LORD LYTTELTON ON FARMING AND AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2686, 16 November 1882, Page 3

LORD LYTTELTON ON FARMING AND AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.

The Eight Hon. Lord Lyttelton presided at the distribution of diplomas, scholarships, &c., to the students of the Koyal Agricultural College, Cirencester, at the close of the session, and in the course of his address his Lordship commented on the necessity for hard and constant work at the College if their residence there was to be profitable to themselves. There was no short cut to success in farming, and no royal road to knowledge of the principles on which it was based. He counselled them not to neglect, but perhaps to give special attention to the practical work taught there. Ho knew very well it was rather a favorite sneer in the mouths of those who were jealous of them to say that Cireucester turned out nothing but theoretical farmers, and that they had nothing practical about them. That simply was not true —(applause)—and they knew as well as he did that any one who chose to work there could learn even the minutest detail of practical work that a farmer might require to know in order that he might be , a practical man ; and it seemed to him that those who sneered at Cirencester students for being theorists and nothing else could only lay claim to be called “ practical farmers” , because they were themselves utterly . devoid of all theoretical knowledge. [Ap- : plause.] He thought he was the only student who came to the college with no , professional object whatever. He came to , the college as one having a great interest , in country life, and as one likely to become , a landowner; and it had always been a matter of great surprise and regret to him . that more people in the same position as , himself had not availed themselves of the . advantages offered by that college. Even , if he had nothing to do with land except . that he lived in the country, and was jn the habit of taking country walks, he ■ should have learnt a great deal there, and , should have added a great deal to the , interest he should feel during walks in j country districts. He should have learnt - to take an intelligent and instructive j interest in all common plants, in the . nature of the soils over which he passed, j and in the growth of his neighbors' crops, . and that was no light advantage to a man ; who was called to live many months of the year in the country. If he could have f remained at the college for the full two , years' course, and if he had taken full ( advantage of opportunities offered him, he should have been able to have dispensed j with the services of a professional land , agent, and he should have been able to ] manage his own estate. But not only would it do this, but it would enable a , landowner to walk about his estate and J understand how matters were going on, what farmers were doing well, 1 and which were doing badly, he would be able to see at a glance whether this tenant should be got rid of as soon as possible, or whether that tenant should be kept even at a sacrifice. He would see where capital could be advantageously laid out, and where money could advantageously be borrowed for improving his estate in the | matter of buildings, drainage and so forth. J All these things wore of great interest and ■ importance to landowners, who for the . most part were entirely and hopelessly dependent for them upon their agents, and that was not a very satisfactory state of things. And these matters were likely to become shortly still more important, for a very important Bill was now passing through Parliament, introduced by Lord Cairns, which would effect great benefits in the country in enabling, as it would do, owners, however limited and cramped in their moans of dealing with their property, to lay out what money they might wish to do in the improvement of their estates. That measure would greatly increase the money to be laid out in the future on landed property, and it would be an object of national importance that that money should be judiciously, and intelligently, and profitably laid out. But ho would also toll them what ho did not learn at the College. He was not encouraged by what he saw of farming to go into farming with a view of making a livelihood from it. He did not say this for the purpose of discouraging them from becoming professional farmers, but he was talking of the ‘ gentleman farmer.’ A man who took a farm and devoted the major part of his time to sports and amusement, and who gave only the dregs of his brains to farming, was often much disappointed and disgusted to find that the balance-sheet at the end of the year came out in anything but a satisfactory manner. He believed that ‘ gentleman farming ’ was a mistake, and a certain failure if carried on in such a manner. Unless a farmer devoted to his business all his available time and the best of his brains, and descended to master the small irksome details, and saw that every penny was made to go as far as possible, all ho could say was that farming, like any other neglected profession, would be found to be a very non-paying speculation. He therefore did not recommend landlords to come there and fancy that they wore then bound to be qualified to go away and farm at a profit. But many wore obliged to farm, and many liked to farm and give their neighbors the benefits of their mistakes, and so establish what was called model , farms. If anyone contemplated anything > of this sort he could not see that a landlord could spend two years more profitably (say the two years after leaving the University, ; which were often wasted), in learning ; farming at Cirencester. Those two years might not enable him t» go in for farming ■ at a profit, but they would enable him to avoid a great number of the mistakes that ; he would otherwise fall into, would give ' him far more interest and satisfaction in - his work, and would enable him to farm - with greater profit at all events to his neighbors and the public generally. [Applause.] He hoped to see the College diploma still more highly valued than it i was, and ho rejoiced to see the institution so prosperous.