May 1, 1900.1 THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
737 
theqnestion — can a draining for a life career in Gveater 
Britain, as a'farmer or a planter, be obtained in Eng- 
land ? That for a planter is, I should say, practically 
unobtainable, as the soil, climate, vegetation, and con- 
ditions of life aud work with ns are not th; same 
asm tropical and subtropical countries. Perhaps it 
is from this very cause that, as Sir Williatn Des 
Voenx has pointed out, we are said to be moat sub- 
ject of all colonisers to entertaining delusions about 
tropical cultivation. " The Inxuriance," he states, 
'of the tropical virgin forests appeal to the coloni- 
sing ent^iT^iast chiefly as indicating possibilities of 
its succession by equal luxuriance cf plantations con- 
trolled by planters." In imagination he sees the 
'jungle,' 'bush,' or 'scrub' replaced by fields of 
sugar, cotton, or tea, judging in doing so, of tlie 
cultivation and vegetation of the tropics by the con- 
ditions common to the temperate zone. As regards 
planting then it would appear that the only edu- 
cation or technical training available is by the sys- 
tem under which yonng men are placed out with 
planters to be taught the management of an eco- 
nomic plant in all its stages, from the seedling in 
the nursery to the shipping home of the ultimate 
commercial product. 
There still remains a part of the original question 
to be examined, namely can a training for farming 
in the Colonies be obtained in England ? Those 
who intend to settle and farm in the Colonies can 
Ofually, I think, be divided into two classes — those 
who have been brought up in rural districts and 
from an early age have been accustomed to farm and 
manual labour, and on the other hand those brought 
up in urban districts unaccustomed to farm labour 
and often even to labour in any form. In a way, as 
far as I can gather, this distinction is to some ex- 
tent recop;nised in this country. Those who are ac- 
quainted and accustomed with the practical work of 
agriculture can find institutions in England at which 
they can study simply the science of agriculture. At 
the same time those who have known acquaintance 
with the details of agricultural practice will be able 
to find institutions, where besides studying the theory 
of agriculture, they will also be instructed as regards 
its practical details, taking part in all the operations 
aud processes which go to form the yearly cycle in 
farming. Turning now to the Colonies, what appears 
to be a general feature there is, that in the agri- 
cultural colleges of Great Britain it is assumed that 
the student who seeks instruction is unacquainted 
with practical farm work and, therefore, practical 
work or manual labour must be undertaken or per- 
formed by all and is a part of the instruction offered. 
The agricultural settler in the Colonies as already 
indicated may have had a rural or an urban training. 
It is but natural, therefore, that these two differently 
trained men should approach the subject of " Agri- 
oultnral Education " fiom two different standpoints, 
in the one case, considering that both the theory 
and practice of agriculture has to be learnt, it would 
seem that the most advantageous way to undergo 
such instruction would be in the college of the colony 
where settlement was intended. On the other hand 
one cannot but admit the justice of the other view 
held, namely, that the praccical man who desires to 
study chiefly the higher scientific problems which 
underlie the practice of agriculture before he entered 
upon colonial life, would find it to his advantage to 
do BO in England, where he can command the best 
teaching talent, material and equipment. Still there 
is one factor which must not be overlooked by the 
most practical man who has further benefited by an 
expensive agricultural education in England, and that 
is the time and money that must necessarily be spent 
by him, in obtaining colonial experience in the colony 
he has chosen. Colonial experience being a term 
which indicates the knowledge that is absolutely 
necessary for bringing undertakings entered upon 
with entirely new surrouna. it^s to a successful issue, 
and it includes experience in " the clearing of bush 
hands, the preparation of virgin soil for cultivation, 
the dealing with the heavy timbers of the colony, 
irhethec for use or destruction, the varied modes of 
cultivation and manuring consequent on the pecu- 
liarities of soil and nlimate and methods of clearing 
and reaping, the different systems of fencing, the 
handling of large herds of cattlo and flocks of sheep, 
the local ^buying and selling of the stock and 
produce and the treatment of wool, timber meat, 
fruit, bark, butter and other produce for export." 
It will be readily seen therefore that (his " colonml ex- 
perience" is the difficulty that has to be aurinounted 
and, of course, it will ho just as readily observed that 
a traiuii'g at a colonial agticultnral college, theoreti- 
cally, should Rive the knowledge and experience 
n«ually so much in <iemand and sought after.' 
This leads me to what is the mHin object in this 
paper — a survey of what our colonies aud dependencies 
have attempted and accomplished in respect to agri- 
culttiral education. I cannot protend to be nble to 
give a complete record of wht^t is being d(ine in the ' 
British Empire, but I hnve attempted by corre- 
spondence with the chief officials of our various colonies 
and dependencies, and by a careful study of nu- 
merous reports to be found in the libraries of the 
British Museum, Colonial Office, and India Office, 
assisted also by the good offices of the various Agent- 
Generals in London for our colonies, to gather together 
some authentic information on the subject. 
Leaving England, then, and going to the great 
American continent, the first country there of im- 
portance for us is the Dominion of Canada. I have 
been favoured with a memorandum relating to agri- 
cultural education in Canada, which has been drawn 
up by Dr. Saunders, Director of the Dominion Ex- 
perimental Farms as follows : — 
'' Information relating to agriculture in Canada is 
given to the farming community by "both the Pro- 
vincial and Dominion Governments. 
" Provincial A.id3. 
" 1. Agricultural Schools. — Some of the provinces 
maintain agricultural schools for the practical educa- 
tion of young men in farming. The Ontari* College 
of Agricultare at Guelph, Ont., is the best of these, 
institutions in Ctiuada. It is well-equipped well 
managed, and has been in operation for about 26 
years. There a large number of the sons of Canadian 
farmers receive practical training in their calling. 
An experimental farm is also carried on in con- 
nection with this institution. The full course of 
study covers a period of three years. 
fl'o he contimted.) 

LESSONS Ii\ TREE PLANTING. 
A class of blue-books that may be held to fully 
justify its existence, even in the face of recent criti- 
cism, is that relating to road-aide arboriculture. As 
a rule departmental reports on this subject are at 
once concise, practical and instructive. It seems un- 
fortunate, therefore, that advantages like these should 
mat infrequently be neutralised by dilatoriness in publi-|, 
cation. We have just received, writes the Civil atid 
Military Gazette, two annual reports on road-side 
arboriculture in the Central Provinces, one for the 
year 1898-99, itself a sufficiently belated production, 
and the other for the year 1897-98. As it happens, 
the latter is intrinsically even more valuable than 
the former, and had it seen the light a couple of 
years ago, as it ought to have done, would doubtless 
have served important uses. Even at this late hour, 
however the book is still something better than waste- 
paper, and it may be that a province like Punjab 
which itself dabbles largely in tree-planting, can 
pick up some grains of counsel from the many 
failures and the few successes of the Arboriculture 
Department in the Central Provinces during the 
periods under notice. 
The period 1897-98 embraced the worst half of 
the famine year, and although the closing portion 
was a time of recuperation, owing [to the bounteous 
crops reaped in the autumn of 1897, still it was not 
to be expected that lost ground would be regained. 
As remarked by the Commissioner of the Jnbbul- 
pore Division, " When the crops fail, road-side treea 
escape attention," The results of the year's operi^tioDi) 
