their qualifications, can never occupy the same position, and they have not the advantage of meeting the elected representatives of other districts in frequent consultation.

As regards the existing provision for agricultural education, in the higher branches it may be considered fairly complete. The mere multiplication of colleges of the first grade would serve no useful purpose. The number of students who can afford to spend the time and money involved in a course of two or three years' duration will always be limited, and it is better to maintain the colleges now in operation in as high a state of efficiency as possible than to run the risk of lowering their standard by excessive competition with other institutions. One point, however, deserves consideration. Allusion was made above to a more equitable distribution of their funds by the Board of Agriculture. Eight institutions absorb 8,7501. of the 10,6251. expended by the Board. It may be questioned whether the Board could not utilise the funds more profitably by stimulating other grades of agricultural education. In the words of the principal of one of the leading agricultural colleges:

There is already an actual danger of a wider scope being given to the Stateaided agricultural education than is consistent with the proper training of the future farmer, and with the expenditure of public money. The recruits for the future army of farmers must be trained for their own special industry and profession, and not for the industries and professions in other walks of life, otherwise the land and its cultivation must inevitably suffer. There is no sound or just reason whatever why the curriculum for the training contemplated should include education for the professions of land-agents, surveyors, and other correlated professions. If it be so framed and worked upon, then the once intending young farmer, at the end of his course, will have his head full of dreams of lectureship, land agencies, and such like instead of the tasks and labours of the farm. In framing then the curriculum of State-aided and rate-aided colleges for farmers, the object must not be the status and kudos of a staff, or the attraction of the wealthier classes, but the real needs of the class to which we have to look for our future farmers. And I most strongly deprecate, as an abuse of public money, certain to alienate public sympathy from the movement we desire, any outlay of public funds, whether of rates or taxes, taken from the already overburdened ratepayer and taxpayer, to provide for such professions, or to assist the education of the sons of the wealthier class of farmers, of the landed gentry, or of well-to-do commercial and professional

men.

This warning is justified by the very scanty provision of facilities for intermediate agricultural education of a systematic character. Notoriously one of the most difficult problems is to provide for the sons of small farmers from thirteen or fourteen to sixteen or seventeen years of age, and the difficulty is in some danger of being helved. Schools originally established to meet this particular need are inclined to model their curricula upon those of the advanced colleges with a view to the requirements of the National Diploma in Agriculture. That diploma may or may not be the best terminus ad quem for the

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advanced colleges. Opinions differ, and it is unnecessary to discuss the question here. It can hardly be doubted, however, that a programme of studies based on those requirements is unsuitable for a lad who is to commence practical farming at the age of sixteen or seventeen, and it is extremely unlikely that the previous education of the lads in the elementary school will have qualified them to profit by the instruction offered. Educationists and agriculturists are quite aware of this, but there is a serious risk of the gradual abandonment of any attempt to provide organised intermediate education. It is a striking fact that when arrangements for the Gloucester Conference, previously mentioned, were being made, it was found impossible to discover anyone in England who could speak with actual knowledge of the proper type of school and syllabus of instruction. Neither the Board of Agriculture nor the foremost agricultural authorities could suggest a fitting person. Professor Robert Wallace, of Edinburgh, read an excellent paper upon the functions and limitations of the intermediate school, but for definite details as to organisation and curricula it was necessary to apply to M. Grosjean, InspectorGeneral of Agriculture in France. He sent an exhaustive account of the écoles pratiques d'agriculture. Fifty of these schools are now in operation, and they clearly indicate the lines to be followed. Attention should be specially directed to this branch of agricultural education, and the Board of Agriculture might well for a time concentrate its educational activities upon it. The intermediate school is not easy to conduct. Its principal needs qualifications which are not so essential in the case of an advanced college. He must be in complete sympathy with the tenant-farmer, thoroughly understand his difficulties and point of view, and know, if possible from personal experience, how to manage a small farm. Otherwise his influence with the parents of those for whom the school is primarily intended will prove slight.

