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By James Macdonald,
"Scotsman" Reporter, Aberdeen.
[Premium—The Minor Gold Medal]
Introduction.—In America
the practice of agriculture, as presently carried on, is in the main as
primitive and simple as it was in Scotland two hundred years ago. The
means by which that simple work is executed are certainly far superior to
those at the command of our forefathers eight generations back. America is
ahead of all other countries in the world in labour-saving machinery; but
the practical every-day manipulation on an average American farm is as
elementary and simple as in Scotland at the period referred to. American
farmers plough, and sow, and reap, and heed neither the principles of
rotation nor the science of manuring. Their management of live stock, too,
is as simple as ever it has been in Scotland. And yet this new country
throws Scotland far into the shade by the efforts it has been making to
disseminate throughout its bounds scientific agricultural education. It
recognises that though so long as the soil retains its virgin richness,
farmers may thrive even by the primitive, simple system of farming that
now prevails, the day is not far distant when American agriculture, like
agriculture in Britain and in other-long settled countries, will demand
the aid of science; and so, looking beyond the actual wants of the time,
and discarding the maxim that sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof,
Americans (the inhabitants both of the United States and Canada) are
making a bold, liberal, and intelligent effort to train up a race of
farmers that may be able to grapple with the stubbornness of the soil when
it becomes weary of its present well-doing and refuses to yield profitably
without "priming." Undoubtedly such stubbornness will come some day. In an
old fully developed country, where every small grocery business seems as
safe to its heirs apparent as an entailed estate, few regard agriculture
as the essential basis of true national prosperity; but in America, whose
manufactures and commerce are still in process of formation, every one
feels that without a sure foundation in agriculture, these commercial
fabrics would be frailty itself. How true are those eloquent words of
Daniel Webster, the great American orator, "Agriculture feeds us; to a
great extent it clothes us; without it we could have no manufactures, we
could have no commerce. These all stand together, but stand like pillars
in a cluster, and the highest is agriculture."
Agricultural Colleges in
the United States.—By an Act of Congress, passed in 1862, a large free
grant of land (extending to 30,000 acres for each senator and
representative in Congress according to the census of 1860) was given to
each state for the "endowment, support, and maintenance of at least one
college, where the leading objects shall be, without including other
scientific and classical studies, and including military tactics, to teach
such branches of farming as are related to agriculture and the mechanical
arts." Two-thirds of the states have disposed of the whole of these
extensive land grants or land scrips; but still more than a million and a
half of acres belonging to the other third remain unsold. Already,
however, all of the thirty-eight states in the Union, with the exception
of Nevada, have established educational institutions in accordance with
the Act of 1862; while Georgia, besides the regular state college, has a
separate college of agriculture in the northern section of the state,
making in all in the United States thirty-eight institutions in which
scientific agriculture is taught as a prominent branch of their course of
study. During a recent lengthy tour throughout the continent of North
America, the writer made a point of inquiring into the working of these
industrial colleges, and was glad to find that they are diffusing a
healthy influence among the agricultural community of the country. Several
of the colleges have been established so recently that as yet they have
been able to effect but very little real substantial work, or to settle
down to any definite line of policy; but, on the other hand, the older and
better conducted institutions (of course they have not all been managed
equally well) have already done most valuable service to the country by
sending forth fleece after fleece of well-taught graduates. Each college
has from six to ten professors (besides assistants), including a professor
of prac-tical agriculture, and attached to each is an experimental or
model farm, on which the students of agriculture are taught the elements
of practical agriculture, and have to labour for so many hours per day,
and on which are conducted experiments on the principles of manuring and
rotation, and on the various kinds of farm crops. The course of study at
these institutions, especially as it relates to agriculture, is pretty
much alike; and an outline of the modus operandi at the Michigan College,
the oldest and one of the best in the country, may suffice to indicate
what the agricultural, or more properly speaking, the industrial colleges
of the United States really are, or aim at becoming.
Michigan Agricultural
College was opened in May 1857, and is situated on the Red Cedar River, in
the suburbs of Lansing, the state capital of Michigan. The college grounds
in all extend to 676 acres, of which 300 are under regular cultivation.
