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AGRICULTURAL INSTRUCTION.

JJEW METHODS SUGGESTED. LESSON'S FOR TEACHERS. In keeping with a general plan of reorganisation of several departments controlled by the T-iranaki Education Board, Mr. R. A. S. Browne, chief agricultural instructor, submitted a report to the Bqard on Wednesday-,embodying a series of new ideas concerning the methods of agricultural instruction. Mr. pointed out that it was essential, that all instructors should qualify tlicmsel.-cs for work with school classes and the rural or adult classes. He said' he hoped to get together all the teacher* in the Board's sen ice in sections or at one time for instruction from Nature study to agriculture. A fortnight's course of instruction and contribution* to the newspapers by those interested, would, he believed, soon maku a great difference in the interest taken by teachers in Nature study m.d agriculture. proceeding, Mr. Browne said it was important that children in standards four, five, and six should take either agriculture or dairy work, or both. RURAL COURSE AT HIGH SCHOOLS. Continuing, Air. Browne said that as far as possible, the more elementary grades of this work should be taken by /the district high school staff, at first acting with, and finally, assisted by, the agricultural inshuctors, and with short periods of instruction from time to time. If the local stafi attend all lessons and demonstrations, etc., given by the instructors, it will be found that we shall have little difficulty in their taking up this work keenly on their own account. OBJECTION TO ITINERANT INSTRUCTORS. "An objection to the system of itinerant instructors is undoubtedly that the regular staff soon come to look upon tlie instructors as interlopers taking a good deal of their t:me from other subjects of instruction. Further there is little supervision of home work and no correlation of agricultural topics with the other subjects of the syllabus. The Editaction Department has often stated its objection to :.he indefinite continuance of the itinerant instructor. There" is litt'e objection to his taking the more specialised wor;c and much to recommend his htndling the pupils for short courses, but undoubtedly the local staff in eacli case should he responsible for the more general work in both agriculture and dairy science. The teachers would soon become so enthusiastic in handling praitical work tint there should be no ditfinlty in replacing special instructors as required. • Of course, in the early stages, itinerant special instructors are absolutely necessary in connection with the above, ana again when changes of staff are frcqu.nt as at the present time. VOCATIONAL COURSE. "This is undoubtedly the" sphere of the itinerant or special instructor, but again. wherever possible the local staff should join ! n. A givut deal of the instruction under this head could be taken, as regards our district, at a suitable centre. At the same time, local interest must be catered for, and therefore local experimental areas, preferably run in connection with the Agricultural Department, should be provided, and local farms should be visited to study cropping, breeding and other local methods. By concentrating instruction at a suitable centre, e.g., Stratford, a great deal of the time, especially in the case of the senior instruerors could be saved, and one pood set of apparatus and machinery could be built up." TARANAK: LEADS THE WAY. "There is no reason why vocational courses in dairy-farming and its special branches should not be.run at Stratford, and advertised to bring in pupils from the length and breadth of New Zealand. I do not know of any province so well sirlted as is Taranaki to lead the way in such work. We have the land, we have energetic and longheaded farmers, we liai'e first Ass stock available, and good train facilities." FARMERS' CLUBS. "Farmers' Clubs," said Mr. Browne, "give a longer time to each centre, and this is possibV: on account of greater returns in donations. The weakness of the system is that only those subscribing get instruction —it is not usually free, to all in a given district. Further, such clubs are frequently only annual concerns as regards individual members, A SUGGESTED SCHEME. "I have discussed this matter with individual farmers, Farmers' Unions, Farmers' Club members, A. and P. Associations and instructors, and all are agreed that something like the following will meet the case: —(1) That whert factory suppliers take up this scheme, on a payment or 10s per supplier, or Is per ton output of cheese (and accordingly on butter), then visits to representative or individual farms be made is arranged, and that lectures and demonstrations bo given i,nc per month, less holidays. Lowgarth has already taken up this scheme. If this arrangement could be made provincial, then a weekly bulletin could be issued in New Plymouth sind Hawera papers, giving advice to farmers as to crops, amounts of seed, manures, etc. (2) That where above is not possible, then the present scale of contributions both from factories and farmers' clubs as in the past be continued at suitable centres, with a membership fee of approximately ,-fi-l per farm in the case of clubs. Fanners' unions could, of course, arrange this matter in the absence of farmers' clubs. This instruction to farmers is, of course, only temporary. Our really permanent work is with the 'Rural' and 'Vocational' course lads. The Agr cultural Department will finally take over all our work in connection with the instruction of adults in agriculture. I FUTURE FINANCE. "In addition lo donations from factories and clubs, it is advisable that A. and P. Associations County Councils, farmers unions, etc., be asked to subsidise the work of agricultural instruction. The Hawera Count v Council has donated £2O for this purpose. Fees from instruction in orchard work, information to farmers and other? on rural matters could be made a source of revenue to the Board. "In this connection," proceeded Mr. Browne, "it is essential that all earnings both by way of donation and capitation, from all classes in agriculture be kept separate from the earnings of other technical and manual classes. This is doubly necessary in the prospect of a great development of rural classes, especially at Stratford. All monies should be available to keep on the work of agricultural instruction wherever support is required throughout the district, i

