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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.

BULLETTN (Special).

THE TEAaniNG OF AGRICULTURK

IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

BY C. C. JAMES, M.A., DEPUTY MINISTER OF AORICULTUUE.

DECEMBER, 1892.

PUBLISHED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF AOBICUZTUME

AT THE REQUEST OF THE PROVINCIAL SCHOOL TRUSTEES
ASSOCIATION, BEFORE WHICH IT WAS DELIVERED.

TORONTO

PRINTED BY WARWICK & SONS

MINISTER OF AQRIODLTURB

Hon. John Dryden, Toronto.

Ontario Agricultural College and Experimental Farm, Guelph,
under control of the Minister of Agriculture.

Jamks M1LL8, M.A.

Thomas Shaw

A. E. Shdttleworth, B.A
T. H0YE8 Panton, M.A., F

F. C. GllKNSIDK, V.S.

H. H. Dean, B.S.A.
E. Lawrknok Hunt, B.A.
Captain Walter Clarke
C. A. Zavitz, BS.A..
H. B. Sharman, B.S.A.
A. MoCallum, . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . President.

Professor of Agriculture and Farm Superintendent.
Sc. . . . . . . . . Professor of Chemistry,

.G.S. Professor of Natural History and Geology.

Professor of Veterinary Science.

Professor of Dairy Husbandry.

Assistant Resident and Mathematical Master.
Instructor in Drill and Gymnastics.

. . . . Experimentalist.

Assistant Chemist.

Bursar.

ADVISORY BOARD.

O. C. James, M, A., Secretary
John I. Hobson, Chairmcm

Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Toronto.
Mosborough, County of Welliugtoo.

■!.i^-3i Jk^

THE TEACHING OF AGRICULTURE IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

BY C. C. JAMES, M.A., DEPUTY MINISTER OF AORICULTURE.

It seems at first thought impossible to believe that before the
nineteenth century dawned Agricultural Science was to even the
most advanced scientific workers and explorers a " dark continent."
In 1804 De Saussure published a work entitled *' Recherches sur la
Vegetation," in which he gave the analyses of the ashes of many
plants, and contended that they were absolutely essential to the
growth of the plant, that they . must be derived from the soil, and
that probably these ash or mineral constituents that the plant de-
rived from the soil were the source of those found in the animals
which fed upon the plants. From 1802 to 1812 Sir Humphrey
Davy delivered several series of lectures which he published in 1813
under the title *' Elements of Agricultual Chemistry.' To him is due
the credit of making the first attempt to reduce agricultural know-
ledge and investigation to a scientific basis. The work of these two
men, together with that of Thaer, Sprengei and Boussingault, pre-
pared the way for the magnificent work of Liebig, whose publications
appeared in 1840 and 1842, since which time many of the brightest
minds in Europe and America have been investigating the composi-
tion of soil, plant and animal, and their relation to one another.

Davy said : " Discoveries made in the cultivation of the earth are
not merely for the time and country in which they are developed
but they may be considered as extending to future ages, and as ulti-
mately tending to benefit the whole race, as affording subsistence for
generations to come ; as multiplying life ; and not only multiplying
life, but likewise providing for its enjoyment."

Liebig in one of his productions wrote ; " I shall be happy if I
succeed in attracting the attention of men of science to subjects which
so well merit to engage their talents and energies. Perfect agricul-
ture is the true foundation of trade and industry — it is the founda-
tion of the riches of states."

Without further introduction T shall proceed to discuss the subject
under the following heads :

I. Should Agriculture he tauqlit in our Public Schools ?

II, Can Agric/ilture be taught in our Public Schools ? ,

III. How can Agriculture be taught in our Public Schools?

I. Should Aoriculture be Taught ?

(1) It should, because of the number of people enj?aged in and
dependent upon it. Two-thirds of the people of Canada are either
residing in the country and obtaining tlieir living directly from the
soil, or are so intimately associated with the rural districts (living in
small villages) that they may be termed rural. Sixty per cent of the
assessed population reside in the townships and 69 per cent, of the
Public School population belong to the rural districts, as will be seen
from the following statements : •

•n 1-1- o u 1 lonn Total Bchool Pupils Average

Public Schools, 1890. opulation. registered, attendance.

Townships and villages 424.H57 347,7«3 161,620

Cities and towns 193,199 148,682 88,689

Total 617,856 496,465 250.307

Assessed population. 1882. 1890.

Townships 1,120,574 1,120,106

Cities, towns and villages 675,912 799,299

In connection with this study of the rural population we must also
consider a movement which is now causing a very marked change
in the social and political life of many nations.

We are all familiar with the great movements of population city-
wards, the congestion of national life blood which has created disease
in the body politic of European countries. The farmers' sons and
daughters are drawn or impelled towards the great commercial centres
at an ever increasing rate. Tennyson has referred to this impulse in
" Lockesly Hall " :

" Yearning for the large excitement that the coming years would yield ;
Eager-hearced as a boy when tifdt he leaves his father's field."

The introduction of labor-saving machinery, the greater oppor-
tunities of the cities for the acquisition of wealth, social pleasures,
public oflSces and political preferments — all these have been advanced
as reasons. Others have put it down to education ; in which case
the educational systems of the entire civiliz-d world must be more
or less at fault. The systems of education may not be the direct cause,
but perhaps something niay bo done through them to check the
great movement to the cities. How has Canada fared in this regard I

Bulletin No. 1 of the Census of Canada. 1891, gave on page 5 a
comparison of the urban populition with that of 1881, and com-
ments were made upon the city growth of Canada in the decade.

In this consideration of our subject, however, the rural population is
concerned, and I have therefore used the figures given in that Census
Bulletin, and worked out the following statements as to the changes
that have taken place in the rural population of Canada since 1881 :

Statement of Urban and Rural Population^ 1881 and 1891.

1881.

1891.

Decrease.

Increase.

Per cent.

Urban.
Ontario

512,549

331,756

75,323

59,092

14,338

9,070

7,985

705,065
436,693
97,261
62.662
14,257
41,762
32,783
3,876

192,516

104,937

21,938

3,470

37.56

Quebec

31.63

Nova Scotia

29.13

New Brunswick .

5.87

P. E. Island

0.57

British Columbia ....

32,692

24,798

3,876

360.4

Manitoba

310.4

N. W. T., etc.

Total Urban

1,010,113

1,414,373

1,027,271

365,249

262,141

94,553

40,389

54,275

56,444

1,394,269

1,407,924

1,051,893

353,262

258,732

94,831

51,005

121,669

95,846

384,146

38.10

Rural.
Ontario

6,449

" 11,987"
3,409

0.46

Ouebec ....