For four years the institution was under the management of the State.
Board of Education, but since 1861 it has been controlled by the State
Board of Agriculture formed for the management of the college. The Act of
1862 gave to this college 235,673 acres of land, of which a little over
72,000 acres have been sold, yielding $231,670 (£56,334), the interest of
which at seven per cent. is applied to the support of the college.
The whole college course
extends over four years; and candidates for admission must not be less
than fifteen years of age, and must be able to pass a thorough examination
in arithmetic, geography, grammar, reading, spelling, and writing. A
candidate may pass into any of the more advanced classes should he be able
to pass an examination in all the previous studies of the course.
Students, however, who desire to study those subjects which specially
relate to agriculture, such as Chemistry, Botany, Animal Physiology. &c,
are received for a shorter period than the full course. The course of
instruction is as follows:—
First Year.—First
Term.—Algebra, History, and Composition. Second Term.—Algebra completed,
Botany, and Agriculture. Third Term.—Geometry, Botany, and French.
Second Year.—First
Term.—Geometry, Elementary Chemistry, and French. Second
Term.—Trigonometry, Surveying, Organic Chemistry, French. Third
Term.—Mechanics and Analytical Chemistry.
Third Year.—First
Term.—Mechanics, Drawing, Agricultural Chemistry, Horticulture. Second
Term.—Entomology, Physics, Rhetoric. Third Term.—Astronomy, Meteorology,
English Literature.
Fourth Year.—First
Term.—Physiology, Agriculture, Mental Philosophy. Second Term.—Zoology,
Geology, Botany, U. S. Constitution, Moral Philosophy. Third Term.—Civil
Engineering, Political Economy, Landscape Gardening, Logic.
The subjects discussed in
the lectures on Practical Agriculture which are delivered to students of
the first year are the general principles of drainage; laying out and
construction of farm drains; and sewerage of buildings; principles of
stock-breeding; breeds of domestic animals,—their characteristics and
adaptation to particular purposes. And then the fourth year's students
receive lectures on the History of Agriculture; on the principles of farm
economy; mixed husbandry; rotation of crops; relation of live stock to
other interests of the farm; feeding of animals; management and
application of manures; planning and construction of farm buildings; farm
implements; cultivation of farm crops; special systems of husbandry. The
lectures on Agricultural Chemistry refer to the formation and composition
of soils ; the relations of air and moisture to vegetable growth;
connection of heat, light, and electricity with growth of plants; nature
and source of food of plants; chemical changes attending vegetable growth;
chemistry of the various processes of the farm, as ploughing, fallowing,
draining, &c.; preparation, preserving, and compositing of manure;
artificial manure; methods of improving soils by chemical means, by
mineral manures, by vegetable manures, by animal manures, by indirect
methods; rotation of crops; chemical composition of the various crops, and
the chemistry of the dairy.
The lectures on Botany make
pointed reference to the relation of that science to agriculture, and
include the study of all agriculture grasses and plants. In the course on
Physiology very special attention is bestowed on the anatomy and
physiology of the domesticated animals, and actual dissections of animals
are made in presence of the students.
An examination takes place
at the end of each study; and unless the student makes seven marks out of
a possible of ten at the concluding examination, and an average of five at
the stated examinations during the term, he is not recorded as having
passed. Each student, unless physically disabled, is required to work
three hours per working-day, excepting Saturday, on the farm or on the
garden; and remuneration is allowed according to ability, the maximum rate
being 10 cents. (fivepence) per hour. The arable part of the farm—300
acres in extent—is worked under a regular six-course rotation of Indian
corn, turnips, oats, wheat, and clover; while a series of experiments are
being constantly carried on with the view of "educing principles which lie
at the foundation of agriculture." All these operations the students have
to witness and aid in, under the supervision of the Professor of Practical
Agriculture. Specimens of the different breeds of cattle—Shorthorn,
Hereford, Devon, Ayrshire, Galloway, and Jersey; of Southdowns, Cotswold,
Lincoln, Spanish Merino, and black-faced sheep; and of Essex, Suffolk,
Berkshire and Poland China swine, are kept on the farm with the view of
providing to students an opportunity of becoming acquainted with the
characteristics of all these various breeds, and with the view of
illustrating what is taught in the class-room. The buildings include a
very fine chemical laboratory, containing experimenting tables for forty
students; as also an excellent library and museum, the former containing
about 4000 volumes, and the latter about 5000 models of mechanical
inventions relating chiefly to agricultural manufactures and engineering.
