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the land best fitted for green crops, the different kinds of grain, the dairy, and the system of rotation of crops. Many of these answers required considerable exercise of reflection; and as previous concert between themselves and the gentlemen who examined them was out of the question, their acquirements seemed to take the meeting by surprise; at the same time they afforded it the utmost satisfaction, as evincing how much could be done by a proper system of training.'

I confess the establishment at Larne afforded me, in this respect, very high gratification. The agricultural studies are not made compulsory, but voluntary; and one hour per day is devoted to agricultural labor. The Board of Education in Ireland have now under their control three thousand teachers; and it is proposed, wherever it may be deemed useful, to make agriculture a standard branch of common school education. They already have seven agricultural training establishments; and it is in contemplation to have twenty-five, with which it is proposed shall be connected small model farms, so that every where, besides furnishing this most valuable instruction to the pupils of the schools, the farmers in the vicinity may be excited and instructed to improve their cultivation. Thus diffusive is the nature of all beneficence. A good deed, like a stone thrown into the water, is sure to agitate the whole mass. Its strongest effects will be felt where the blow is given; but the concentric circles are seen extending themselves on every side, and reach much farther than the eye can follow them. In the moral as well as physical world, the condition of mutual attraction and dependence is universal and indissoluble. We have reason to hope that no good seed is ever sown in vain, but will sooner or later germinate and yield its proper fruits.

These establishments do certainly the highest honor and credit to the intelligence and philanthropy of Ireland, and their beneficent effects must presently be seen in alleviating the indescribable amount of wretchedness under which this beautiful country and fine-spirited people have been so long crushed to the earth -a wretchedness which, to be understood, must be seen."

President Hitchcock, of Amherst in his Report to the Legislature of Massachusetts, in 1851, on Agricultural Schools, thus notices his visit to the National Agricultural School at Larne.

The farm consists of only seven acres. Yet in 1848, the head master, Mr. M'Donnell, maintained on this small plot of ground, in the very best condition, three milch cows, two calves, four pigs, and one donkey, and raised besides 321 cwt. of wheat, 28 cwt. of oats, and 24 cwt. of potatoes. The crops growing this year, appeared unusually fine.

The in-door pupils pay $54 a year, including instruction and board, or if upon scholarships, only $22. The out-door pupils pay for instruction, $17 annually. The boarders work on the farm from 6 to 8, and from 10 to 12 A. M., and from 4 to 6 P. M. From 12 to 3 o'clock daily they study in the school-room, in agriculture as a science as well as in literature; also, from 6 to 8 P. M., in an evening class under the superintendence of a teacher. They are not admitted under fifteen years of age, nor without a certificate of moral character. The course is of two or three years' duration, according to the age and acquirements of the pupils. The agricultural instruction "embraces the principles of chemistry; the formation, nature, and difference of soils; the rotations of cropping best suited to such varieties; draining, trenching, and subsoiling, and the principles upon which their efficacy depends; house feeding of cattle, and its advantages; the constitution and properties of the different manures; the proper divisions of farms, &c., &c." To this is added a well grounded course of English education in reading, writing, arithmetic, English grammar, geography, book-keeping, mensuration, land surveying, gauging, geometry, trigonometry, algebra, and navigation.

Such arrangements are made, that each class receives religious instruction from clergymen selected by the parents or guardians. If the teacher of the school wishes to communicate religious instruction, he gives public notice of the time and place, and the pupils can attend or not, according to the wishes of their parents, or their own.

DUNMANWAY MODEL AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL.

The Dunmanway Model Farm is situated in the county of Cork, and consists of twelve acres. The following extracts, taken from the Third Annual Report of Frederic W. Connor, head master of the school, shows its condition in 1852.

The confidence placed by the public in the institution has not diminished. It has had a great increase of visitors. In the attendance of the pupils, an increase of 70 per cent. has taken place from among the various classes of society; a greater number are still anxious to be admitted, but accommodation can not be found for their instruction.