24,622

2.39

Nova Scotia

3.28

New Brunswick

1.30

P. E. [sland

278
10,616
67,384
39,400

0.29

British Columbia ....
Manitoba

26.28
124.15

N. W. T.. etc

69.80

Total Rural

Grand Total

3,314,697
4,324,810

3,435,152
4,829,411

120,455
504,601

3.63
11.66

In the preceding table I have given the rural population every
advantage, and have considered the case in the same manner as was
done in the Census Bulletin cited, which says : " The urban popu-
lation of Canada is now 1,394,259 — an increase of 384,146 souls,
equal to an increase of 38.1 per cent." Every place over 1,500 is
included in the urban in 1891, and all of the same places are in the
urban in 1881, no matter how small. In 1881, of these towns and
villages there were 31 having less than 1,500 and a total of 36,551,
which in reality were then in the rural but are here included in the
urban; in Ontario there were 15 of less than 1,500 each and having
a total of 18,162 included in the urban of 1881. The increase of
6,449 in Ontario is therefore the least that can be given.

Leaving aside the question of natural increase, the following

statement will show the wonderful movement which has set in from
country and villages and small towns to the larger cities :

2 cities have increased by 146,437

13 cities have incrnased by 108,400

147 towns have increased by 134,297

21 towns have dccreancd by 4,988

The rural parts have increased by 120,455

The Dominion has increased by 504,601

According to the Ontario Immigration Report 1891, there werfr
settled in Ontario from 1881 to 181)0 persons to the number of 271,-
562, as follows : through the agencies at Ottawa, Kingston, Toronto,
Hamilton and London, 186,640 ; reported by Customs, 84,913. If
we include their natural increase the number added in the decade by
this means will be about 292,000. It is fair to assume that 150,000
at least of these should belong to the rural population. The
rural population, therefore, should have been made up as follows in
1891 : • .

Rural population of 1881 1,414,373

Natural increase (15 per cent) 212,156

Immigration 150,000

1,776,529
Census return, 1891 1,407,924

Lof 8 in Ontario rural population. . 368,605

In England and Wales the percentage of the rural population^
has been as follows : 37.7 in 1861, 35.2 in 1871, 33.4 in 1881, and
28.3 in 1891. Scotland had a total increase from 1881 to 1891, of
297,530, made up as follows : 178,338 increase in the principal town
districts; 79,736 increase in the large town districts; 49,492 in the
small town districts ; 5,592 decrease in the Midland rural districts,
and 4,444 decrease in the insular rural districts.

In France, according to the Statesman's Year Book, the rural
population decreased from 75.58 percent, in 1846 to 64.05 per cent,
in 1886. " In 1881 of the total increase of 766,260, more than
two-thirds, or 561,869, belonged to the 47 towns of more than
30,000 inhabitants." Mulhall gives the number of agricultural
hands employed as follows : 6,950,000 in 1840 and 6,450,000 in 1887,
with the production per hand as £39 and <£71 in the two periods.

In Sweden the rural population dropped from 89.9 per cent, ia
1850 to 81.9 per cent, in 1888.

A report of U. S. Consul Ryder, dated Copenhagen, November
9, 1890, gives further information on this point. After stating that
in Denmark the rural population decreased from 79 7 per cent, in
1840, to 77.6 in 1860, to 73.8 in 1880, and to 69.5 in 1890, he says :
" In the last ten years 137,000 inhabitants have taken their depar-

•I

ture from the rural districts, 64,000 of whom have been received by
the towns, the remaining 73,000 having emigrated to foreign lands."

Further on he says: "In France, where the population has
for some years been nearly stationary, the towns have been lar^^ely
increasing their numbers at the expense of the country. In Ger-
many during the five years 1880-85 the rural population has been
decreased by 150,000, while the towns have met with an increase of
1,500,000 inhabitants In towns over 2,000 inhabitants, according
to the last census returns, in the Netherlands there were dwelling
80 per cent, of the population ; in Belgium, 04 per cent. ; in Great
Britain and Ireland, 45 per cent. : in Spain and Italy, 43 per cent. :
in Germany, 40 per cent. ; in France, 30 per cent. A transition from
country to town life, as substantiated by these figures, must natur-
ally affect the social physiognomy of a nation. It is a transition from
regular and healthful labor under tranquil conditions to the special-
ties of factory life, with its crises, strikes, etc., and the attendant
restlessness of town life. The hands who direct their steps toward
the towns are also, for the most part, individuals in the most robust
and energetic stage of life, it being found that the class from twenty
to forty years of age is much more numerous in the towns than in
the rural districts, where, on the other hand, the predominating
classes are those of the earliest and latest stages of life.''

Further we might add that the British Census of 1890 shows
that in towns and cities thoae of rural birth are to be found in the
well-to-do sections, while the majority of paupers are of city birth.

In the United States the urban population includes all psrsonn
in towns and cities over 8,000. On that basis the rural population
has formed the following percentage of the total population : 96.65
percent, in 1790; 95.07 in 1820; 93.28 in 1830; 91.48 in 1840;
87.51 in 1850 ; 83.87 in 1860 / 79.07 in 1870 ; 77.43 in 1880; and
70.88 in 1890. Taking the same basis of division the change in
Canada would be from 86.7 p. c. in 1881 to 81.0 p. c. in 1891.

We see, therefore, that Canada in common with other countries
has not been gaining in her rural population as she has in her urban.
This is a subject for serious consideration in a new country
with boundless fertile lands, to which immigration is directed,
and which is first and foremost an agricultural country. '

(2) Instruction in agriculture should be given because of the large
amount of capital invested in it, the wealth annually produced by
it and the large share it contributes

The assessment of real estate in
towns shows largely in favor of the
time it should be remembered that city and town property is likely
to be assessed at a higher percentage of its real value than is rural
property. The value of farm property for 1887 was $975,292,21 4

to our trade and commerce.

townships and in cities and
rural districts. At the same

I I

according to the Bureau of Industries. I next give the figures
returned by the municipalities as the assessment of their real estate :

Heal estate asBesBments. 1864. 1887.

TownHhips $195,477,677 $428,614,636

Cities and towns 43,686,389 223,853,879

Census Bulletin No. 10, June 1892, deals with manufactures,
and states the capital invested in such in Canada to be $353,836,817,
the number of employees 367,865, the value of products $475,-
445,705. According to the investigation of the Bureau of Indus-
tries the capital invested in agriculture in Ontario — in lands, build-
ings, implements and stock — is $971,886,068, in round numbers,
one thousand niillion dollars, or five and a half times the capital
invested in manufactures in Ontario, and three times the capital
invested in manufactures in the whole Dominion.

