AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."]
SIR,—The writer of the suggestive article on this subject which appeared in the Spectator of March 9th, deserves gratitude for calling attention to a question too long neglected; but it may be doubted whether his proposal to hand over agricultural education to the County Councils would be a satisfactory solution.
In the first place, the county is, as a rule, too small a unit. This objection does not, of course, apply to such divisions as Lancashire or Yorkshire, which are rather provinces than shires, the population in either case exceeding that of the six counties of North Wales put together. In the second, many of the County Councils have no adequate representation of the various agricultural interests of their counties. And, finally, the proposal takes no account of the educational machinery which already exists.
The last twenty years have seen the growth over England and Wales of a system of provincial University Colleges,
obviously destined to play a more and more important part in the development of English education. To them, I submit, naturally belongs the organisation of technical no less than of academical instruction. Hitherto, so far as they have dealt with the former, their energies have been absorbed by manu- factures, agricultural education till quite recently having been neglected by the whole country. But a glance at Germany and the United States, where each local University has its own agricultural department as a matter of course, shows that such institutions are capable of rendering the same service to agriculture ; and this is confirmed more particularly by the movement now going on in North Wales, which has of late excited considerable public attention.
The University College of North Wales, established in 1884 at Bangor, amidst a population mainly agricultural, turned its attention from the first to the industry of the district. Exten- sion work, illustrated by field experiments, has been maintained ever since, and though the scale of operations has been limited by want of funds, the increasing interest it excited among the farmers convinced the authorities of the College that on the first opportunity it should be organised and developed into a regular department. Accordingly, when last year the first Parliamentary grant in aid of agricultural education was voted, application was successfully made for a portion of this grant, and for some months past the College has been engaged in working out a complete scheme for the six Northern Counties of Wales. A first sketch of this is given in a letter, a copy of which I enclose, and which has been reviewed in several of the London papers, written by my colleague, Professor Dobbie, who has made the subject his own. The scheme contem- plates,—(1), The formation within the College of a fully equipped agricultural department, with laboratories, experi- mental farms, &c., which will enable us to give a complete training in scientific agriculture such as is now provided in the purely agricultural Colleges ; (2), the establishment throughout North Wales of a network of—(a), dairy-schools, (b), centres for extension teaching, illustrated by field ex- periments, both to be superintended and controlled by the new department. In connection with (b), it is intended to provide courses for elementary schoolmasters which will enable them to take up agriculture as a specific subject in their schools.
This programme is no mere record of good intentions. Already three such dairy-schools have been established at Welshpool, Flint, and Bangor; extension courses are being delivered at three other centres. A largely attended class for schoolmasters is being held within the College.
Funds are now being raised locally for future organisation, From every county promises of support are coming in, both from landowners and farmers, and there can be no doubt that in the course of a few months, the realisation of the whole scheme will be accomplished.
To hand over this work to the County Councils would mean a great waste of energy and money in the erection of new buildings and the creation of a separate staff, and would at the same time involve the levying of a rate to carry on work for which we find little difficulty in obtaining voluntary
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