FARMERS AND EDUCATION.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 16049, 6 February 1918, Page 2

FARMERS AND EDUCATION.

THE NEED FOR PROGRESS, (M'anawatu Daily Times.) It'is reported that at a meeting of the Farmers’ Union on Saturday, Air.. Wingate opposed a proposal to subsidise an agricultural scholarship on the ground that there was a “danger of over-etlucatioi}, .He added that the cost of education was becoming an enormous burden on the country, and he expressed 'the opinion that the people could got through the world on the “three R.’a.’' This point of view is simply an adaptation of the old theorem that “what was good enough for father was good enough tor me,” but it is a very dangerous microbe to have flying in the air at this stage pf a country’s development. There—are some very admirable “three B” farmers on the local landscape, no doubt; hut.it is a noticeable fact that when these men are brought face to face with the real problems of their avocation they are very glad indeed to have the assistance of the exports whom the State in its wisdom buds it imperative to provide. Farming in New Zealand, owing t’o our equable climate and singularly prolific soil, gives better results with less exertion than in any other country in the world even with our (generally speaking) rule of thumb higgledy-piggledy methods. But the day is not far distant when our agriculturalists and pastoralists will find that if they do not wish to get left in the race for the world’s markets -hey will have to go in for intensive culture of every sort and kind. To' do that our farmers will have to follow the cxanpple of those in other countries and specialise on scientific lines. In this respect they will need to follow the Gorman example. Out ofiher comparatively sterile soil Germany produces extraordinary crops, simply because her people, encouraged by the State, bring to the work of production the ripened experience of the scientific experimentalists. If the Germans had been content with the three R’s that country would long ago have been starved“into “subjection, instead of which she has furnished an object lesson of resourcefulness tb an astonished world. Farming can no longer be the avocation of “the fool of the family.” It is becoming more and more a contest of brains! Progressive countries the world over are recognising this. The result is that huge sums of money are spent annually in educating the farmers and their sons and daughters to take a more intelligent interest, in the problems of production. The country which lags behind will get left. What we should aim for in New Zealand is an educated democracy. The prizes of the future will go.to special, ised efficiency in all walks of life. The world’s war has speeded up humanity in hundreds of ways. The single-fur-row plough was good enough for /father, but the agrimotor is now the vogue and the farmer of the future will have to adapt himself to modernised methods or become an absolute back number. It is because our farmers are so ignorant and happy-go-lucky that they are still wrestling with the problems of robber-cows and dirty milk and the resultants of under-production and inferior results. This is typical. But in competition for the world’s supremacy the prizes will go to the men who are breast-high with the problero of achieving the beat results with a maximum of efficiency and a minimum of effort. Science will need to be applied to agriculture as to every phase of human endeavour, and alongside the scientist the “three B” men will look like a two spot. The land is the source of all wealth; the wealth of the world comes from the soil, and it is highly essential that the greatest encouragement should be given to the farmer to magnify his calling, in every possible way. This can only be done by education applied to agriculture, and the farmers themselves should be insistent on pushing claims'for the best education that the State, can afford.