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JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
March  31,  1904. 
Educational  Muddles. 
It  is  difficult  to  foresee  what  M'ill  he  done  even  in  the  imme¬ 
diate  future  to  educate  our  people  in  tlie  principles  of  agricul¬ 
ture  ;  hut  the  blindest  mu.st  see  that  there  has  been  a  consider¬ 
able  set  back  during  the  past  twelve  months,  and  the  reason 
for  it  can  be  very  easily  found.  It  is  the  chaos  which  is  attend¬ 
ing,  and  is  likely  for  .some  time  longer  to  attend,  the  initiatory 
working  of  the  new  Education  Bill. 
The  work  connected  with  the  organisation  under  the  Bill  has 
been  enormous,  and  the  education  committees  of  the  County 
Councils  have  found  their  hands  more  than  full,  a  reasonable 
attendance  on  one  of  these  committees  having,  we  know, 
included  fifty  meetings  within  twelve  months.  Technical 
education  has  been  neglected  because  the  committees  have  been 
overworked,  and  the  question  of  the  upkeep  of  elementary 
schools  ha,s  ab.sorbed  nearly  all  their  time  and  attention. 
A  most  undesirable  situation  has  ari.sen,  for  the  demands  on 
the  time  of  committeemen  is  so  great  that  many  of  those  best 
qualified  by  knowledge  and  experience  to  work  on  such  com¬ 
mittees  are  obliged  to  withdraw,  and  only  those  who  have 
nothing  else  to  do  are  able  to  attend  sufficiently  to  justify  their 
appointment.  We  knovv'  of  one  case  of  a  chairman  of  an 
education  committee  a  most  capable  man,  whose  .services  have 
been  of  inestimable  value  during  the  past  year,  but  who  is 
retiring  altogether  from  the  committee  because  it  trenches  too 
much  on  the  time  which  he  is  obliged  to  devote  to  other 
business. 
Again,  we  know  a  recently  elected  councillor  who  is  most 
expert  in  agricultural  matters,  both  scientific  and  practical, 
and  would  have  been  an  ideal  member  of  a  technical  education 
committee,  who  could  not  allow  himself  to  be  nominated  as  he 
could  not  possibly  attend  the  fifty  meetings  which  he  would  have 
been  required  to.  These  education  committees  under  the  new  Act 
have  far  too  much  work,  and  it  will  have  to  be  divided.  The 
control  of  the  elementary  schools  of  any  ordinary  county  is 
uite  enough  to  occupy  the  attention  of  one  committee  without 
evoting  any  time  to  secondary  and  technical  matters,  and 
there  should  be  a  division  of  work,  .so  that  the  services  of  the 
best  men  may  be  obtained.  We  do  not  believe  in  large  com¬ 
mittees.  Two  committees  of  ten  or  twelve  members  each,  if  you 
have  the  most  suitable  members  on  each,  will  do  far  more  and 
better  work  than  an  unwieldy  body  of  twenty-five  or  thirty, 
half  of  whom  are  not  particularly  interested  in  the  questions 
brought  forward. 
As  we  have  before  stated,  technical  education,  at  any  rate 
in  the  country  districts,  has  been  almost  allowed  to  la"p.se  in 
many  counties,  and  under  present  circumstances  there  is  little 
chance  of  a  revival.  We  fear  that  the  state  of  things  which 
has  been  In-ought  about  by  the  new  Act  will  take  a  great  deal 
of  remedying,  one  reason  being  that  many  officials  appointed 
under  it.s  provisions  have  not  the  nece.ssary  qualifications  for 
their  positions.  Family  and  teiu'itorial  influence  is  often  unduly 
exerted,  and  a,  canaidate  elected  vho  is  more  fit  to  qualify  for 
a  superannuation  allowance  than  an  arduous  post.  Then,  again, 
there  is  the  friction  caused  by  the  religious  animosity  of  rival 
factions,  and  in  some  counties  very  little  has  been  done  at  all  in 
the  cause  of  education  during  the  last  few  months,  and  this 
applies  most  particularly  to  the  technical  side  in  rural  districts. 
