Agricultural Education. 
543 
My views arc these : That, following the example set us in Devon- 
shire, we ought to do our utmost, not as a society, but as members of 
the agricultural class, to establish a system of public schools throughout 
the country as opportunity presents itself; that whilst the farmer's 
son is availing himself of the advantages thus offered, we ought to 
give him encouragement, by showing him that if he will but exert 
himself and bring out the talent that in him lies, he will gain 
honours and attain a status. And then wo ought to follow that up by 
enabling those who have gained such honours further to make them- 
selves perfect in their profession by having the advantage of attending 
where a scientific education is bestowed, or studying the practice upon 
a farm. This is the only way in which we, as an agricultural body, 
can work until the time comes, as I hope and trust it will, when, from 
the benefits accruing to the sons of occupiers of land who, through 
their own and our exertions, have been enabled to obtain a better edu- 
cation, or an education from which they are now entirely shut out, 
agriculturists themselves will step forward and join us in the great 
work of improving the educational condition of the farming class of 
this country. 
At the conclusion of Mr. Holland's address, 
Sir Edward Kerrison, M.P., said he was sure they would all thank 
Mr. Holland for the able manner in which he had introduced a subject 
that had been kept in abeyance much longer than it ought to have been 
by the Council of the Society, seeing that, according to their charter, 
it was one of their functions to encourage the education of the agricul- 
tural classes. Mr. Holland had mentioned the name of Mr. Brereton 
and his successful exertions. He (Sir E. Kerrison) had visited that 
gentleman's school, and had there seen the pupils, consisting chiefly 
of the sons of agriculturists, maintained and educated at a cost 
so reasonable as to be within the means of almost any farmer of a 
tolerably sized occupation, and some of these pupils had since passed 
the only test hitherto existing for the middle class, viz., the Oxford 
and Cambridge middle class examinations. A conversation which he 
had had with Mr. Brereton led him to consider whether efforts for 
the improvement of the education of the middle class should not 
be made in so general a way as to provide not merely an education for 
particular sections of that class, such as the agricultural, but for 
the whole middle class of the country; for Mr. Brereton's remark 
was undoubtedly true, that in many instances the sons of farmers 
were desirous of going into commercial life, whilst the sons of 
commercial parents were often desirous of becoming farmers. Con- 
sequently, the training in any school, to be beneficial to all, should 
be general ; for it was well known that there was no limit to the trade 
of the country, but there was a limit to the land, and although year by 
year, owing to increased knowledge and energy, the produce of farming 
might be augmented, yet, excepting in a few instances, where fresh land 
was brought into cidtivation, farms could not be increased in number. 
On the contrary, the tendency of the present time, and he regretted it, 
was to do away with small farms, and thereby reduce the number of 
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