RURAL DOMESTIC ECONOMY INSTRUCTION IN ENGLAND

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 81, Issue 4, 16 October 1950, Page 393

RURAL DOMESTIC ECONOMY INSTRUCTION IN ENGLAND

By

NORMA K. METSON,

Rural Sociologist, Department of Agriculture, Wellington.

SOMETIMES forgotten are the facts that farming is still a major industry in England and that women, as farm owners, as employees particularly in dairy and horticultural work, as farm housewives, and as instructors, make an important contribution to primary production. That was so even before the creation of the Women’s Land Army during the First World War, but it was, of course, accentuated then and during the Second World War. In the peak year, 1943, there was 1 woman farm worker to 2 men; by 1947 the proportion had dropped to 1 to 5, but 146,000 women were still employed in this way. Country women individually and through their organisations are responsible 'also for the production and preservation of large quantities of meat from small livestock and of fruit and vegetables.

INSTRUCTION in rural domestic economy grew out of the Agricultural Advisory Service, which employed a number of women instructors, chiefly for work in dairy farming, horticulture, and poultry keeping. As they visited farms these women were frequently asked by housewives if they could explain why bottled fruit had gone bad, what to do with surplus fruit and vegetables, or how to make the best use of the meat when a pig was killed. From those experiences it became clear that there was a place for a separate instructional service, staffed by women, and directed toward assisting rural women with their special problems.

Development of Service The nucleus of the new service was formed from the women already in agricultural advisory work who had become interested in the domestic aspects and from others with domesticscience training and an appreciation of country life and its problems. As food conservation and preservation have always been the subjects most emphasised, special short and intensive courses in fruit preservation, domestic buttermaking and cheesemaking, and bacon curing were usually attended by instructors to supplement previous training.

Ministry of Agriculture research station at Long Ashton has done much to develop safe and standardised methods , Their o f Fruits and Vegetables,” giving the s m fX recipes and techniques, and frequently revised to incorporate the latest findmgs, is very valuable to housewives and teachers. “Dig for Victory” and “Grow More” bulletins and leaflets, brief, simple, and each dealing with only one subject, were distributed extensively during the war. reorganisation of agricultural advisory work in 1946 was aimed at equalising funds and facilities available in different counties and coordinating the work with ■ other educational’ services. Traininci Courses ' raining bourses The two new training schools are at Worcester and Writtie. The Worcester property has a 30-acre farmlet and modern buildings, but the demonstration kitchen is in the original farmhouse, so students learn foods work

co n n d ditio r ns al ' I Thos r e who take Fi-yeS

course at Worcester are already qualified in dairy work, horticulture, or agriculture, so their training and practice are in teaching methods, housewifery, needlework, and household and applied science. The small farm with orchard, garden, cows, pigs, poultry, and rabbits is run as an instructional and not a commercial undertaking, and provides the means for a brief specialisation in horticulture, poultry keeping, or dairy farming. In addition, Worcester has a full -year course, and those who take this will qualify as teachers of domestic subjects or as Rural Domestic Economy Instructresses. The training school at Writtie is attached to the Essex Farm Institute, where a full-scale farm is run as a commercial undertaking. The course is again of 1 year, and the students have previously obtained a domesticscience degree or diploma, so attention is concentrated on the rural aspects of the work and on teaching practice. Domestic science, as ordinarily taught, does not include the techniques of home gardening, extensive food preservation, farmhouse dairying, bacon curing, and the care of small stock, and in a country as highly urbanised as England girls without a farm background, though adequately trained in the conventional “domestic science,” are unlikely to have the necessary knowledge of 'rural life and outlook. At Writtie, as the students are living on a farm, they gain some experience of the routine and management of an ordinary holding and the way in which domestic arrangements are dominated by farm practices. The present courses are regarded as experimental and are to be altered, if necessary, as experience and results suggest. Special short courses of 2 or 3 weeks are still available for those who require a refresher course or an intensive training.

