AGRICULTURAL CLUBS.

Taranaki Daily News, 1 May 1920, Page 8

AGRICULTURAL CLUBS.

SHOULD BE FOSTERED IN NEW ZEALAND. "The organisation o! agricultural clubs fot boys and girls is regarded in the United States and Canada as the most profitable work that State agricultural officers can undertake," said Captain W. R. Birks, AXF., to a Wellington reporter. Captain Birks is a member of the staff of the New South Wales Agricultural Department, and he has recently made a tour of North America in search of information while onleave prior to demobilisation. He was particularly impressed with the development of the agricultural club scheme in the United States and Canada, and is Strongly of opinion that the movement ought to be fostered in this country. "The scheme is general all over the United States and Canada," said Captain Birks. "The unit of the agricultural club generally is the school district. Nearly all the children in each country school are members of the club and are competing in some form of production, probably the form common to the district in which they live. Then for the purposes of competition ten or a dozen schools are grouped together. These schools compete with one another, and the best exhibits or results they can show are taken to the central fair:,, which may be State or inter-State in their, • scope. The young people raise poultry, potatoes, maize, cereals, vegetables. dairy cows and fat stock, in fact anything that may interest a sufficiently group of them. They work under , set rules, are required to keep accurate ' records of their labors, and are judged on the results in conjunction with their expenditure of time and money. The details of the competitions can be varied to suit requirements, as long as all the competitors are kept on the same footing. "The effect of these competitions in the promotion of good farming is impressively great. The young people, working under the direction of trained officers and stimulated by the competitive spirit, get results that are bound to interest the farmers. The competitors themselves are the farmers of the future, and it pays the State better to give instruction to the boy, whose mind is plastic and whose productive life is before him, than to the man, who may be set in his ways. The farmer is influenced, in any case, when he finds that the young peorie are getting better returns from iand, cnpital and labor, even in a small way, tnan he is doing himself. The competitors are required to Vork on a- strictly commercial basis. Thcv must keep records and debit their products with all the charges incurred, including rent of land and cost of cultivation, calculated on current farm rates. The lesson of the competitions for the fanners usually is that more labor should bo put into the land, and American experience shows that the lefson is not loit "An interesting feature of tho competitions in Canada. Ontario, and other ■parts of North America, is the autumn fair, at which the nroduce and stock raised by the von',Mill member? of the clubs are exhibited'. Prominent stock men and agriculturists told me that the exhibits at these fairs compare very favorably with anything to be found at the ordinary farmers' fairs. The agricultural clubs do not lack sunport when once they have been established. Business men realise their value and are ready to give prizes and other assistance. The scheme in Ontario does not stop at the clubs. The clubs are linked up with junior farmers' associations, which in turn are connected with the ordinary farmers' associations, corresponding to the farmers' unions and agrlitural and pastoral associations in this country. A boy passes at the age of about sixteen years from the agricultural club to the junior farmers' association. The junior associations arrange for lectures and other forms of instruction. so that their members are able to extend the knowledge they •rained as members of the clubs. All this goes to the making of good farmers." Captain Birks mentioned that he had . net Mr. W. Stuart Wilson, who had been taking a prominent part in the introduction of the agricultural clubs scheme to New Zealand. Mr. Wilson prepared a booklet, Bhowing what had b»cn done already, quoting the opinions of some of New Zealand's foremost citizens, and suggesting that the Prince of Wales should be asked to use his great personal influence for the encouragement of boys' agricultural clubs throughout the British Empire. The suggestion, said Captain Birks, was attractive. His own observations convinced him that the TCheae was worthy of all the commendation given it and of all the support Jthat could be Accorded to it.