Some  of  us  had  hoped  that  our  village  schools  were  to  be  made 
more  suitable  for  village  needs,  but  so  far  Whitehall  and  H.M. 
Inspector  are  as  supreme  as  ever,  and  we  have  had  no  technical 
lectures  or  courses  whatever  this  winter. 
The  Metric  System. 
As  our  local  legislators  appear  to  be  failing  in  their  duty  of 
educating  us  to  better  things,  we  had  better  attempt  a  little 
education  of  those  in  higher  places,  and  we  should  like  to  call 
the  attention  of  the  Board  of  Agriculture  to  the  state  of  utter 
confusion  which  prevails  as  to  our  weights  and  measures.  Con¬ 
fusion  is  bad  enough  in  other  branches  of  business,  but  that 
prevailing  in  the  corn  trade  is  absolutely  bewildering.  Imported 
grain  is  bought  in  centals  (1001b  each)  as  landed,  and  is  resold 
in  quarters  of  very  yarying  weights,  or  in  sacks  or  in  tons.  The 
latter  seems  to  be  the  only  common  denominator,  for  the  sack 
may  yary  as  much  as  the  quarter. 
Home-grown  corn  is  sold  by  the  quarter,  the  coomb,  the  boll, 
the  load,  Ac.  The  quarter  leally  means  eight  bushels,  the 
coomb  four,  the  boll  two,  and  the  load  three;  but,  by  the 
custom  of  vai’ious  markets,  the  bushel,  which  is  a  measure,  is 
convei'tod  into  so  many  pounds  ayoirdupois,  which  means 
weight.  Well,  we  are  supposed  to  have  Imperial  weights  and 
measures,  and  we  are  liable  to  fine  for  not  having  our  weights 
and  measures  properly  tested  and  stamped,  but  if  the  inspection 
of  grain  on  delivery  were  carried  out  in  the  same  way  as  pounds 
of  butter  are  now,  and  a  so-called  sack  of  Wheat  were  found 
to  contain  only  fifteen  pecks,  could  the  farmer  be  fined  for 
delivering  short  measure  when  he  is  really  selling  by  weight? 
All  this  tends  to  depreciate  homo  produce,  and  to  make  a  good 
living  for  the  middleman.  Farmers  are  apt  to  get  very  much 
confused  as  to  the  values  of  grain  in  various  localities,  and  a 
Suffolk  farmer  who  sells  by  the  coomb  may  imagine  that  he  is 
getting  a  great  advantage  over  his  Cumberland  rival  when  he 
reads  in  the  paper  that  a  boll  of  Barley  realises  7s.  6d.,  whilst 
he  is  making  18s.  of  a  coomb. 
In  some  markets  a  load  of  Wheat  of  three  bushels  means 
13.st  71b  nett ;  in  others  it  means  13st  101b  nett. 
Althoimh  it  is  now  almost  out  of  date,  until  lately  seed  corn 
was  usually  sold  by  measure,  which,  in  the  case  of  badly 
developed  grain,  would  mean  considerable  advantage  to  the 
seller.  Therefoie  a  quarter  of  Barley  .sold  to  a  maltster  would 
mean  4481b  nett,  but  a  quarter  of  Barley  sold  to  a  farmer  for 
seed  would  mean  eight  bmshels  measured. 
Then  as  regards  fruit,  we  have  a  variety  of  pecks  all  different 
weights.  Potatoes  are  sold  by  ton,  load,  sack  (of  two  or  three 
different  weights),  cwt., 
We  notice  that  the  Central  Chamher  of  Agriculture  is  taking 
up  this  question,  and  we  hope  that  either  this  or  the  next 
Government  may  be  induced  to  make  things  more  uniform. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  the  adoption  of  the  metric  system  is 
the  mo.st  sensible  .solution  of  the  problem.  It  has  been  adopted 
by  other  countries,  and  no  doubt  our  slowness  to  move  has  done 
our  trade  great  injury  apart  from  the  confusion  which  arises 
amongst  home  producers. 
