AGRICULTURE IN ENGLAND.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9439, 8 May 1909, Page 7

AGRICULTURE IN ENGLAND.

: Th A newly appointed director of Lincoln 'Agricultural College, Mr R. U Alexander,, in conversation with a representative of the Post, had a little to say concerning the spread of agricultural instruction in Ireland, and the condition of several of the land industries; Agricultural education across the Irish Sea dates from 1900-01. when 1 the soIiQDQQ was initiated at iseliast. to that there was little in the way of practical agriculture. Now there are three other stations and two dairy schools (mentioned '“lower down), and winter classes are held regularly in large tilling centres, practical- demonstration being given by trained, arid expert lecturers. Mr Alexander is more than hopeful regarding the benefit that is bound to acorhe from the scheme. Experimental plots are constructed m tho summer months, and the theoretical sand practical demonstration is given during the winter. .Mr Alexander, who has completed a very successful - course of agrioultural'sciences, is of ■opinion that the farmer himgelf, under the new process, will become a more businesslike producer, ! the instruction tending to make him keener in placing his produce, and to conserve the good of his land by , judicious manuring. The work of the oollege schools is being taken np with a good deal of The student undergoes one year of practical study at one of the primary schools. The Albert College. Glas•n«vin, of which Mr Alexander was manager and resident-instructor, is more “of a secondary school, where a greater part of the twelve months’ course is devoted to farming and kindred subjects, the whole concluding with a three-years’ course, riiainly scientific research labour, at the Royal College of Science, Dublin. Thus equipped with a pretty general practical and theoretical knowledge of land-tilling,the student goes forth to benefit both himself and his holdings. BEEP THE PRINCIPAL EXPORT. Ireland has been noted in the past for her beef, and the introduction by the department of blooded bulls .and cows is making for a general improvement in the matter of stock. The central part of Ireland, says Mr -Alexander, is given over largely to , grazing, with the result r,that the industry there sailers. The scheme under which purebred live stock is introduced is resulting ; already in big improvement. The beef goes away chiefly to Glasgow, Liverpool, and the West of England. As regards her potato fields, not yet has Ireland raised a blightiproof tuber, bat experiments are approaching that very desirable consummation. The bulk of the exported ..article goes to Malta. DAIRYING OPERATIONS. In the manner of a practical education in dairy methods, Ireland leads New Zealand. Two dairy schools for girls, at Cork and Oookstown, are in great vogue. Though applicants are selected, so warm is the •enthusiasm in this particular *line that the first-named institution has its admission books foil over three years ahead, While at Oookstown, founded about eighteen months ago, the number the chosen applicants was sufficient for a full two years. The popularity of these schools is, doubtless, dne to the fact that domestic economy is part of the •curriculum, Girl students represent? ing all classes of society are in attendance. The course is a short one—six weeks—but the very promising ones may take a second, third, and even a fourth term. The dairying industry has gone ahead with leaps and bounds since 1893, when the co-operative system ousted the proprietary idea. In the central plain, however, adds Mr Alexander, the industry is not flourishing, nor is ever likely to be, despite the fact that the country tfhere is good grazing country. The people are content with summer dairying, bat as'they do not provide food for the cattle from November to May—daring the most rigorous time of the year—the winter business in this respect is nil. It pays the land-holders better to let their holdings for merely grass purposes, some of them grazing hundreds of bollocks, which brings them in £8 to £9 a head per annum. No provision in the way of tillage for winter food is ‘made on the central pla'n, and the ■dairying industry is subordinated to beef-raising. Mr Alexander did not wish to say anything concerning his work at Lincoln Oollege. On the Irish land question, also, that perennial grievance. be bad nothing to say