession, or location, of such farm. Is a farm an 
indispensable adjunct to an institution in which agricultural 
education is imparted, or can the student obtain efficient prac- 
tical training, suited to his requirements, elsewhere ? We 
discuss this question later, but this may be said at present : 
Years ago much was heard about " model farms,"' and there was 
a period after the Great Exhibition when it was thought that 
the model farm would serve as the chief teacher of the future 
farmers of the country. Model farms were started — some of 
them very beautiful — but where is the model farm that ever paid 
its way ? The most useful type of model farm to place before 
the young agriculturist is the farm which pays its way best. 
My own idea is that the model farm is the farm that year by 
year makes the largest profit. How it is worked is another 
consideration — if it makes the biggest profit, that is the model 
to put before our j'ovmg men. The model farm which is con- 
ducted as a toy is not only valueless but injurious, because 
learners will see at such a farm much that would not be tole- 
rated upon a farm that has to be worked on commercial principles. 
Classes of People needing Technical Instruction. 
A Parliamentary Return ' made some years ago showed that 
there were in England and Wales no less than 55,000 farmers 
who cultivate holdings of between 50 and 100 acres. These 
55,000 occupiers may be regarded as, in every sense, men capable 
of combining practice with science, whilst the same statement 
may probably be made of most of the 67,000 farmers who 
occupy holdings of from 100 to 300 acres in extent. If they 
can get a certain amount of useful scientific knowledge, they 
are in a happy position to practically apply this knowledge, 
because their farms are not large enough to enable them, as a 
rule, to relieve themselves of manual labour. They find it ex- 
' An Agricultural Eeturn for 1886, presented to Parliament, records for 
England and Wales : — 
Farm Holdings, 60 acres to 100 acres . . . 54,937 "I iq, qei 
100 „ 300 67,024 [ ^--^""^^ 
300 „ 500 „ . . . 11,841-] 
„ 500 „ 1000 „ . . . 4,194 K 16,608 
„ over 1000 acrea , , , C73 J 