Let us compare ti. agricultural industry of Ontario with the
manufacturing industries of Canada and of Ontario :

Manufactureb.

Agriculture,

Canada.

Ontario.

'Capital invested . .

Number of employees '. .

Wages paid

$353,836,817

367,865

99,762,441

255,983,219

475,445,705

$176,603,339

165,326

49,207,710

128,201,318

240,100,267

$971,886,068

300,000

95,000,000

Cost of raw materials

Value of products

80,000,000
260,000,000

The manufactures of Canada are greatly dependent upon agri-
culture both for a market and for sources of supply. From the list
of manufacturing establishments in Ontario most directly connected
with agriculture I take the following (Census Bulletin No. 8) :

Industry.

Agricultural implements

Blacksmithin^

Carriage makmg

Harness and saddlery

Cooperage

Woollen mills

Meat curing

Creameries

Cheese factories

Flour and grist mills

Other vegetable food manufactures . . .
Breweries and distilleries, malting. . . .
Tanneries, tallow, glue, soap factories .
Saw, planing, paper mills

Total manufactures of Ontario

Value of

machinery and

tools.

790,285
582,894
637,081
136,582
148,712

2,189,705

125,401

33,347

485,523

4,451,024
600,167
880,605
357,129

6,608,046

$18,026,501
38,295,158

Number of
employees.

3,373

5,321

5,096

1,850

1,660

5,174

947

132

1,922

3,442

5,959

1,470

1,922

26,527

64,795
165,335

The more carefully we study the above figures and the statistics
given in the Census bulletins on manufactures, the more will we be
convinced that success in agriculture underlies success in manufac-
ture, in trade and couiraeroe. The agricultural classes supply a large
portion of the raw material for manufactures, and the same classes
are Urge purchasers of the output of these same manufacturing
establishments. The farm products of Ontario, agj^regating $260,-
000,000, are made up as follows : Field products, $150,000,000 ; live
stock increase, $35,000,000 ; dairy products, $:J5,000,000 ; orchard
and garden products, $12,000,000; farm woodland products, $20,-
000,000; pasture, $4,500,000; eggs, wool, honey, sugar, hops, flax,
tobacco, etc., $3,500,000. The total agricultural produce of Canada
may be roughly estimated at $500,000,000. With this contrast the
mineral production of Canada, which is aV)out $20,000,000, and the
fisheries production amounting to about $19,000,000.

Reference has sometimes been made to the statement that
the output of the manufactures of Canada equals the total produce
of our agricult'ire, and, therefore, the inference is drawn that
our manufactures are as important as our agriculture ; but a care-
ful consideration will show that the inference is not fairly drawn.
ThH total product of our manufactures represents the same raw
material counted in twice, three times, and in some cases four
times, and in many cases the product of the agriculturist is the
raw material of the manufacturer. The farmer produces say $1,000
w6rth of wheat, which the miller turns into $1,200 worth of flour,
and the baker into $1,400 worth of bread. The farmer has added
to the wealth of the country almost the entire $1,000 ; whereas the
miller and baker combined have added, not $2,600, but only $400,
If we compared total products we would compare the $1,00 J worth
of wheat with the $2,600 worth of flour and bread. The wool which
the farmer produces reappears in the product of the woollen mill, the
tweed manufactory and the tailor shop ; the load of oak logs may go
through the saw mill, the planing mill, the cabinet shop; the load of
basswood may pass through the paper mill and the printing establish-
ment. Taking the vakue of the raw materials from the total pro-
duct we find the following to be the amounts of wealth added yearly:
By the manufactures of Canada, $220,000,000 ; by the manufactures
of Ontario, $110,000,000 ; by the agriculture of Ontario, $180,000,-
000. That agriculture is not so remunerative as it should be, in
comparison with other work, is seen at once, from the fact that while
there is nearly six times as much capital invested in it as in manu-
factures in Ontario, and it pays double the wages, it does not add to
the wealth of the province double that added by manufactures. Some
might say that the profits of agriculture are not large enough.

'i!-

It is diflBcult to determine accurately the value of agricultural
products in Ontario, but the above will be found to be not very far
astray. The following may be U(*ed as a basis of estimate :

Farm Lands oi Ontario 1891.

acres.

Pa&ture lands 2,721,281

Staple field crops 7,834,213

Orchard, garden, etc 446,993

Buildings, la..e8, etc 800,000

Total cleared 11,802,4G7

'• wo-^dland 8,376,762

swamp and waste 2,366,734

Total assessed 22,535,983

In dairying alone, i.e.. in the productioA of milk, butter and
cheese, there is invested in Ontario at least $175,000,000, or as
much as in all the manufactures of the province. The figures
show conclusively that according to the number of persons engaged
in and directly dependent upon agriculture, the capital invested
in it and the wealth added to the country every year, agriculture
stand:j away above every other industry in importance, and any-
thing done to develop agriculture, to help those now engaged in
it, or those who are soon to engage in it, should receive every encour-
agement. There certainly is a possibility of enormous development
in various lines of crop production, as a comparison with many old
countries such as England, France and Germany will prove.

The domestic exports of Oanada represent the surplus production
of the country. For 1891 they ware as follows from Canada and
also from the United States :

Canada.

United Sta';es.

Produce of the mine

*' *' fisheries

♦• " forest

Timber, planks, boards, etc .
Other manufactures

5,782,424

9,715,*401

5,434,912

19,932,874

5,212,197

25,967,741 )

13,666,858 f

45,337

p. c.

6.8
11.3

6.3 .
23.3

6.0

46.2
0.1

22,J54,970

6,208,577

29,473,024

5,987,322 )

162,939,903 f

177,517.383 1

465,233,961 f

3,612,364

P.O.

2.53
0.71
3.2»

19.37

Animals and their products . .

Farm produce, gram, etc

Other Droducts

73.69
0.41

Total

FoDulation ,

885,575,744
4,829,411

8872,270,283
62,622,250

Omitting, therefore, all the timber and lumber which has come
from the woodland of the farms, we find that over 46 per cent, of
the surplus proc'uce of Canada comes from the farm. In total

19.37

73.69
0.41

exports Canada compares well with the U. S. ; for every inhabitant
the U. S. export $14 v-^orth of produce, while Canad", exports $17
worth ; but while the U. S. export $10 worth of farm produce for
every inhabitant Canada exports only $8 worth. To show how ^ha
development of one industry has been brought about by special
encouragement we may here notice that in 1891 cheese was exported
from the United States to the value of $",405,376, from Canada to the
value of $9,508,800, whereas in 1881 the United States exported $16,-
380,248 and Canada $5,510,443 worth of the same article. The
necessity of imparting instruction in butter making will be seenatonce,
from the fact that in 1881 cur Canadian butter exports amounted *^o
$3,573,034, but fell ofFsteadi / until in 1889 they reached only $331,-
958. They are now moving up again, and in 1891 amounted to
$602,175. Particular attention has been paid during the past year
to giving instruction and in spreading information in regard to but-

ter making.