The staff at present
consists of a Professor of Mental Philosophy, who is also President or
Rector, a Professor of Chemistry, a Professor of English Literature, a
Professor of Zoology and Entomology, a Professor of Botany and
Horticulture, a Professor of Practical Agriculture, and a Professor of
Mathematics and Civil Engineering, and seven assistants. The salaries of
these Professors amount to from 1000 to 2000 dollars, or from £200 to £400
per annum, the President having 3000 dollars or £600. The number of
students in attendance is about 150, and since the college received the
land grant in 1862, 123 have graduated, The degree of Bachelor of Science
is conferred upon all students who go through a full course and sustain
all the examinations; while the degree of Master of Science is bestowed
upon those graduates of three years' standing, who give evidence of having
during that period made a proper proficiency in scientific studies.
Education is free to all students, and board and washing are furnished at
cost. A fee of 5 dollars (£1) is charged for matriculation, and a similar
fee for graduation; while students in analytical chemistry have to pay 2
dollars (8s.) the second term, and 10 dollars (£2) the third term for
their outfit in the laboratory. Each student is charged 1 dollar and 25
cents (5s.) a term for room-rent, and has to provide himself with all
necessary furniture except bedsteads and stoves, which are afforded by the
college. The college accounts for 1875 show the revenue for that year to
have been 53,375 dollars or £10,675; and the expenditure 53,115 dollars or
£10,623.
Ontario Agricultural
College.—Though slower in moving in the matter than the United States,
Canada has at length bestowed practical attention on the disemminating of
scientific agricultural education. Four years ago the Government purchased
a farm extending to 550 acres, and situated about a mile to the south of
the town of Guelph, in the Ontario province, and converted it into a
"School of Agriculture and Experimental Farm," with the view of giving a
thorough mastery of the practice and theory of husbandry to young men of
the province engaged in agricultural or horticultural pursuits, or
intending to engage in such; and conducting experiments tending to the
solution of questions of material interest to the agriculturists of the
province, the results of such experiments to be published from time to
time. The college was opened in May 1874, and already a good beginning has
been made, though as yet of course little real substantial work has been
accomplished. Buildings have been erected to accommodate about a hundred
students, and the farm, 400 acres of which are clear, has been greatly
improved; while the facilities for imparting scientific and practical
education have been considerably increased and are now pretty complete.
The farm has been divided into five departments, viz.—1, Field department;
2, live stock department; 3, horticultural department; 4, mechanic
department; and 5, poultry, bird, and bee department, with a foreman or
instructor for each of the first four. The farm has been provided with an
extensive stock of implements, including all the latest and most improved
inventions; while the live stock department consists of from three to ten
of each of five different breeds of cattle, viz., Shorthorn, Hereford,
Devon, Polled, and Ayrshire; of a few of each of four different breeds of
sheep, viz., Leicester, Cotswold, Dereham, Longwools, and South Downs ;
and a few Berkshire and Windsor swine; and of sixteen or eighteen farm
horses, rather better than the general run of farm horses in the Dominion.
