BOYS' AGRICULTURAL CLUBS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 268, 8 August 1919, Page 8

BOYS' AGRICULTURAL CLUBS

[ A VALUABLE SCHEME APPROVED BY MINISTER OF LANDS Tho 6iiggestioil that an agricultural competition for boys and girls should be organised on national lines has the hearty approval of tho Minister of Lands (Hon. D. H. Guthrie). This idea wa9 put forward in tho columns of Thk Dominion last week by Mr. W. Stuart Wilson, who, as a member of the Otago Expansion League, realised the value of the agricultural competition organised by that body last season, A similar scheme has been highly successful in the United States., where the boys' agricultural clubs have become an important factor in the development of rural industry and the improvement of'farming methods.

"I am well acquainted with the scheme adopted by the' Otago Expansion League, and reconimended now for wider operation." said Mr. Guthrie. "In no way has the Otago League proved its usefulness more forcibly than in the matter of encouraging the increased productivity of the land. The effort to stimulate the intensive cultivation of the is deserving of the highest commendation, especially as it 6tarts with the youthful section of our citizens, who eventually will become the occupiers and workers of the soil. The scheme, as long as it proceeds onsensible business lines, should receive every support locally and nationally.

"Tho scheme is based on the system of boys' agricultural clubs, established in 6ome of the Americas States, where the effect of the competitions on agriculture in ceneral has far exuded the most sanguine expectations of those engaged in the propaganda work. 'The competitors, working in ft small way, on sound, scientific lines, have shown how productiveness may be increased enormously. It must not be'supposed that even in America the battle for good farming has been won. and that the old prejudice against scholastic instruction in agriculture has been overcome. There, as well as in New Zealand, we still hear the cry, 'Just imagine a schoolmaster teaching me how to farm my, land, 'which for the past quartor of a century I' h/tte worked successfully and made so profitable!' Tho man who says thia very often is neglectful of the fact that with scientific treatment the land would liavo produced 100 per cent, more, and would have remained in good heart, instead of being reduced, in many cases, to an impoverished condition. "The competitions that are suggested appear to mo to be really a matter for the Education Department, associated,, where possible, with the Departments of Lands and Agriculture. If these three Departments, woi'kinir in earnest co-oper-ation. would apply their influence to secure agricultural development and intensive production, they would be well repaid by the betterment of Now Zealand as a whole. Indeed, it is surprising that not. nntil now have some portion? of the Dominion begun to wake up to the absolute necessity of attention being paid to these vital factors in national prosperity. . In some districts, notably the Wancanui education district, agricultural education has received attention for thepast ten. or fifteen years, with tho result that to-day the agricultural instructors aro recognised as experts, and are constantly being approached for advico oven by farmers wno formerly had no time at all for 'new-fangled ideas.'

"It must be recognised that : the proposal to competitions for young people, on the lines advocated by the Otago Expansion League, is only ono of the levers that may be used to procure better and more productive farming; in any locality. It is a method of setting scientific knowledge into the minds of'the farmers of the future, and of providing the farmers of today with practical demonstrations of the means by which their land can be made to viola greatly increased returns. The scheme is well worthy of the fullest consideration and support."