Among other agencies the three Travelling Dairies,

under the Ontario Department of Agriculture, may be specially
mentioned, also the Provincial Dairy Associations.

The following statement of Canadian exports may be interesting
in this connection :

1872-1881. 1882-1891.

Total domestic exports $7 16,608, 314 $835, 235,717

Agricultural exports 333,503,729 406,698,163

Let US now turn to one very important item in our productions
and exports, viz., wheat. Canada is generally considered a great
wheat producing country. The opening up of Manitoba and the
Territories and Districts of the North-west will in the future pro-
bably justify the claim, but the history of Ontario at least would
lead to the conclusion that we have not held our own. Robert Gour-
lay, in his "Statistics of Upper Canada," gathered in 1817, ga,ve
the average wheat production of Ontario as 21 bushels per acre, with
the average of the London district as 23 1 bushels per acre. The
price in 1817 was 6s. per bushel, in 1820 3s. per bushel. Major
Strickland a few years after records a production on his farm of 40
bushels per acre. Picken, in his work on the Oanadas, 1832, quotes
a report as fellows : " We were told that from 25 to 30 bushels was
the average produce of wheat per aero. A man upon Lake Simcoe
assured me that he had 371 bushels from 7 acres." In the reports
of fifty years ago frequent reference is found to productions of 25
and 30 bushels per acre, and occasionally to 40 and over. The fall
wheat crop of 1891 — 25.7 bushels per acre — reminded farmers of
olden times; but the sprmg wheat t)f 1892 — 12.7 bushels per acre —
and the average of 1882-92 of 15.4 bushels per acre, show a great
falling off. Taking both spring and fall wheat into consideration

the average production of 1882 to 1892 has been about 18 bushels
per acre. In Ontario, therefore, instead of increasing the yield per
acre we have decreased it.

A pamphlet descriptive of Western New York, " The Genesee
Country," published in 1804, says of that region: "It is uncom-
monly favorable for wheat, of which from twenty to twenty-five
bushels are generally raised to an acre ; but it has been known to
yield forty and frequently thirty bushels an acre, and the grain is
generally large and of a good quality." At that time the best im-
proved land to the west of the Genesee river sold from one and a-half
to two dollars an acre, and wheat from 62 cents to $1 per bushel.
In 1891 New York produced 10,633,000 bushels of wheat upon
€40,450 acres, or 17 bushels per acre. Great Britain's wheat crop
averaged 26.89 bushels per acre in 1886, 31.97 in 1887, 27.97 in
1888, 29.89 in 1889 and 30.74 in 1890. France increased her aver-
age from 9.4 bushels in 1815 to 16.0 in 1875, and to 17.8 in 1884.

The following statement will show that our surplus production of
wheat in Canada has not been so large as many believe. The table
gives the imports for home consumption and the exports of domestic
produce. In the twenty-two years, from 1870 to June 30th, .1891,
our total surplus is shown to have been only 33,500,000 bushels :

1870.

1871.

1872.

1873.

1874.

1875,

1876.

1877.

1878.

1879.

1880.

1881.

1882.

1883.

1884.

1885

1886.

1887.

1888.

1889.

1890.

1891.

Imports.

bush.

6,034,708

6,165,877

6,052,039

7,215,550

9,845,896

7,444,088

7,736,226

7,334,366

7,208,011

5,775,605

619,171

1,064,557

1, 208,494

1,368,877

2,954,600

3,073,641

1,072,719

870,685

324,452

1,179,825

953,344

406,222

Exports.

bush.
5,467,986
3,280,912
5,258,919
6,750,751
9,282,802
5,896,937
8,147,913
3,736,180
6,775,690
9,485,594
7,813,460
4,722,313
6,193,730
8,312,688
1,732,471
2,959,841
5,349,663
8,232,791
3,914,329
1,081,219
940,219
3,443,744

Surplus.

bush.

411,687

3,709,969
7,294,289
3,657,756
4,985,236
6,943,811

4,266,944
7,362,106
3,599,877

3,037,522

Deficiency.

bush.
566,722

2,384,965
793,120
464,799
563,094

1,547,161

3,598,186
432,321

1,222,129
113,800

98,606
13,125

It is asserted by many that Ontario produces her 27,000,000
bushels of wheat at a loss, when wheat sells at less than $1 per

bushel. If so, the remedy is to increase the yield per acre or to de-
crease the acreage. Every bushel per acre of increase would mean
a total increase of 1,500,000 bushels. This surely is worth striving
for, and the way to obtain success lies as follows : Improvement of
the land by drainage and thorough cultivation, cleaning from weeds,
/ increased fertilizing, and improved varieties of seed Instruction in
these various branches should help on the good cause.

i have thus far dealt with the 6rst question, should agriculture
be taught in our Public Schools 1 I have shown that the large
majority of the people are intimately associated with rural work ;
and further, that the tendency to remove from this work and its sur-
roundings is proceeding at too rapid a pace in this young agricultural
country, and further, that the wealth and commerce of the country
are greatly dependent upon agriculture. These points should con-
clusively prove that agriculture should be taught if it can,

II. Can Agriculture be Taught in our Public Schools?'

What has been done can be done. The various progressive coun-
tries of Europe are endeavoring to answer this question, each under-
taking it according to the conditions of the people and the peculiari-
ties of their situation. To France, however, we ^nay turn as the
most progressive and advanced of all civilized countries in the mat-
ter of agricultural education. France has a population of 38,095,156 ;
her farms are the best cultivated in Europe, and her produce per
head has increased by one-half in the past quarter of a century.
" The capital represented by agriculture is at present double what it
was in the year 18l5, and nearly 40 percent, of the wealth of the
nation." (Mulhall.) The Budget of the Minister of Agriculture
for 1891-2 provided $850,000 for special agricultural instruction in
institutions devoted to agriculture alone. First there is at Paris the
Institut Agronomique, the Agricultural University, famous the.
world over for its investigations ; then come three National Schools
of Agriculture, one of Horticulture, one of Dairying, three of Veter-
inary Science, two of Forestry and two Shepherds' Schools. To tha
above |48 1,000 was granted. In addition a Professor of Agricu^
ture for each of the 86 Departments of France, Farm Schools
Apprentice Schools, Experimental Stations, Fields and Colonies, andl
Agricultural Orphanages subsidized to the extent of $369,000.
The public school work of France may be summarized as follows :
The Infant Schools, 5158 in number, situated principally in,
the towns, are for children under seven years of a^e. The
Elementary Primary Schools for pupils from seven to thirteen years,
80,000 in number, are scattered through the 36,000 communes*
Above these are 483 Superior Primary Schools, corresponding to our
High Schools, for pupils from thirteen to fifteen years, having

28,000 in attendance. In addition there are 265 Uours Comple-
mentaires, attended by 14,000 pupils. The total enrolment for
the Primary Schools is over 5,500,000, and the number of teach-
ers is 141,000. The teachers for the Primary Schools are trained
in Normal Schools, which number 160, and have an attendance
of 9,000 teachers in training. The total cost of the elementary
education to State, Departments and Communes in 1890 was
$40,000,000.