The majority of the cattle and sheep and a few swine were imported from
England and Scotland in the summer of 1876 by Mr William Brown, Professor
of Agriculture at the College. They were selected from the following herds
and flocks and bought at high prices, viz., the Shorthorn from Her
Majesty's herd at Windsor, and from Mr Campbell's herd at Kinnellar,
Aberdeenshire; the Herefords and Devons also from Windsor; the Polled
cattle from the herd of the Earl of Fife, at Duff House, Banff; of Mr
Farquharson, at Haughton, Alford, Aberdeenshire; and of Mr Hannay, at
Corskie, near Banff; and the Ayrshires from the herd of the Duke of
Buccleuch in Dumfriesshire ; the Border Leicester sheep from Mr Ferguson,
Kinnochtry, Coupar-Angus; the Oxford Devons from Mr H. Brassey, of Oxon;
the Longwools from Mr Hugh Aylmer, West Dereham Abbey, Norfolkshire; and
the Prince Albert Windsor swine from Her Majesty's stock. Generally
speaking, these animals have done well at their new home, and certainly it
must be admitted that they form a most promising nucleus of a breeding
stock. The main object in having specimens of all these different herds at
the college is to give students a practical acquaintance with all the
various characteristics of each—their excellencies, defects, and
peculiarities; and though it may have been costly it assuredly was a wise
move to come to the fountainhead and secure the best animals to be had for
the purpose required. It can hardly be said that the same care and
enterprise have characterised the selections of stock for all the United
States colleges; and no greater mistake could be made than to illustrate
lectures on the characteristics of a certain breed by an untrue or
unfavourable specimen of that breed. A portion of the land has been set
aside as an experimental farm; and already a series of experiments on a
great many varieties of grain, roots, and grasses, under different
treatment regarding cultivation and manuring have been begun, and have
thus far gone on satisfactorily. The whole work of these experiments has
to be executed by the students, under the superintendence of the
professors of agriculture and chemistry, one of the students being
selected each year as responsible overseer of the experiments. Important
experiments are also conducted in the feeding of live stock.
The curriculum or course
extends over two years; and students must be fifteen years of age before
they are admitted, and able to pass an examination in ordinary elementary
education, or what is known as the three R's in this country, and also
produce a certificate of intention to follow agriculture or horticulture
as an occupation. Students who cannot pass the entrance examination are
admitted, if desired, into a preparatory class in which they are taught
for a year on ordinary elementary subjects, including farm and garden
work, if they have hitherto had no knowledge of these occupations.
The instruction given is
divided into two parts—1, a course of study, and 2, a course of
apprenticeship; the former having reference to the theoretical and the
latter to practical instruction. A special winter course, consisting
almost entirely of lecture-room work, and covering in two winters the
whole course of theoretical instruction, is provided for farmer's sons and
others employed in farming who have to return to their occupations in
spring. The course of study is as follows:—
The course of
apprenticeship consists of practical instruction in all the four principal
departments of the farm—the field, the live stock, the horticultural, and
mechanical departments—the instructor of each department or his assistants
accompanying the students, who are distributed alternately to each branch,
so that in the course of the two years they obtain a thorough insight into
all matters connected with these four departments.
There are two sessions in
each year—a winter session, beginning at the first of October, and a
summer session, commencing about the middle of April—each session being
followed by an examination and a short vacation. Diplomas are given to all
students who complete the required course satisfactorily, and negotiations
have been opened with the view of having these diplomas or degrees issued
by the University of Toronto. Here, as at the United States colleges,
tuition is free, while students receive board and washing at cost. It is
preferred, but not required, that students should reside at the college.
Students who take the regular course have to work an annual average of
five hours per week day in either of the four departments of the farm, and
for this they receive remuneration to the extent of 10 cents, or 5d. per
hour. This labour system has many great advantages, and one of the most
important is that it reduces the cost of education at the college to a
very small amount. It is calculated that at the most the cost of the whole
two years should not be more than 100 dollars, or £20. An industrious
student, with a fair knowledge of practical farm work, might almost pay
his way through.
The staff at present
consists of a President or Rector, who is also Secretary and Bursar; a
Professor of Agriculture, a Professor of Chemistry, a Professor of
Veterinary Science, an instructor in the farm department, an instructor in
the horticultural department, and an instructor in the mechanical
department. Up till last autumn (1877), when a large addition was
completed so as to bring the capacity up to 100 students, the college
buildings could accommodate about 40 students. Every room was then filled,
and there is little fear that the greatly increased accommodation now
provided will be found unnecessarily large. In fact, the buildings are
already taxed to their utmost, no fewer than 100 students being enrolled
for the winter session of the present year (1877), which begins on the 1st
of November—a month later than usual, owing to the new buildings not
having been finished sooner. The financial side of the subject is not the
least important. From the experience already obtained, it is quite evident
that the farm will be self-supporting, and, as previously stated, students
pay for their board and washing, so that, once everything has been got
into proper working order, almost the only item to be placed on the
maintenance account will be the salaries of the staff and wages of
assistants, which at present amount to 8760 dollars, or £1752 per annum.
