THE ONTARIO MODEL

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1847, 31 July 1907, Page 12

THE ONTARIO MODEL

WHAT I SAW AT GUELPH. (By Pierce C. Freeth.) We think it is clear that our course of study az.fi apprenticeship is specially adapted to the wants of young men who intend to be farmers. It includes what they require, and nothing more. The lectures in the class-room, the work in the outside departments and the laboratories of the institution,- the experimental work, the debates in the and Literary Society, the surroundings, the atmosphere of the college life—all tend to awaken, stimulate, develop, and brighten the minds of our students; to teach them the use of their eyes and hands, give them a taste for reading, increase their respect for farmers and farming, and make them more intelligent workers and better citizens.

This, taken from the prospectus of the Ontario Agricultural College, epitomises the policy of the organisers of that institution, and explains why it is that visitors from both near and far regard it as very nearly a model of its kind. The mistake made by tbe American colleges is that they strive for too much, cover too much ground, are not in fact so much agricultural colleges as huge seminaries in which everything is attempted, very much accomplished, but in which agricultural science plays a minor and often a quite subsidiary part. At Guelph it is “agriculture from the word ‘go'.” Well-meaning attempts to alter the scope of the institution and make it a general university have been resolutely though politely suppressed by successive directors, and the O.A.C. has been preserved in its integrity as a place “specially adapted to the wants of young men who intend to be farmers/’ Proposing entrants to the college are not “choked off” with a big educational test to begin with. They must stand a satisfactory examination: (1) Heading, writing, dictation; (2) English grammar; (3) arithmetic; (4) the outlines of general geography, and the geography of Canada. This presupposes a fair primary school grounding to begin with. It pimply means that a lad with ordinary “gumption” is eligible for admission to the O.A.C. provided—and right here is the gist and kernel of the whole matter — that they produce a certificate of having spent at least one year at work on a farm, and have a practical knowledge of ordinary farming operations. NOT LOOKING FOR ORNAMENTS. The management is not looking for youngsters ''wild think they would like to learn farming,” but they are prepared to accept bqys who have shown their earnestness in a probationary degree. Again and again have been made to foist lads into the Guelph institution because they were the “sons of so-and-so, but those in charge have steadfastly refused both the honour and the o'nus where acceptance meant a departure from this one essential rule. I have indicated that the college is essentially one for the scientific training of farmers, but I do not wish it to be inferred that it does not provide facilities' for those whose ambitions are of a wider range. For the young man who desires to become a Bachelor of Agricultural Science a four years' course is provided. But there are no “frills” about it. For the first two years the graduate for this CQursft covers exactly the same ground

a Q the boy who is receiving a farm training and who leaves the institution at the end of that time with the status of A.O.G. (Associate of the Ontario Agricultural College). That is to say, he has to make himself thoroughly acquainted both theoretically and practically as a reader, observer, listener, and worker with the details of the following departments : The farm, the live stock, the dairy, the poultry, the horticultural, the mechanical, and the experimental departments. MUST TAKE THEIR TURN. It is a rule of the establishment that the “students are eent *in rotation to these departments, and are required to take their turn at a variety of jobs, clean and dirty, easy and difficult —whatever is to be done—without favour or distinction.'’’’ As the boys are .allowed certain wages for the work tliqy do, it “assists them in paying their board, prevents them from losing their taste for farm work, gives them practice in the use of carpenter’s tools, and affords them a good opportunity of becoming practically acquainted with a large variety of most valuable breeds of pigs, cattle, sheep and poultry, in addition to the knowledge they gain respecting the handling of milk and the making of butter.” Mornings are spent at practical work, afternoons in the class-rooms and laboratories, and evenings in the library and gymnasium. in order to achieve either Associate honours or Bachelor degree the boys have to secure high averages of marks in the examinations through which they are put. Candidates who desire to secure the Bachelor degree are allowed optional subjects in which to specialise, such as an “agricultural option*” a “dairy option,” a “biology option,” a “horticultural option,” a “bacteriology option,” but the whole of the subjects upon which they are called to qualify have strict reference to agricultural pursuits. STATUS JEALOUSLY GUARDED. It is significant of the jealousy with which the status or the college as an agricultural institution is guarded that candidates desiring to take the agriculture option for their Bachelor degree “must present satisfactory evidence of having spent at least two years at practical work with a good farmer.; those entering for the dairy option must have spent one season at practical work in a cheese factory and one in a creamery; and those entering for the horticultural option must have spent at least one year with a good farmer, fruit-grower,'mar-ket-gardener, or florist. Special courses provided at the college for men or boys or women who are for any reason unable to take part in the college work, are a factory dairyman’s course of twelve weeks, a poultry course of four weeks, and a stock anel seed-judging course of two weeks. Large numbers of people come off the farms to avail themselves of these courses; to get into touch with the professors of the different departments; and to make personal investigation of the huge experimental undertake i.gs which are the most wonderful and exacting of the college operations. THE COLLEGE DESCRIBED. The college, which is most delightfully situated on an eminence overlooking the Guelph Valley, is splendidly equipped in every department. its buildings, scattered around a picturesque “campus,” present an imposing picture of more than ordinary architectural beauty. Its grounds have an extent of 550 acres, including a forestry reserve of sixty acres, “primarily intended to..aid the farmer in the care and establishment of wood lands on the farm, and to give the student an intelligent conception of forestry problems from a national standpoint,”* A nursery has been established to produce stock for farmers, and the student is thus enabled to obtain practical knowledge in forest- nursery work. Orchards, gardens, and model plantations meet the eye everywhere, and one marvels at the industry and organisation ivhich must be exerted to keep the place so “spick and span” as. to be a continual object-lesson to the whole countryside. So comprehensive are the objects of the college and so desirous of educational extension its managers, that it is announced in the prospectus that “any person—man, woman, boy or girl—may come to Guelph at any time for practical work with more or less instruction, from the man in charge in one or more departments, say in poultry, horticulture, -or dairying, on payment of a small tuition fee. . . Persons coming under this head board out and remain as long as they Avish.” The Massey Hall and Library at the institution is an abiding expression of the munificent generosity of the late Mr Ilart-Massey (of the firm of Massey Harris and C 0.).” It is indeed a magnificent structure. The Macdonald Hall in Avliich the women Home Science Avorkere are located, is a tribute to the grand public spirit of another Canadian patriot. THE BEST I HAVE SEEN.

In conclusion, I shall say that the Guelph College (which has taken 33 years in the making) is far and away tlie best I have ever seen so far. The only other nearly .approaching it is the Hawkesbury Agricultural College, New South Wales, Australia. \\ ith age, and a nearer approximation to the democratic precedent set by Guelph in the matter of entrance qualification, there is no reason why Canada on the one hand and Australia on the other hand should not furnish object lessons for the rest of the world.