In 1850 Agriculture was made optional in public schools, and
until 1879 instruction was dependent largely upon the encourage-
ment of agricultural societies and private benefactors. In 1879,
however, a law was passed compelling every Normal College with-
in six years to provide agricultural instruction for the teachers-in
tr lining, and further requiring the primary schools within three
years thereafter to make Agriculture a compulsory subject in their
course of instruction.

The introduction of agriculture, therefore, began with the train-
ing of the teachsrs — a step certainly worthy of imitation. The
instruction in that subject is given by the Professors of Agricul-
ture, one of whom is placed by the Government over each
of the 86 Departments of France. Their salaries are paid
one-half by the Minister of Education and one-half by the Min-

ister of Agriculture. Their duties are three-fold

to give instruc-

tion to the teachers-in-training, to hold conferences with the farm-
ers, and to carry out any investigations suggested by the Govern-
ment. Gardens are attached to these Xormal Schools.

The following is laid down for the general guidance of the
teacher of the Primary School, but the teacher is free to adapt
it to his own taste and the agricultural nature of the locality.

Infant Section. (5 to 7 years.) Object lessons and drawing.

Elementary Course. (7 to 9 years.) Lessons in the school garden.

Middle Course (9 to 11 years.) Instruction in connection with
reading, object lessons and excursions, on the principal kinds of
manures, agricultural work, and instruments of husbandry.

Suj)erior Course. (II to 13 years.) More methodical informa-
tion on agricultural operations ; the implements of husbandry,
drainage ; natural and artificial manures ; seed sowing, harvesting ;
domestic animals ; farm accounts ; {)rincipal processes of propagat-
ing the most useful vegetables grown in the district ; tree culti-
vation ; the most important graftings.

Many of the schools have small gardens attached, and have
agricultural museums. The teacher is encouraged in many Depart-
ments by prizes offered by the agricultural societies, and the work
is supplemented by visits to first-class farms, dairies and establish-
ments where agricultural products are being handled.

Compl^-
nent for
of teach-
I trained
tendance
mentary
890 was

lols, and
courage-
n 1879,
'ge with-
chers-in
n three
in their

e train-
.n. The
Agricul-
^er each
ire paid
le Min-

instruc-
he farm-

Goyern-

3 of the
adapt
ality.

'ing.

garden.

on with
nds of

iforma-
bandry,
esting ;
opagat-
culti-

have
])epart-
e work
ablish-

The teaching of Agriculture in the superior primary schools is of
a more advanced nature, and is more frequently met with. Prof.
Teegan thus refers to it : " The course extends over two years. It
includes for boys practical ideas of vegetation, the different means of
reproduction, the nature of different soils, manures, the principal
agricultural machines, planting, transplanting, irrigation, the princi-
pal kinds of cultivation followed in France, and particularly the
agricultural productions of the district in which the school is situat-
ed ; diseases of plants and their prevention ; weeda, vegetables,
fruits, flowers, greenhouses, the cultivation of fruit trees ; domestic
animals ; book-keeping, etc. The agricultural instruction is based
on this general programme, but varied and extended to suit the
needs of the locality. The practical illustrations are to be given in
the school gardens and experimental fields, and during visits paid to
the farms of the surrounding districts. In some of these institutions
there is a special agricultural section, under the charge of a special
Professor. The number of such schools is, however, small."

Fuller information in regard to the educational system of France
may be obtained from two valuable works by Prof. T. H. Teegan, of
the Board of National Education, Dublin, entitled " Elementary
Education in France " and " Technical and Industrial Education in
France," 1891, Simpkin, Marshall & Co., London, publishers. .

The conclusions arrived at from a study of the above works, also
the Reports of the British Board of Agriculture, 1891, are :

1. France has found it advisable to supplement the work of her
Agricultural Colleges by introducing Agriculture as a special study
into her general school system.

2. The work has been begun by training the teachers first, and
while general methods have been prescribed the system is sufficient-
ly elastic to meet the varying abilities of teachers and pupils.

3. The work is as yet in only the first stage of development, and
although all the rural children of France have not been reached and
the end aimed at has not yet been attained, the success achieved is
very encouraging, and worthy of imitation by other nations.

An interesting article on " Village Life in France and England,"
by an Englishman, Rev. W. Tuckwell, appeared in the Contempor-
ary Review, January, 1892, which showed the great advance which
France had made, and how large a place the little school garden
plays in the Republic. A few quotations will not be out of place :

** In the French post-office savings banks there are 2,800,000,000
francs ($600,000,000) in 6.500,000 deposits."

" Tn these small farms, as in all the other holdings we had seen, the
farming was extraordinarily skilful. Not only was the land far clean-
er than most farmers' land in England — allotments at home had

16'

III

accustomed me to that — but we were arrested by the dexterou
economy in laying out the crops, the unexpected rotations, the use
of chemical manures. This was due, we were told, to the Govern-
ment Agricultural Colleges ; and one of these we visited." Then
follows a description which ends with this sentence : •' No wonder
French holdings, large or small, are scientifically farmed."

A short sketch of one of the market gardens near Paris is given.
It was 2^ acres in extent, the rental was £35 per acre, 15 men
were employed and the yearly statement was as follows : Salps of
produce £2,728 ; expenditure, wages, £1,000 ; rent and taxes, £100;
interest on capital, £150 ; horses and carts, £100 ; sundries* £50 ;
profit, £1.028.

Mr. Tuckwell concluded his article with this remarkable state-
ment: "In England the owners of estates above one acre in size are
about 300,000 ; in France they are 7,000,000. In England the
average extent of a single farm is 390 acres; in France 10 acres,
4,000,000 owners holding properties of two acres, while the farms of
200 acres are so few that they can be counted on the fingers. In
France there are 8,000,000 acres of common land, the exact amount
which has in England been robbed from the lAV)orer3 by successive
Enclosure Acts during the last 170 years. In 1890 France exported
£27,000,000 worth of food ; England imported £80,000,000 worth.
In sixty years 8,500,000 emigrants have left England ; less than
500,000 have left France. In England the rural population is 33
per cent, of the whole ; in France upwards of 75 per cent. In Eng-
land, finally, the peasant is miserably housed, underpaid, servile,
despairing ; in France he is decent, well-to do, independent, hopeful."

