DARYING SCHOOLS.

Clutha Leader, Volume II, Issue 75, 16 December 1875, Page 7

DARYING SCHOOLS.

As the subject of agriculture education is at present occupying attention in South Australia, it is interesting to notice, that in consequence ot dairy produce, especially butter, haying of years assumed considerable importance in Danish industry; several schools (receiving Government aid) have been established there for the practical instruction ot the country youth in the bast methods of making butter and cheese, and in other operations of the dairy,. We learn from a note to the French Societe d'Encouragement that there are six such schools at present in Denmark, and all prosperous. To take one in the Island of New Zealand as an example : — HjL. Svendeen, at the head of it, is assisted by three Professors and his wife. From Sept. 1 to Nov. 1 the establishment contains only girls ; from Nov#ls to Aug. 1 only lads, both classes entering "the school at fifteen to eighteen years of age. They pay about £2 a month for their boardand education. The instruction is both practical and theoretical. For two or three hours daily they receive lessons in the keeping of accounts, dairy management, and natural history ; they are instructed in the physiology of milch cows, the action of the mammary glands, the food of the cattle, ~<sTc. ; and in the afternoon some time is given to music and sing-, ing. The greater part of the morning, however, is devoted to practical work in the dairy, where the - students are distributed to their allotted tasks of milking, making butter, cleaning utensils, preparing rennet, &c. About 400 to 500 litres of milk are treated daily, all the operations are carefully explained, and the establishment is provided with the newest and best apparatus for dairy work. The students entering these schools (M. Svendeen has about forty yearly of either sex) are chiefly sons and daughters of farmers and proprietors. They come with a good previous education, and generally leave the school with a real enthusiasm for its perstiits. The success of the system is such that many applicants have to be refused admission every year. Norway and Sweden are following the example of Denmark.