WOMEN & AGRICULTURE

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2498, 26 June 1915, Page 11

WOMEN & AGRICULTURE

Among this year's batch of students for the decree of agriculture that oui University sends annually to DooKie College for a year's practical work was one woman, states the Melbourne ' Argus." Tho situation was a rather curious one, the University having appaxently allowed her to enter on the agricultural course without considering that the second year must be spent at Dookie. a men's residential college. However, difficulties were overcome by the fact that Mr. Hugh Pye, tho principal of Dookie, was favourable to receiving a few women students, and consequently, after some delay caused by making the necessary arrangements, Miss Irene Lowe has taken her place amone the men of her year. Clad sensibly in boots and leggings, short skirt, and a sleeved and belted overall, she quietly follows the course laid out or farm duties, field instruction, and lectures ; she has ploughed and harrowed, pruiied and planted, taken a team out for firewood, tended the ohaffcutter and traction-engine, worked down in the steam pit where fodder is softened tor sheep, and acquitted herself welu Other women going to Dookie, not University students, will probably take one or more of the special courses horticulture, with its many Branches, extending to fruit preserving of ail kinds; poultry and bee keeping, dairy work. These courses extend over a year, and the fees are actually less than it costs to keep a girl at home, while other expenses are trifling; dress, tor instance, would cost much less than in town. The gain in health and strength would be worth it alone, and women so trained would be fitted to run small mixed farms with much less risk than at present; they may also be eligible tor posts at agricultural high schools, and the time is not very distant when special farm schools for women will require trained teachers. The climate of Dookie is very healthy, with a dry, clear air, the surroundings

hilly and picturesque, and the principal and his family most kindly. The college is quite a large village; the instructors are married, and each has a cottage, and there are fine college buildings, including a handsome dinmg hall, and one of the best equipped laboratories in the States. Above, on the top of the hill,, are the reservoirs and the principal's house; below, on the edge of the plaiii are numerous farm buildings; all is beautified with trees, avenues, and garden plots. The quarters for women have been arranged with kindly consideration for their comfort. Nice little single bedrooms, with a com-mon-room, firelit and studious-looking, and a separate table in the dining hall are the chief features. A health talk is to be given by Dr. Hardwick Smith this evening at,B o'clock at the Y.W.C.A., Fowlds Buildinns, Manners Street, when all girls and young women are invited, and at the close the doctor will answer any Question about which the audience may desire further information. - It is estimated that there are seven million working women and girls in the United Kingdom.