It may not be advisable to follow the lead of France in all par-
ticulars, but her experience certainly warrants the conclusion that
the education of the rural classes in their own work is very beneficial.
The imparting of a little agricultural information in public schools
would doubtless have a good effect upon the attendance at our Agri-
cultural College, and possibly create a necessity for increasing buch
facilities. The agricultural colleges 'have in all countries had to do
too much begging for students, while at the same time schools of
law, medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and technolo^'y have been over-
crowded. The U. S. schools of Agriculture are also schools for
training teachers, and for giving instructions in manual arts and in
commercial courses. Many of these institutions, to obtain students
for their agricultural departments, have been compelled to rely almost
entirely upon '* short courses '' of six weeks or two months. Prof.
Lazenby, of Ohio, in The Cidtivator and Country Gentleman for
November 17, 1892, has an article upon "Agricultural Education in
Ireland." He describes the agricultural college at Glasnevin, near
Dublin, and concludes thus : " In many respects it comes nearer to

lexterou

the use

Govern-

" Then

wonder

ia given.
15 men
Sal PS of

!8, £100;

;s. £50;

>le state-
i size are
land the

acres,

farms of
;er8. In
t amount
uccpssive

exported
)0 worth.
ess than
on i.s 33

In Eng-

servile,

lopefnl."

all par-
ion that
eneficial.

schools
nr Agri-
ling such
ad to do
^hools of
en over-
ools for
s and in
students
y almost
Prof.
iman for
nation in
in, near
learer to

my ideal of an agricultural college than any other institution I have
yet seen. It teaches the young men and young women of Ireland —
those who expect to live on farms — just what they most need to
know. The expense is slight, the benefits great, and yet the number
of students is small. Agriculfural education is no more popular in
Ireland than it is in the United States."

Our success in Ontario has been more marked. The Agricultural
College at Guelph teaches nothing but agriculture and the subjects
connected with agriculture, and this year it is filled to its utmost
capacity ; provision has been further made for an additional short
course in dairying during 1892 and the applications are greatly in
excess of the accommodation. But although we have surpassed many
other countries in this work 110 or 150 students in agriculture are
too few to come annually from the 70,000 youths, 15 to 21 years, who
are living in the rural parts. Agricultural instruction in public
schools might very materially increase the number of those wiio
are desirous of thorough agricultural instruction.

III. How CAN Agriculture be Taught in the Public Schools 1

Upon this question hangs the whole difficulty. All are now
agreed, I believe, that agriculture should be taught if it can, and
many who have studied the subject are quite satisfied that it can be
taught in some form ; but when we come to the discussion of the
point as to how it is to be taught much dilficulty arises from the
variety and conflict of opinions.

There are a few general statements that I would make in intro-
duction to this part :

1. All, or nearly all, depends upon the teacher. To one interested
in the progress of agriculture, informed upon the principles of the
sciences involved, acquainted with rational methods of teaching, and
fully determined to impart agricultural instruction, the entire diffi-
culty is easily settled. But in the case of teachers who have been
brought up in cities and towns, who are unacquainted with agricul-
tural work, who have no bias towards agriculture, and who may be
merely making the teaching a convenience for a couple of years
whereby to earn a little money, the difficulty may be well nigh
insurmountable, and there is absolute necessity that some training
and direction be given before the work is undertaken ; otherwise it
were better to leave it alone entirely.

2. Trustees desiring agriculture to be taught in their schools must
insist upon its being taught, and must be willing to assist in provid-
ing whatever means may be necessary. It may even be found
advisable to grant a bonus to teachers who are competent to give
instructions in this branch, especially if they have to incur increased

2 (S.B.)

l.s

expense in fitting themselves for such work. Charts may be required ;
some agricultural papers may be found helpful, but the entire outlay
need not be very large.

3. Too much should not be attempted at first. The work should
be introduced gradually, and the understanding at the outset should
be very definite that by teaching agriculture in the public schools it
is not intended to teach how to plow, how to harvest, or how to feed
stock, but rather the why and the wherefore and to arouse an interest
in agricultural operations.

4. The principal aim and object of instruction in our public schools
should be the creation of a sentiment in favor of agricultural work,
the gradual development of a love for the couutry and its healthful
life, the arousing of a noble ambition in the young minds to become
progressive and successful agriculturists, the spreading abroad of the
idea that the industrious, thoughtful, honest farmer is the most valu-
able citizen of this Canada of ours — a man to be respected, appre-
ciated and honored by every member of the community.

Prof. Oalvin Thomas, in Th» Open Court, said in regard to
the tendency of bo^s'to leave the farm: "It; begins to be borne
in upon him in early boyhood that the life of the farm is a
narrow, monotonous life of hard work, small pay, and meagre
opportunity for action, enjoyment or improvement. He "goes to
the city in search of a better opportunity. Doubtless it would
be better for him in most cases to remain upon the farm, but
he does not know that until experience has taught him. He knows
from books or from hearsay of men who nave left the farm and found
fame, money or excitement in the city. He knows nothing of the
countless failures that he has not heard of. He feels himself drawn
away. The more knowledge you give him, knowledge which tells of
an ouitside w<:'rld in which men are doing, studying, finding out all
sorts of interesting things, the more you add fuel to the flame. 1
conclude, therefore, that very little can be done by the common
schools to check the drift towards the cities. For this we must rely
chiefly upon economic forces. Whatever tends to improve the
economic atatus of the farm industry and to elevate the plane of the
farmer's life will tend to correct the evil. What little the schools
can do can best be done, in my opinion, by ethical rather than by
scientific instruction. For it is a question of character rather than
of knowledge that we are here concerned with, and it is the character
building studies which I should wish to see compose the burden of
early education."

In an article replying to the above Mr. E. P. Powell said : *' I
•will not go on to discuss the Professor's interpretation of the German
♦ World-Thirst ' which in his opinion is an instinct drawing boys and
Ijirls away from the farm. If such an instinct be in humanity, it

IS a

has been created like all other instincts and should be counterbal-
anced and corrected by education. We have many other drifts of
like nature, such as the migratory instinct which antagonizes home-
building." To the former's statement that increase of knowledge but
adds fuel to the flame, Mr. Powell replies : " We shall both insist on
showing the boy a world at home full of interest, of beauty, of thought,
of study, of doing."