We  notice  that  foreign  Potatoes  at  os.  6d.  per  8st  bag  are 
supposed  to  be  cheaper  than  English  at  6s.  per  9st.  Of  course 
they  are  sold  by  the  bag. 
Ourselves,  America,  and  Russia  are  the  only  countries  that 
have  not  adopted  the  metric  sy.stem.  America  is  but  waiting 
for  our  lead.  Russia,  being  100  years  behind,  will  join  in 
some  day. 
Work  on  the  Home  Farm. 
At  last  we  can  record  an  entirely  satisfactory  week’s  work. 
The  rain,  although  not  entirely  absent,  has  been  rather  helpful 
than  hindering,  and  fair  progress  has  been  made  with  spring 
sowing—  in  fact,  much  more  progress  than  we  should  have 
believed  possible  a  week  ago.  Some  barley  has  been  sow'ii  on  a 
really  fine  seed-bed,  but  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  land 
has  been  ploughed  a  long  time,  that  we  did  not  plough  or  drag 
the  land  again  before  the  drill,  thus  keeping  tne  frost  mould 
(such  as  it  was)  on  the  surface,  and  that  the  chisel  harrows, 
which  did  the  preparation,  were,  followed  immediately  by  the 
drill,  with  only  time  for  one  good  shower  between.  There  has 
been  little  March  dust  in  evidence,  yet  the  seed-bed  was  quite 
satisfactory,  and  we  have  taken  a  plunge  by  sowing  clover  seeds 
after  the  drill.  We  may  have  too  much  clover  amongst  the 
corn,  but  we  shall  not  have  too  much  sheep  pasture  next  spring. 
We  shall  defer  further  spring  sowing  for  a  day  or  two,  so  that 
we  can  woik  and  give  a  final  cleaning  to  the  land  planned  out 
for  mangolds.  This  work  has  been  left  over  later  than  usual, 
so  it  is  quite  time  it  was  completed.  The  land  must  be  most 
thoroughly  dragged  and  harrowed,  the  couch-grass  eradicated 
as  nearly  as  possible,  and  the  land  ploughed  and  left  fallow  for 
another  month.  Whatever  the  weather  in  the  meantime  may 
be,  there  should  be  no  lack  of  either  moi.sture  or  good  tilth. 
Clover  seeds  vary  much  in  quality  and  are  still  far  from  cheap, 
and  as  farmers  have  not  too  much  ready  money,  they  are  rather 
inclined  to  buy  the  cheaper  classes  of  seed. 
As,  however,  a  good  sample  of  9o  per  cent,  germination  can 
usually  produce  more  healthy  plants  from  lOIb  of  seed  than  a 
second  class  sample  can  from  141b.  apart  from  the  superior 
character  of  the  plants,  it  is  obvious  that  the  common  seed  should 
cost  2.5  per  cent.,  or  2s.  6d.  per  141b,  le.ss  than  the  best  seed,  to 
merely  attempt  to  be  on  even  terms. 
At  the  spring  sales  about  here  we  see  young  cattle  make 
excellent  prices,  leaving  very  little  margin  for  the  feeding 
grazier.  If  a  calf  can  be  made  to  realise  £T0  at  12  months,  it 
seems  bad  policy  to  keep  it  longer.  We  would  rather  sell  it  for 
someone  else’s  ammsement  and  benefit.  At  the  same  time,  it  is 
very  certain  that  young  cattle  of  good  quality  are  very  scarce 
just  now,  and  September  next  may  show  tis  that  the  beef 
market  leaves  a  fair  n.iargin  of  profit  for  the  feeder. 
