CANADIAN METHODS.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 186, 11 September 1914, Page 5

CANADIAN METHODS.

AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. An address that was far removed from dusty technicalities, and yet of stimulating interest to agriculturists and others more or less concerned with agricultural development, was given by Professor Creelman, principal of the Guelph College of Agriculture, Ontario, at Canterbury College Hall last night. The lecturer was introduced by Mr A. D. Dobson, and the subject of his address was "Agricultural Education." He opened with .humorous reference to the desire of the farmer to make enoughmoney to retire to the city, and of the city man's desire to retire into the country, and, as far as his own country was concerned, the farmer's inability to fit in with city iife. Mr Creelman said' that farm life should be made as comfortable and desirable as city life, so that the farmer, when the time came to hand the farm over to his sons, could retire to some corner of it and devote his experience to helping the Community in which he lived. ' But the work of the agricultural colleges in Canada naturally made the more interesting portion of his address. The early days of farming in the great Dominion were simple, because there was virgin soil to be cleared and ploughed and to produce abundantly; but now impoverished soil had to be revived and poor lands turned to profit, and in this respect the colleges were providing the scientific brains for the working farmer. If the farmer had a piece of badly-drained ■ land producing little he could apply, to the nearest agricultural college, and without any cost to him levels Would be taken and plans of a drainage scheme "would be prepared by the students. By proper direction and systematic research, the agricultural colleges paid their cost; many times over; so niuc : h >; so that cohnty councils which in the first place had come to regard such institutions as rather unnecessary expense were now granting bigger subsidies and higher salaries in order to get the most expert intelligence to assist them. The work of the Guelph College in tracing causes of potato blight in Ontario and finding blightproof varieties of, .potatoes was outlined, and also the development of the best and most pro-, fitable type of bacon pigs—two articles standing'high in Ontario's list of products. The college research produced the types and the farmers were shown how to breed them. Another outcome of the system of agricultural education was the Experimental Union of Farmers, an association of farmers who assisted the colleges and each other in carrying out experiments with farm products in order to produce the most suitable varieties. The development of Manchurian barley was one of the great discoveries made through this union. Another matter in which the colleges had done great work was in the production of a better variety of wheat. Not many years ago Canadian farmers thought they were doing well with a return of 20 bushels to the acre, but when it was discovered that in Sweden 60 and 70 bushels, and even 90 bushels to the acre were being produced they woke up, and commenced to make enquiries. It' was found that Swedish fanners bred from carefully-selected wheat, and so, with the help of the colleges, the Canadian farmers began to do the same. It was important that, as the farmer was a busy man, there should be some institutions thinking for him, said the speaker, and he went on to describe the bacteriological research which had made discoveries enabling the farmer to get enormous increases out of poor soils. The providing of district demonstrators and •experimenters was another work of the agricultural colleges. The colleges produced the men who were qualified in practice and in theory, and these demonstrators were engaged by farming communities to give them the benefit .of their expert knowledge. It was the duty of the colleges to experiment so as to increase the yield of all farm products, and though, in the dairying industry, there were still many poor cows, the efforts of the colleges had greatly helped to produce better types of cows, and consequently a better yield. The cheese product alone was worth £5,000,000 a year to Canada, but part of the lecturer's duty while in New Zealand was to discover why it was that this country was gradually capturing its market for cheese. The idea.that it was possible to make farmers, out of any young men that were sent to the agricultural colleges was one that had been found a fallacy in the Dominion —they often made good students, and then drifted to other professions more congenial to their natures. So now the idea, was to make good farmers of farmers, and not to dissipate the energies of the agricultural institutions. In conclusion, the lecturer said that in these years farm life should not be any more monotonous than life in the cities, and as a preparation for farming life the science of agriculture should be gradually tanght to boys while yet in the elementary schools, and the farmors of this country should make it their ambition to possess not a mortgage, but a real New Zealand farm. On the motion of Mr J. D. Hall, the j lecturer was accorded a hearty vote of | thanks on the conclusion of his address.