Thus there are two sides to agricultural education In addition to
imparting knowledge or teaching the student how to observe and how
to think there should be a cultivation of the feeling, the sentiment.
Who can tell what results unforeseen might flow from attending to
a few improvements in the surroundings. Let the trustees put a
neat fence about the little school yard, hang a simple but attractive
gate, drain the play-ground, level it, sod or sow to grass, erect out-
buildings at least suggestive of humanity, brighten up the interior of
the school room with fresh paint. Then let them provide the schools
with a few dollars to procure some neat charts and pictures dealing
with rural life. In one corner have a cupl;>oard to be filled with
Sooks and reports upon agriculture ; fit up a couple of glass museum
oases. Now let the teachers encourage the pupils in the setting out
of native shruV)8 and trees about the grounds and the growing of a
iew plants inside and outside Let the teachers and pupils make a
collection of the weeds, the wild flowers, tl ^ grasses, the grains, the
soils aiid rocks, and the insects injurious and non-injurious of the
section, and arrange them in the cases. If possible, let them secure
a few large views of the best farms and farm buildings and farm
stock, and the Agricultural College, and hang them upon the walls.
Thus one addition would suggest another and the dull, dreary, re-
pulsive surroundings of many rural public schools might be changed
to bright, cheery attractions that would bind together inseparably
the two conceptions — rural life and pleasure. It may be that the
condition of the rural school has been the repelling force to send many
a boy to the town and city, and may we not expect that the improve-
ment of surroundings would have some effect in binding the young
men to the life and work of the country ?

Apart from the teaching of agriculture as a separate subject there
are subjects now included in the curriculum of our public schools
that can be given a turn toward or an application to agriculture, and
the subject thereby be indirectly introduced.

Reading — In 1888 a commission was appointed in France to con-
sider the working of their new system, and to suggest methods whereby
the teaching of agriculture in French schools might be further
developed. One of the most important suggestions that they made
was that the literature placed in the hands of the pupils for reading
and study should apply more than it had in the past to the country, the

descripticn of rural scenery, of rural occupations and ruial life. Prof.
Teegan, in the work on Technical Education, previously noticed,
refers to this feature in addition to other instruction : •

" The vast majority of those whoso school life ends with the
primary school are destined to be engaged in some branch or other
of productive industry — occupations in which manual skill is of
primary importance. And yet we frame for these, to the exclusion
of more useful studies, such courses of technical grammar as if their
future destination were the senate, and such programmes in geo-
graphy as if they were intended to lead exploring expeditions into
the centre of Africa ; and the last instruction which it has entered
into our heads to give them is that which they will require in their
every-day life from the very hour they issue from the school, namely,
manual training. Can we uot so adapt the course of the primary
school that knowledge of a more practical character — knowledge that
will be more directly concerned with the future life of the scholars,
may be imparted therein, without interfering with the efficiency of
the school in the discheyrging of the primary function of education —
namely mental development 1 It will, we think, he pretty readily
admitted that the art of reading can be acquired as effectively
through the medium of text-books, containing a series of lessons on
the cultivation of fruit trees as through a series containing disquisi-
tions on the oratory of Burke or the poetry of Homer. And surely
the teaching of practical school gardening would be as valuable as
setting the scholars to commit to memory the heighcs of the principal
peaks of the Rocky Mountains."

Arithmetic. — Not a single question need be given in this sub-
ject that has not a bearing upon agriculture. We might refer to
questions in marketing ; in the measurements of fields and roa^ls ; as
to capacity of barns, bins, vsilos, etc. ; as to the cost of production ;
as to road-making.

Drawing. — The flowers of the field, the weeds by the roadside,
the simplest farm implements, the buildings and animals upon the
farm surely afford scope for the most advanced artistic development
to be found in rural schools.

British History. — The development of the agriculture of Britain
should torm as prominent a part of her history as does the develop-
ment of her other industries. No more interesting chapters are to
be found than those dealing with the early holdings of land and the
method of working it. The history of the hundred acre farm of
the present day from the old systems of ownership would be
peculiarly adapted to senior rural pupils. Prof. 0. K. Adams
summarized the conditions of ownership four centuries ago in an
address to the farmers of New York State thus : " Under the

hoi

coil

unJ

orij

abc

wei

hell

ma|

til

liv^

tin

tha

tor

foi-

waH

was

the

Anglo-Saxons there seem to have been three general methods of
holding land. There was first of all the demesne lord who resided
in the centre of the territory, over which he had more or less
control. He had a large estate immediately about him that
under his definite and positive government. This estate
by the Anglo Saxon known as a tun, and that word is
origin of our word " town." The town was gradually gathered
about this estate. In the second place, at a distance from this,
were those who owed allegiance to the demesne lord, but who
held the lands by feudal tenure, and paid for the rent of lands by
manual services or the services oF cattle. These husbandmen some-
times had control, absolute control, of the little land on which they
lived, and so long as they fulfilled the conditions their control con-
tinued. Then, in the third place, there was the common territory
that was used by all of the members of society. This common terri-
tory was partly ])a8ture and partly farm lands. The farm lands
were cultivated ordinarily in ridges, the land being thus thrown up
for better draining. These ridges were nearly uniform in 8i/<e, and
were often known as ranges. They were given out by lot, each per-
son drawing by lot once a year one of these pieces of land. A man
sometimes had one, sometimes a half dozen, and sometimes more.
They were not necessarily contiguous. They were redistributed
every year, and thus fell with some sort of equality to the peasantry
of the country
of the fifteenth century."

Rural pupils should be familiar with the name of Lord Townshend,
who in 1730 abandoned politics and gave England her Norfolk rota-
tion of crops, earning for himself the name of Turnip Townshend and
the fame of reclaiming hundreds of thousands of acres of waste land ;
with the name of Bakewell of Dishley, in Leicestershire (1725 to 1794)
who gave England improved breeds of stock ; with that of Arthur
Young (1741 to 1820), "one of the most enlightened and useful
pioneers of agricultural improvement that the century produced " ;
with that of Coke of Holkham, who raised the rental of his estate
from £2,200 in 1776 to £20,000 in 181G by his methods of improve-
ment, and taught his neighbors how to do the same ; and with that
of Smith of Deanston, who preached the gospel of good and thorough
drainage, and backed it up by the results of his own practice (1834).
Those who may desire to study the development of English agricul-
ture will find much help in Prothero's " Pioneers and Progress of
English Farming," (Longmans, Green &, Co., 1888).

