The Feilding Star. SATURDAY. MARCH 10. 1883. AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.

Feilding Star, Volume III, Issue 77, 10 March 1883, Page 2

The Feilding Star. SATURDAY. MARCH 10. 1883. AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.

Much has been saul and written on the subject of education in all ira brunches, and on the various systems followed by different nations, both ancient and modern ; yet there is on* 1 department that has received but a scaut share of attention or support, especially from those who are most, interested. We allude to Agricultural Education. It is a well-known fact that farmers prefer going on with the same system, or want of system, of cultivating the soil, or of raising stock, that was pursued in " the old time before them" by their ancestors. They regard all improvements as innovations, and an insult to their understandings. Wherever ar.y beneficial changes have been made, or discoveries perfected in farming, they have, as a rule, emanated from amateurs, or as they are contemptuously called by the old school, " fancy or gentlemen farmers." Tt is true that these have spent large sums of money that have yielded no return and that much valuable time ami labor have been wasted, (facts that are gloated over by their natural enemies the v old school" farmers). But the actual good they have done i.s almost incalculable, for their name has been legion, and although they may have ruined themselves, the knowledge gained by them has been freely communicated to the public, and has, in many cases, been used to advantage and profit. The sons of farmers should avail themselves of the facilities offered by the State for primary education. This gained, they should endeavour to acquire some scientific knowledge of the business to which they intend to devote their whole lives. They Imve no excuse for neglecting this course, for they have boih the time and opportunity of following it at a trifling cost. This knowledge ought not to interfere with producing what are ca'led " practical" farmers. If he is able to discover why a particular soil will, under certain conditions, produce a certain result, he is j more likely to know how to produce the same or a different result under different conditions. Even a knowledge of what are called broad priu ciples of farming luiist be a great saving of time and mo in- y, especially if to this knowleger is added a little knowledge of chemistry relating to the soil and its products. Bad farming in too many cases can be attributed to want of capital, but it can also be put down to want of knowledge and a disinclination to assimilate the experiences of others. The plan suggested by a northern contemporary to overcome the want of knowledge of scientific farming among agriculturalists is to give instruction in the principles of agriculture a prominent place in our schools. It would be much better to teach young lads this than to drive into them a lot of things only suitable to make them fitted for clerks or shopmen, of which there are far too many already. As soon as a farmer's son gets through his standards — and if he has passed at all creditably — he seems utterly to despise the occupations of his father, and seeks after " genteel employment," which gives him scant pay and robs him of his independence. The first and last thing a farmer's son should be taught i.«, that successful agriculture is the most valuable of national industries ; and that a successful farmer is the most free and independant man in the world.