Mr Johnston, the able and energetic President of the College, assured the
writer that once the college and farm were fairly established, he believed
he could carry on the institution with an appropriation of about 10,000
dollars, or £2000 per annum. The cost of maintenance (including
experiments, salaries, and wages) in 1876 amounted to about 17,000
dollars, or £3400; and it is estimated that the appropriation expenditure
for this year (1877) will amount to about 500 dollars, or £100 more.
In mid-summer (1877) the
writer had an opportunity of seeing into the working of this college and
its farm very fully, and it was indeed wonderful and gratifying to find
everything moving on so systematically and efficiently in an institution
which had only recently entered the third year of its existence. The staff
seem most efficient, and work harmoniously together towards the same good
end—the complete success of their institution. The students were employed
mainly at outside work—some cutting and gathering pease, some carting,
some tending to live stock, some gardening, some engaged among the
experimental plots, and some handling the plane, saw, and chisel in the
mechanical department. The tone throughout seemed healthy and promising.
Indeed, one could not fail to see in this youthful institution the
foundation and beginning of a seat of agricultural learning that will be a
boon, a blessing, and an honour to the great country that gave it
existence. Short as the history of the college is, it is not altogether
without the stamp of discontent. A few impatient citizens of the Dominion
have been grumbling because the college has as yet "done no good to the
country." It has a great work to accomplish, which, like all great works,
can be accomplished only by slow degrees.
Scientific Agricultural
Education in Scotland.—Thirty-eight Agricultural Colleges in the United
States! How many in Scotland? Surely it must seem to every one a little
strange that that region of the globe where agriculture has become most
truly a branch of science should, of almost all civilised nations, be the
most devoid of means for imparting scientific agricultural education. No
country in the world stands more in need of a knowledge of science as it
relates to husbandry than Scotland, and yet few countries have less of it,
or so little means of obtaining it. "With a large and constantly
increasing population, and but very limited scope for extending either our
arable or exclusively meat-producing areas, we must do either of two
things—send our money into foreign countries for meal and meat, or bring
more out of the acres we have got. The latter course ought to be ours.
Increased acreage production has become an urgent necessity if land in
Scotland is to maintain its value to its owners, and Scottish farming
remain a remunerative profession. Farming in Scotland has changed greatly
within the past twenty years. The farmers of to-day have to contend with
rents greatly advanced and still increasing, with labour bills doubled and
probably not yet at their maximum, and with manure accounts tripled and
still growing; while, on the other hand, their receipts for grain have
remained almost steadfast, and those for beef and mutton, which for a time
advanced satisfactorily, seem at last to have reached their highest point.
To be sure, a little more may yet be done in many localities, by the
better exercise of the knowledge and appliances now at the command of the
farmer, but there are mysteries in the tillage of the soil and the
management of live stock that science alone can unlock for him. There are
treasures in the soil and in the animal which are not made visible to him
by his elementary "binocular," and which can be revealed to his sight only
by chemistry and physiology—treasures which, if he is to maintain an
advancing rent, increasing labour and manure bills, and his position in
society, must yield to him their richness and substance.
