Report of Committee on Agricultural Education. 6 7 
If only agriculturists in England and Wales, who are 
convinced of the value of agricultural education, will study 
for themselves the description given by Professor Campbell of 
the admirable system created in Ireland by the Department of 
which he is Assistant Secretary, the demand for similar 
advantages in this country will become imperative. In Ireland, 
the Department of Agriculture realised that the first need was 
to provide for the training of men to become teachers and 
specialists. This they did by the addition of an Agricultural 
Department to the Royal College of Science, Dublin, there 
being no local university colleges, as in Great Britain, which 
could undertake the teaching of agriculture. Their second 
step was to provide a first-rate agricultural college (Glasnevin) 
to act as a stepping-stone for men desirous of entering the 
Royal College of Science, and also to educate future land 
agents, as well as the sons of well-to-do farmers intending 
to manage their own farms. Next, they provided three 
provincial institutions where young men can attend a 
course of agriculture extending over one year, and the 
provision of others is contemplated. The fourth step was to 
establish winter schools where the sons of farmers could obtain 
technical training during the winter months. “ Twenty-eight 
of these schools,” said Professor Campbell, “ were in operation 
last year in twelve counties.” He then went on to describe 
what his Department had done and proposed to do with regard 
to institutions for women, a school of forestry, and other 
schemes, showing that in Ireland the system of education in 
agriculture, costing some 83,000Z. a year, is graduated and 
complete. Professor Campbell’s evidence I regard as the most 
valuable which the Committee received, and to it readers 
should refer for further information on the Irish system. One 
of our witnesses — a lady — complained that “ she had never 
been educated, but only brought up in Ireland.” Under 
Professor Campbell’s regime such a misfortune will become a 
matter for sincere congratulation. 
The Committee did not receive verbal evidence direct from 
the United States, Germany, Holland, or Denmark, but were 
fortunate in having among their own members several who had 
visited and made a study of agricultural education in one or 
more of the countries mentioned. In addition, they had placed 
before them a considerable amount of literature dealing with 
this branch of the subject. It appears that in the United43tates 
much dissatisfaction was expressed with the results obtained 
from agricultural education after the establishment of the 
Land Grant Colleges, owing to the fact that the teachers and 
students depended, for the subject matter of courses in agricul- 
tural science, chiefly on the results of research conducted in 