Work of Instructresses Rural Domestic Economy Instructresses regard their lectures and demonstrations at group meetings as the most important part of their work. These groups vary widely, and their membership may range from the wives of farm workers in a remote village to

suburban housewives on the fringe of a large city whose only experience of the land and its products is cultivating an allotment or saving food scraps for feeding a communal pig. The atmosphere at such meetings is very similar to that at similar meetings in New Zealand, though the women are perhaps more ready to ask questions and join in discussions. These lectures are not given regularly, but are arranged at the request of groups whenever they are asked for. Organisations which " make requests most frequently are Women’s Institutes, Village Produce Associations, and women’s clubs associated with churches or community centres. If suitable premises are available, regular classes and demonstrations in foods work are held for Farm Institute students, women’s club members who wish to obtain cookery certificates, and any other women who may be interested. A monthly cookery demonstration is featured in some counties. Following is the 1949 list of subjects in one where the demonstration kitchen was at the farm a few miles out from the county town: January, “Variety in Scone Making”; February, “Variety in Fish Recipes”; March, “Thinking Ahead for Easter”; April, “Springtime Suppers, Light and Substantial"; May, “Homemade Cheeses”; June, “Holiday Catering”; July, “Canning of Soft Fruit”; August, “Four Special Preserves”; September, “Canning of Tomatoes”; October, “Harvesting Vegetables and Interesting Ways of Cooking Them”; November, “Cooking of Poultry”; December, “Preparations for Christmas”. Topical and seasonal subjects are kept in mind when these programmes are drawn up.

This kitchen, in a prefabricated

building, was equipped as a classroom for cookery and laundry work with tables, sinks, and stoves, and had, as an interesting feature at one end, an alcove lift, square fitted out as a model farm kitchen. It had metal cabinets, stainless-steel benches, a small built-in refrigerator, and features specially designed for convenience in a -country home such as open trays for vegetable storage, a special low tap beneath the sink for filling buckets, working surfaces in addition to the sink bench, and ample storage room, some of it open so that frequently needed equipment could be reached with the minimum of effort. (Another county, less fortunate, had merely a large room in an old house. Equipment was a sink, a table, cupboards, and, just being installed, a new gas stove. Yet demonstrations were held there, too.) Outside was a model cottage-garden plot, showing the fruits, vegetables, and herbs which' should be included and the best varieties for different uses and to suit local conditions. This was cared for by the instructresses who specialised in horticulture. This centre was staffed by a senior instructor and two who had completed their training recently. The syllabus of classes and demonstrations offered for groups away from the centre was: Bacon curing and the making of small goods; fruit and vegetable preservation (bottling and canning); making jams, jellies, fruit cheeses, fruit syrups, pickles, chutneys, and sauces; dairy work (utilisation of cows’ and goats’ milk and making different types of cheeses, butter, and ice cream); preparation and cooking of poultry and rabbits; country home cookery (several subjects, some as in the list of demonstrations given previously); and hints on preparation for produce shows.

Produce Shows

A produce show is rather like a “utility” version of the village flower show. Village Produce Associations are made up of small producers who, by _ combining and affiliating with county committees, can obtain discounts on seeds and fertilisers, assistance in disposing of surplus produce, and advice on problems of cultivation. Competition at the shows encourages members to aim at a high standard of

produce, and publicity is given to the wofk of the associations. The Rural

Domestic Economy Instructress may be called on to judge the home-produce sections and probably takes with' her an exhibit of fruit-bottling equipment, specimen jars showing different types of fruits, packs, and containers, or some other display illustrating the uses of home-grown or home-made foodstuffs. Similar exhibits are taken to agricultural shows.

For the 1949 Royal Agricultural Show in Shrewsbury the Village Produce Associations prepared a remarkable exhibita model cottage for the rural dweller, with a complete kitchen garden of vegetables, small fruits, and herbs, and livestock (pig, goat, hens, rabbits, and bees“an essential part of every village holding”). The cottage was furnished, but the interior was used mainly to display the produce of the livestock and garden—hams, bacon, cheese of many types, lard, cream, bottled fruits, jams, chutneys, pickles, home-made wines, honey, vegetables, and meat, providing ample evidence that no one with land available for cultivation need be hungry no matter how severe rationing might become. Even after the present period of shortages is over, the emphasis on food will probably remain in rural domestic economy work, for, because of tradition and the organisation of English farming, domestic and small-scale production will continue to be important. Also, English housewives, unlike their New Zealand counterparts, appear to maintain a continual interest in cookery demonstrations. However, the demand- ‘exists for the development of the work over a wider range of subjects and to a higher degree of specialisation. , At present some counties are much more active than others, and it appears that within the present framework the service can grow in accordance with local needs, rather than in a uniform pattern in every county.