In this connection it would be unfair to omit all mention of the Dauntsey Agricultural School at West Lavington, which affords an interesting instance of the way in which an old educational endowment may be utilised for agricultural education. Its equipment both within and outside the school leaves nothing to be desired, and the agricultural programme is eminently suitable for the sons of small farmers The school, however, in the opinion of the writer, suffers somewhat from combining general education with specific agricultural instruction. There is a lurking suspicion, which may, of course, be quite unfounded, that the agricultural scholarships are occasionally held by boys whose parents are glad enough for them thus to obtain indirectly free tuition, &c., in general subjects, but have no idea of their ever following an agricultural calling. One cannot help feeling that, if the school were converted into one for intermediate agricultural education solely, it would appeal more strongly to farmers

and be of greater practical service as a recruiting ground for future farmers, but there may be insuperable obstacles to this.

In view of the comparative failure of the existing institutions to attract the son of the small farmer, local authorities cannot be blamed for shrinking from the great expense involved in the establishment and equipment of an intermediate school, even if they possessed the necessary funds. In time the demand for such schools may come from the farmers themselves, as the reforms now being introduced into village schools remove their prejudices against schools in general, and they realise more and more that success in farming depends no less upon scientific knowledge than upon manual skill. Meanwhile, what are the best facilities to offer? Agricultural sides to ordinary secondary schools rarely prosper. Farmers still fight shy of them. They refuse to believe that anything of agricultural value can be acquired under such conditions. The term 'agricultural' is in itself misleading; it implies more than the schools are capable of giving. The subjects taught are, however, of the first importance to every agriculturist, and might for the most part be fitly comprised in a scheme of general education. Misapprehension of the aim might be avoided, and the indifference or mistrust of farmers be overcome, if the word 'agricultural' were dropped and the specialised instruction were entitled 'rural science,' or simply 'nature study' in its wider applications.

The bigher elementary school perhaps offers the best solution of the difficulty. In his valuable report on secondary and higher education in Derbyshire Mr. Sadler recommends the organisation of schools of this type at eight or possibly nine centres. He is concerned rather with the commercial and industrial aspects of the question than with the agricultural, but he clearly demonstrates the necessity for this grade of education for those who can attend school until the age of fifteen or sixteen, but for whom a secondary school is unsuitable. For the adaptation of the curricula to rural and agricultural needs Mr. Morant's paper on the French écoles primaires supérieures in Volume I. of Special Reports on Educational Subjects remains the most reliable guide. Portions of that paper might at the present moment be circulated with great advantage by the Board of Education to the members of all education committees. It contains just the information and advice that are wanted when advocating, or before embarking upon, any new departure. Slavish imitation of foreign methods is not suggested, but as yet we must go to France for a model. No visitor to the school at Onzain (Loir-et-Cher), for instance, can fail to appreciate the excellence and practical character of the instruction there. Many of our small rural grammar schools, which languish for lack of pupils and supply nothing that the working farmer desires for his children, might be converted into higher elementary schools with distinctive industrial or agricultural teaching for

pupils in their third year. The interests of that section of the rural population which will not engage in any agricultural pursuit must not, of course, be overlooked. Where no schools capable of conversion exist, any large outlay upon bricks and mortar from public funds is under present circumstances very improbable, and we must rely upon private benefactors like the Duchess of Sutherland and the Countess of Warwick, whose schools at Goldspie and Bigods closely resemble the écoles primaires supérieures. In their report to the Board of Education on higher elementary schools the Consultative Committee recommend the system of supplementary courses for the rural districts. These courses, which are briefly outlined in the Scotch Code, and more fully described in the Selection of Circular Letters of the Scotch Education Department, 1898-1904 (pp. 37–46), have been developed with marked success in Scotland. It is, however, essential, as the committee hint, that the grants here should be upon the same liberal scale as the Scotch grants, a suggestion which equally applies to the grants for higher elementary schools.

