TRAINING YOUNG FARMERS.

Evening Star, Issue 22671, 10 June 1937, Page 10

TRAINING YOUNG FARMERS.

Probably the old school of farmer will argue that the best method of teaching the young idea the fundamentals and intricacies of an agricultural ox* pastoral calling is to make this selfsame young idea work hard, maintain an intelligent regard for the example of his elders, and reinforce his knowledge from personal experience! As a matter of fact, this is quite a sound system. Acting on its principles, many a man of the country has made a goodly fortune. But in the earlier days of our colonisation fortunes were easier to make than they are now. Land was cheaper, the soil fresher and richer. It is not too much, to say that some of the land has been sapped of its fertility by people who “ made hay while the sun shone.” That is why in recent years science in farming has been made very welcome by men who realise that it has something beneficial to offer. The modern young farmer in New Zealand has every chance of ensuring success for himself and his dependents if he lends an attentive ear to the voice of the scientist and is not too prone to scorn that which he cannot at first understand. There are two main classes of farm trainees—those who, if not actually on land of their own at the moment, hope eventually to acquire it by inheritance, and those who have to work their way to ownership by becoming farm employees for the time being. The former class is strongly represented in the young farmers’ clubs, which a few years ago were given great stimulus by Mr A. C. Cameron, of Dunedin, and a number of enterprising associates, and which, according' to the latest reports, have been progressing well in many parts of the Dominion. A few of the latter class (many farmers’ sons are to be found in their ranks, too) gain entrance to agricultural colleges such as Lincoln, and there acquire knowledge that can never go amiss in a Dominion where rural industry reigns almost supreme. 'Then there’ is Flock House, once described as “ a living war memorial, conceived in gratitude, expressed in generosity, administered in wisdom. It is not a memorial of mute stone. It is the transformation of orphan seamen’s sons into practical, prosperous New Zealand farmers.” The doors of Flock House have since been opened wider than they once were, and it is fitting that such a valuable institution should be the object of strong. Government interest. Impressed by the need for the inauguration of better farming facilities for boys not able to avail themselves of an academic as well as a practical training, the Minister of Agriculture (the Hon. W. Lee Martin), a practical farmer himself, recently stated that be was giving consideration to a scheme for apprenticing boys to approved farmers for three or four years. In principle the idea has its attractions, but current conditions are such that the average farmer may hesitate before he binds himself as the employer of an apprentice for a period of this duration. Labour legislation' has not, in the main, helped farmers to help others, and it is to be hoped that in the near future some convincing policy of making the learning of farming attractive to youths not in a position to attend a college or farm school will be formulated. Country life has much to commend it from the point of view of health and happiness, and, given his rightful share of climatic good luck, the prospective man on the land, his knowledge strengthened by modern scientific lore, has a fine opportunity of making a comfortable living.