The Daily News. THURSDAY, MAY 6, 1920. AGRICULTURAL CLUBS FOR

Taranaki Daily News, 6 May 1920, Page 4

The Daily News. THURSDAY, MAY 6, 1920. AGRICULTURAL CLUBS FOR

THE YOUNG. Auy movement which has for its object the stimulation of production, the popularising of agricultural pursuits, and the encouragement of boys and girls to take a practical interest in primary industries, i 9 worthy of serious attention. Both in Canada and the United States the boys' and girls' agricultural club movement is doing extremely valuable work. The scheme is known in New Zealand, Mr. W. Stuart Wilson having helped to initiate it in Otago, where it has proved a success, and he hopes to see it become generally adopted throughout the Empire. According to Captain W. E. Birke, A.1.F., who recently returned to New Zealand after visiting the United States, where he made special inquiries concerning this club movement, the purpose is to educate young people in practical agriculturejiy means of actual work under farming conditions. Judging by the manner in which these clubs are organised, the method is simplicity itself. The centre of the organisation is the district representative of the Department of Agriculture, who gets into touch with the farmers, teachers, and commercial concerns, anii calls meetings of boys and girls lively to form clubs in the various centres, and there the clubs are formed, the boys and girls electing their own manager, secretary and treasurer. In Ontario, practically every school has- its agricultural club, over which the Department of Agriculture exercises supervision. The work includes raising crops from seed furnished, the eare of live stock and poultry, and, in the case of girls, household work is included. The Department advances seed, poultry, and live stock on terms, and the clubs have to conduet their business on, proper' commercial lines. Not only are the children taught responsibility, but the movement reacts favorably on the parents, while the percentage of failures on the part of the young people is small. It is found that the club members take up the work with the utmost enthusiasm, and'vie with one another in efforts to secure the best results, a similar experience having been exemplified in New Zealand in the case of the work done at schools where practical .agriculture is taught. A further stimulus is given in Can*

Ada by the holding of club fairs in the various districts, handsome prizes being given .by bankers and commercial peopld for the best exhibits of fruits of the soil and the care of stock. Some idea my be obtained of the success of the movement in Ontario, by the fact | that in 1919, 2868 schools were operatipg these clubs, with a total of 71,086 children taking part—an average of 25 children for each of the schools, while the pupils had 66,613 home plots, and. their entries numbered 115,531. Naturally Government subsidies are necessary to assist in the payment of the salaries of agricultural instructors, and this is forthcoming, the amount increasing year by year. There exists in New Zealand the nucleus for such clubs, and the question of their formation has already been mooted in some districts, the main object being to encourage boys and girls to undertake agricultural enterprises adapted to .their home conditions, such as poultry, pig and calf raising, together with crop growing on a limited scale. Taranaki is particularly suitable for the class of work undertaken by these clubs, especially in view of the high prices .of land and stock, and the ever-increasing difficulty of rearing pigs and calves by milk, of which almost every constituent for commercial purposes is now being utilised more profitably in other directions. It ! is stated 'that the Director of Agriculture (Dr. C. J. Reakes) 4s in sympathy with this club movement, which certainly has great possibilities in the direction of greater production, and as An aid tci more intense farming. There seems, however, to be good reasons why the young people should not be exploited, and provision should be., made whereby they i-eceive a "fair reward for their labors. Otherwise tlie project possesses manifest advantages, and could well be made supplemental to the present scheme of agricultural instruction, giving it ,a wider scope and making the results more useful and effective than as at present is the case. To be of real service it should be general throughout the Dominion.