Canadian History. — The past century of progress in Ontario
depended largely upon its agricultural development. The true his-
tory of this province has been worked out upon the farm, in clearing
the forest, in reclaiming the swamp, in the construction of roads, in

This condition lasted down to about the beginning

the improvement of our stock and the development of our produce
for market. Too often historians are more disposed to seek for his-
tory in the linllsof legislature and the fields of bloody contliot, over-
looking entirely the social development of the people. If our teach-
ing of history did not refer almost exclusively to transactions carried
on in cities and on the part of the professional classes, but gave its
true place to the (juestions in which the rural life is intimately asso-
ciated, there would be less concluding on the part of rural pupils
that city life and city events alone " count " in this progressive age.
How many can tell when improved stock was Hrst introduced into
Ontario, when improved machinery came in, and where it came from 1
In 1864 the first cheese factory was built in Ontario, in the county
of Oxford, Hnd by 1867 the system was fairly established in the east
and the west of making cheese in co-operative factories instead of in
the farm dairies. Let us see the results : To-day, twenty-eight years
afterwards, there are in Ontario alone 838 factories in operation,
producing annually 82,000,000 lb. of cheese, worth about $8,000,000.
The cheese exports of Canada are over 27 per cent, of the entire
agricultural exports, and nearly 12 per cent, of the total exports.
The growth of cheese exports since the introduction of the factory
system rcay bo seen from the following : In 1860. $123,494 ; in 1871,
.«1,101)/J0(); in 1876, $4,050,008; in 1881, $5,510,443; in 1880,
$0,754,626 ; in 1891, $9,508,800. There are two men who deserve
a place in the history of this country, whose work his brought more
wealth and prosperity to North America than many whose names
fill a large place in the written history of our land —those two men
are Jesse Williams, who conceived the idea of a cheese factory and
built the first at Rome, N.Y., in 1851, jnd Harvey Farringtou, who
brought the idea from Herkimer County, N.Y.,and set up the first
Canadian factory near Norwich, Ontario, in 1864. Should not our
rural pupils and our town and city pupils also bii made acquainted
with such men and their deeds ? How many historians have
acquainted their readers with the development of our agricultural
fair system, from 1825, when the first society was formed in Ontario,
to 1846, when the first Provincial Fair was held at Toronto, and
from then to the nreent day. When school begins in September,
and the County Fair is billed at all the cross-roads, might not the
teacher interest the older pupils at least in this subject which has
played no unimportant part in the development of the rural classes
and increasing the wealth of Canada 1 It may be easier to interest
pupils in the accounts of war and conquests than in the story of
backwoods settlement and colonization roads, but the history con-
tained in such works as the^writings of Major Strickland and Mrs.
Moody will produce as patriotic citizens as the story of the capture
of Quebec or Queenston Heights.

There is here an unlimited field for instilling^informfttion and
inspiring a taste for agriculture in rural pupils dependent upon the
ability of the teacher, the taste for such work, and the^resources at
hand for obtaining such information.

Composition. — The history of agriculture in the past century, and
the varied work of the present agricultural life, suggest a great
variety of subjects that might be given in this department of school
work. Let the teacher assign subjects to the pupils, giving the
pupil a chance to show his or her preference in the choice. J^et the
pupils take the subjects home and gather information by encpiiry and
research. If only the spirit of curiosity and invcHtigatioii can be
aroused good results must follow. Out of a hundred and one sub-
jects let us suggest a few :

1. The first settlement of this Township.

2. How are roads constructed 1

3. What is the system of road management and repair ?

4. The advantages of draining.

5. Why is corn planted in drills rather than broadcast ?

6. The use and value of ashes as a fertilizer.

7. Why is clover sometimes plowed under 1

8. The relation of bees to fruit.

9. The best method of destroying the codling-moth.

10. The principal birds of the district which should be protected.

Agriculture. — Could not something further be done by way of
simple interesting talks to the pupils on various subjects in agricul-
ture suited to their age and understanding, and suggested by the
agricultural nature of the district 1 If the purpose of such instruc-
tion be carefully kept in mind, viz., to interest the pupils in matters
pertaining to agriculture, and to instruct them to use thfiir eyes to
see what lies on all sides of them and to see correctly, it matters
little what part of the immense field of agriculture be selected. As
for the material about which to talk, and which might be brought
right into the class, there is an " excess of riches." The roads upon
which they come to school,' or which so often keep them from coming
to school ; the weeds by the roadside and in the fence corners ; the
flowers, shrubs and trees beyond the fences ; the soil of the fields
and the diflferent crops growing upon that soil ; the insects and the
birds which are in some cases so necessary and in others so destruc-
tive to the crops ; the cheese factory that stands at the four corners •
the fruits and the vegetables of the garden — these and other subjects
will suggest, as the question is looked into, that the teacher will have
to confine his instruction to but a small part of what is probably the

•' And this leads me
applies to all technical

widest andjmost comprehensive science known to man — the science
of agriculture. Let me here quote the opinion of a man who is
recognized as an authority on the subject of education. Professor
Huxley is quoted as speaking to an agricultural club in these words :

"There are some general principles which apply to all techni-
cal training. The first of these, I think, is that practice is to bo
Jearned only by practice. The farmer must be made by thorough
farm work. 1 think 1 might be able to give you a fair account of
a bean plant, and of the manner and condition of its growth ; but i^
I were to try to raise a crop of beans your club would probably
laugh consumedly at the result. Nevertheless, I believe that prac-
tical people would be all the better for the scientific knowledge which
does not enable me to grow beans. It would keep you from attempt-
ing hopeless experiments, and would enable you to take advantage
of the innumerable hints which JJame Nature gives to the jjoople
who live in direct contact with things."

to the general principle which T think
training of school boys and school girls,
and that is that they should be led from the observation of the
commonest facts to general scientific truths. If I were called
uoon to frame a course of elementary instruction preparatory
to agriculture, I am not sure that I would attempt chemistry,
or »)otany, or physiology or geology as such. It ia a method
fraught with the danger of spending too much time and attention
on abstraction and theories, on words and notions, instead of
things. The history of a bean, of a grain of wheat, of a turnip, of
a sheep, of a pig, or of a cow, pi operly treated — with the introduc-
tion of the elements of chemistry, physiology and so on as they come
in — would give all the elementary science which is needed for the
comprehension of the processes of agriculture, in a form easily assim-
ilated by the youthful mind, which loathes anything in the shape of
long words and abstract notions, and small blame to it."

What I have suggested does not involve any upsetting or over-
turning of the present system of education, but rather an adaptations*
to agriculture as far as possible of subjects novr upon the curriculum.
Instruction in agriculture in our schools may be very limited, but
if nothing more be done than to start our rural pupils thinking, to
give them an impetus or a turn in the right direction, to develop in
them a taste for agricultural study and investigation, to arouse in
them a desire to know more and to read more about agricultural
aftairs, and especially to increase in them a respect for their work
and a pride in their calling, then the most important end of their
education will have been attained. '-';