The establishment of winter schools of agriculture and horticulture, similar to those in Holland, of which some account was given in this Review for March 1903, would be the most economical and efficacious way of providing for those who cannot be absent from the farm except during the winter months. Schools of this type have been organised by the Irish Department at Downpatrick and Monaghan with very gratifying results. The course in each case lasts for twenty weeks, and the pupils in attendance number twenty and twenty-one respectively. The advantages of this system have been thus summarised: (a) The initial outlay is small; (b) the equipment being simple, the scheme, if not satisfactory, can be abandoned without financial loss; (c) the site can be readily changed should experience show that a change is necessary; (d) a temporary school of this nature forms an excellent nucleus for a permanent and better equipped centre; and (e) the experience gained affords invaluable guidance for future development. Short winter courses at collegiate centres are usually too advanced for lads engaged in farm work. The instruction should be such as is offered at the Cumberland and Westmorland Farm School, Newton Rigg, in its winter course of sixteen weeks.

For the great majority of country lads the continuation school furnishes the only opportunity for further education of any kind, and to it we must look mainly for the gradual improvement of the rural districts. What Cambridgeshire has accomplished in this direction should not be beyond the power of other counties. Everyone knows that it is comparatively easy to start a class, but not so easy to retain the pupils. In their recent memorandum on courses of work in rural evening schools the Board of Education make many valuable suggestions. The instruction must be attractive, practically useful,

and calculated to increase wage-earning capacity. The aim should be to cause the lad who does not attend a continuation school to feel that he is placed at a disadvantage as compared with the one who does. In one or two localities employers, whose work is sought after, have insisted that their lads shall attend a continuation school, and it is remarkable what an effect this has had in stimulating the voluntary attendance of others. No better argument could be adduced for the proposal to empower local authorities to frame bylaws, subject to the approval of the Board of Education, to enforce attendance at a continuation school up to a particular age and under certain circumstances. Everyone familiar with village life realises how much might be done for young boys and girls if they could be kept from idle loafing on the long winter evenings, and that no local authority can as yet compel attendance is an anomaly. Lessons from books alone and lectures may be dismissed as virtually worthless. Lads must be taught to use their hands and eyes as much as possible. They should be doing or making something to begin withbaskets, metal or wood work. Lessons on gardening may be given in winter, to be followed by the cultivation of gardens in spring and summer. Instruction may then follow upon fruit culture generally, market gardening and marketing, the care of stock, farriery, the construction and repair of agricultural machinery, poultry-keeping, bee-keeping, and, above all, in the principles and practice of cooperative production and distribution. In regard to the last subject, Sir Horace Plunkett, addressing the Council of Agriculture on the 16th of May, remarked :

I now beg to submit the somewhat strong, but, in my judgment, unanswerable proposition that, no matter what improvements you effect in the technical methods of the Irish farmers, unless you can at the same time bring about a revolution in his business methods, you will not counteract the tendency known as the rural exodus in most countries, which takes the form with us of emigration, and, worse still, of deterioration, owing to the quality of the human element that leaves our shores. The change proposed in the business methods of the Irish farmer is simply this. By whatever means this is to be attained, he must be taught to combine with his neighbours whenever and wherever some branch of the industry by which he lives can be more profitably conducted in combination than through isolated action.

What is true of Ireland is no less true of England.

The village school does not strictly fall within the scope of this article. Agriculture and the art of farming cannot be taught there. It cannot be too emphatically insisted upon that the country boy, whether destined to till the fields or not, needs just as thorough an elementary education as the town boy, and is entitled to receive what may enable him to rise to any position in life. Dissatisfaction with a purely bookish curriculum must not make us rush into the opposite extreme. Hitherto the great defect in the instruction has been its unreality; it has been a thing apart from the daily lives of