The encouragement given to
the study of scientific agriculture by the Highland Agricultural Society
has already done much good, and will still do more; and so also will the
laudable efforts of the North of Scotland School of Chemistry and
Agriculture, recently established at Aberdeen. Both these movements are
good as far as they go, and their promoters deserve all honour and praise
for the service they have rendered to agriculture. But neither of the two
meets exactly what is wanted by the general body of Scottish farmers. The
classes conducted in Edinburgh, taking living and everything into account,
are too costly for a very large number of farmers' sons, and, of course,
the valuable bursaries offered by the Highland and Agricultural Society
can aid but a very few. The institution in Aberdeen, again, has still
greater defects, and though it is merely of a tentative character,—merely
a small beginning,—a foundation on which much is intended to be built, it
would be well not to allow its inefficiency to lie unnoticed, lest its
energetic promoters should rest too long contented with what they have
already achieved. The classes in Aberdeen are carried on in connection
with the Science and Art Department, and continue weekly from the 1st of
November to the end of March. The course consists of lectures on
agricultural chemistry, botany, and practical agriculture, one very good
feature being a teachers' class, which was formed as an opportunity for
schoolmasters to qualify themselves to teach scientific agriculture in
their schools, and obtain the grant given by the Science and Art
Department for these special subjects. These classes form an important
step in the right direction, but their promoters must not leave them as
they are, for they are faulty and insufficient for the end in view in
several points. One of the chief defects of the present system is that it
practically confines the classes to pupils residing either in the city of
Aberdeen, or within a radius of fifteen or twenty miles, for the latter
distance is certainly as great as a student could be expected to travel
once a week to attend a lecture, lasting for two hours, or perhaps only
one hour. A school of agriculture confined to so limited a district is too
distinct an error to demand any argument.
Far better than the present
system of weekly lectures would be the establishment of a "winter
session," beginning about the 1st of January and extending over say six
weeks or two months, during which lectures should be delivered every
lawful day, excepting Saturday, on agricultural chemistry, physiology and
veterinary surgery, and practical agriculture, and occasionally, if
possible, on geology and botany. An examination should be field once every
week, on Saturday, on the three principal branches of study, and at the
end of the session, on all the subjects taught, and a list of the order of
merit published, each student receiving a certificate according to the
grade in which he passed.
The compressing of the
course of lectures into a short session of six weeks or two months would
virtually throw it open to the whole country; and then its inexpensiveness
(the whole session might be gone through for something like eight guineas)
and the quiet, it might almost be said idle, season of the year at which
it would be held, would put it within the reach of all classes of
prospective farmers. Another very important advantage of the compressing
of the weekly lectures into a regular session would be the more elevated
tone which it would give to the instruction provided. The writer has
attended both university and science and art classes, that is, every-day
lectures and weekly lectures, and was very strongly impressed with the
difficulty in keeping up the interest in the subjects taught at the latter
as compared with those at the former.
But useful as are the
existing classes, and as would be the session suggested, they cannot give
to Scotland all that it requires in the way of agricultural education.
Nothing less than a fully equipped college with experimental farm, such as
have been established in Canada, can ever suffice to meet the demands of
the country; and surely it is not too much to hope that some day we will
follow the good example shown us by our enterprising "cousins" across the
Atlantic. No' one, it may be presumed, will deny that Scotland has more
need for scientific agricultural education than either the United States
or Canada; and if these countries can afford to establish colleges for
their young farmers, surely we ought to be able to do so too. It has been
said that the agricultural mind in Scotland is not yet greedy enough in
its cravings for scientific agricultural education to demand the
establishment of a Scotch agricultural college; and if that is so, it
certainly is full time that an effort should be made to educate it up to
that point. The subject certainly does require ventilation and discussion,
and the writer's object is to spread and intensify both. Let our farmers
contemplate for one moment what a grand thing it would be for Scotland to
have such an agricultural educational institution as that which Canada
boasts of; let them think what a benefit it would be for the coming
generations of farmers to have within their reach such a thorough
professional training as that which has been offered to young
agriculturalists in Canada; let them contemplate how much light and shade,
and how much of that which is entertaining and attractive to the
intelligent mind would be imparted to agriculture by a college training;
let them remember that this typical college is not an institution that
imparts to young men merely artificial ideas of things, as it is argued
some agricultural colleges do, but an institution that combines the
practical with the theoretical, an institution where the student listens
to lectures the one hour and handles the plough or spade the next, where
he can witness experiments, and where, in all departments, studies, and
actions, economy rales supreme; let them consider and think over all these
and many other points that connect themselves with the subject, and we
shall very soon hear from our farmers a unanimous demand for a "Scotch
Agricultural College and Experimental Farm." The inauguration of that
institution, if we ever reach that stage of intellectual advancement, will
be a brilliant event in the annals of Scottish farming. |