REPRESENTATION OF .ONTO- ' BUTING BODIES "All contributing bodies should have the right to elect one or two representatives on a 'committee of advice.' The Board would find such committees a very great assistance in watching over and assisting in the development jf agricultural instruction, especially in the main centres. The Agricultural Department has already moved in this matter, and it would be easy to havp one body act for either Department or Board. AIM OF VOCATIONAL COURSE. Mr. Browne outlined the following main underlying principles ; and routine of work of the vocational course:—Dairy farming on high priced land, intensive grazing, dairy farming on low priced land, intensive cropping, and extensive grazing; the general .farmer; methods of stud farm owner, especially in case of dairy eattk; fruit farming; poultry farming and beekeeping; pig breeding and roaring; market gardening. It n'l cases, very special attention should be paid to the be?t methods of laying down and top-dressing of permanent pasture, as well as rotational cropping for soiling purposes, with a view to getting the biggest returns, from land and labor. Frequent visits would be'paid to surrounding farms for purposes of inspection and comparison. TRAINING OF RETURNED SOLDIERS. The chief instructor went on, "We shall have to consider for some years to come the systematic instruction, especially in dairy farming and its side lines, of a large number of returned soldiers. This work could go on every readily in conjunction with aiove vocational coursf in agriulture and dairying. There is no doubt that for a small capital expenditure a great deal can be taken in small holdings from out Tnranaki land. By teaching the p/ospective farmer, or teturning farmer, how-to increase his production at least cost and to the best advantage, we could do a very great work indeed both tor the men, and for our province. Moreover, methods learned here could be readily adapted to conditions in other places." HORTICULTURE AND RELATED SUBJECTS. Mi. Browne favored the following plan for teaching horticulture and "related subjects especially to girls: Pruning in all its branches, alfo propagation of cuttin<w, etc v with grafting and budding as side branches; spraying for commercial purposes: manuring for maximum production, and on approved commercial lines; course pit bee-keeping (by specialist) ; course in poultry farming (by specialist); dairy course, especially making of butter, and feeding of by products to pigs and fowls, etc,; growing of special crops, e.g., po'iato, onion, parrot, mangel, lucerne, etc. EXPERIMENTAL. AREA AT 'STRATFORD.

"The movement for the running of an experimental irea at Stratford," said Mr. Browne, "also foi smaller plots, etc.. for the use of schools, should get all possible support from all parts of Taranaki. With the support promised by the tyros, some 100 youths taking agriculture in lfll7. and the fact that season work j-an be centralised at Stratford for the New Plymouth and Hawera classes will add to it* usefulness. All attendances from local centres will, of course, ir credited to the centres, and not to Stratford. If local experimental areas are desired, and labor is available, there is no reason why these should not be run, but it is essential that local people should take charge of the local plots, •ithmviae too much time would be taken , up by the visiting staff in purely routine | work. Whether on the central or localised areas, it is essential that-regular routine labor b". provided, either by the Agricultural Department, the Board, or by a private : ndividual. On account of the labor difficulty, I have in the past preferred to take lads to farms and factories where work is being done, rather than to arrange to run local experimental areas. Examinations, school holidays, and wet weather, are all disturbing factors where regular labor is not available. CO-OPERATION WITH DEPARTMENT. "The Board can have these advantages offered by working with the Agricultural Department. The officials will not agree to depend upon our lads for labor, but will make them welcome so far as occaslonKl assistance is concerned, and always in connetion with the making out of reeoids, observation work, etc. They wisely take up the position that the manual labor be expert. iVhen it comes to the V.ghter forms of manual work, and especially observing and recording result? of experimental work, that is where the youth comes in." The Board approved of Mr. Browne's scheme, and adopted his report,

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Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TDN19161027.2.42

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Taranaki Daily News, 27 October 1916, Page 6

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,764

AGRICULTURAL INSTRUCTION. Taranaki Daily News, 27 October 1916, Page 6

AGRICULTURAL INSTRUCTION. Taranaki Daily News, 27 October 1916, Page 6

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