Agricultural Education Exhibition. 
207 
allowed their pupils to confuse the conventional ornamentation, 
say of a wall paper, with the things to be seen illustrating 
“ Nature’s wonderful book.” 
Furthermore, while we suppose that it is impossible to 
altogether substitute drawing from life for the copying of 
pictures, even in the case of -such familiar country objects as 
farm live stock, we would nevertheless urge the necessity of a 
little skilled selection in the models. Some of the pictures 
produced by the children were very faithful reproductions of 
well-known models of an.imals, some of whose points could 
only have been put on paper owing to the original artist having 
no technical knowledge whatever. 
— Again we very much doubt whether the bottling and 
labelling of manures can be of any educational value to the 
youngsters. But whether this be so or not, anyhow, it is 
essential that the authorities should not let boys put up 
powders of which neither they nor any expert knows anything 
definite. “Turnips Manure,” “ Wheat Fertilizers,” are labels 
which we had hoped would never have been used to prostitute 
a study which is known by the name of “ Nature.” 
The number of schools exhibiting was as follows : — Ele- 
mentary, seventy-one ; secondary, three ; and industrial, two. 
Having noted above the one or two blemishes that were 
discovered, we may conclude by saying that the number and 
variety of the exhibits show the very great interest taken in 
the subject by the School authorities, and reflect great credit 
on the teachei-s. 
Royal Agricultural Society of England. — The value of the 
Society’s Educational exhibit, if one can judge by the number 
of visitors to their bay, grows greater every year. Mr. Freear, 
who is always present to personally explain the exhibit, was at 
times literally besieged at Newcastle. His work on these 
occasions bears ample fruit however, for year by year, visitors 
to the Show (many of them members of the Society) return 
not only to hear his explanations of the exhibit, but to ask 
advice, and to discuss with him questions that have arisen on 
their own particular farms. 
The arrangements this year were particularly indicative of 
the fact that Dr. Voelcker, Mr. Carruthers (the Consulting 
Botanist), and the other scientific advisers of the Society, realise 
that the sure way to reach the farmer, with such very special 
knowledge, is to be thorough, for only three main items were 
treated upon in detail, but so skilfully and minutely were they 
illustrated that it would seem difficult to believe that any 
reasonable man could fail to understand the very important 
exhibits, illustrating matters as important as they were in some 
cases intricate, 