Agricultural Instruction, both of a scientific and practical nature, has been imparted regularly to the pupils during the past year, on the days appointed for giving such. There are very few subjects bearing upon agricultural economy, that have not been brought before their notice. Agricultural instruction is given in the morning, from a quarter past six to half-past eight o'clock; in the evening from nine to half-past nine; and every second week-day from half-past two till a quarter past three, P. M., or an average three hours daily. Information is communicated by lectures, and the study of approved works on agriculture and manuscripts prepared by myself accompanied in every case by searching examinations. The mode of instruction adopted has proved most satisfactory. The pupils take notes during the reading of the lecture; these they immediately transcribe while the subject is yet fresh in the memory. Then subsequently exchange their manuscripts, mutually correcting each other's errors, (including those in spelling and composition,) after which I examine and classify their papers. Thus literary and agricultural instruction go hand in hand, and the agreeableness of the method forms no ordinary incentive to improvement. After my own examination of the class, which alternates with every lecture, I permit each pupil in his turn to examine the class also; at other times to read a lecture of his own composition. Again, I submit to the pupils a series of questions to be answered by them on paper-cause them monthly to write out essays on a given subject-and weekly discuss agricultural questions. As a proof of the interest evinced by them in the prosecution of their studies, I may be permitted to state, that many of them rose at three o'clock in the morning, during the summer, for the purpose of studying the subject of their lesson for that day.

The Agricultural Boarders' Class consists of four pupils, one of whom, being a free pupil, is supported gratuitously by the board. The want of accommodation prevents a greater number being admitted. The class continues to give every satisfaction. Since it was established five young men have been advanced from it to the Glasnevin Model Farm. The selection of members for this class is generally confined to the neighboring farmers' sons—the preference being given to those previously educated at a normal school.

The Pupil-Teachers' Class continues to work well.

The Industrial Class, the members of which are selected from the agricultural class, affords great satisfaction by the order and good conduct of its members, and the efficient manner in which they perform their duties.

The Agricultural Class consists on an average of 37 pupils, the highest number we can conveniently find room for. The pupils composing this class are selected from the advanced classes of the school, who in conjunction with the agricultural boarders and pupil-teachers, receive agricultural instruction for the space of three-quarters of an hour every second week-day, and have also the privilege of attending the morning classes, where extra instruction is afforded. They are instructed in the leading principles of agricultural chemistry, geology, vegetable physiology, &c., and especially in those practical subjects bearing more directly upon their future employment. Of the 37 pupils composing the agricultural class, 30 are the sons of farmers, holding from 20 to 200 acres of land respectively.

The working pupils are required each to. keep a journal of the various operations going on on the farm,—the different periods at which crops are sown and harvested, how managed, &c,-and many other remarks that will form a source of reliable information in after-life. Meteorological observations are also noted

down. They also take part in the preparation of the ground for the crops; assist in the sowing, reaping, &c., of all crops; in short, no operation is performed in which their assistance and attention is not so employed as to initiate them into a knowledge of those business habits required to fit them for the duties of afterlife. Permission is granted the pupils to assist their parents in sowing and managing their green crops; and, in inquiring of their parents as to the assistance they receive from the instruction of their children educated at this school, I was happy to find they are in the constant habit of exposing the errors of their fathers' and neighbors' husbandry, and contrasting the system pursued by them with that carried out on the Model Farm.

Since the institution of the agricultural class, 12 young men have been appointed out of it as Teachers of National Schools, and eight are giving assistance on their fathers' farms.

These young men may be looked upon as so many practical instructors, who, feeling a zealous interest in the objects of their professions, will, in their intercourse with the neighboring farmers, be the means of materially improving the intelligence and industry of the district.

WORKHOUSE AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS.

One of the most interesting features of the present educational movement, both in England and Ireland, is the successful introduction of industrial training for pauper children into workhouses. There were seventeen workhouse schools in Ireland to which agricultural departments were annexed in 1852. Respecting the operation of these departments in the county of Antrim, Mr. Senior, one of the poor law commissioners, says:

"Each year shows an increased demand for the workhouse boys by the farmers; the age, therefore, at which the boy leaves the workhouse becomes a very early one; it probably now averages ten years. Each year also shows increased good behavior on the part of the boys, who may, perhaps, be termed apprentices."

Dr. Kirkpatrick in view of another year's experience adds: "Every year's experience convinces me more forcibly of the necessity of a general and efficient system of industrial training for pauper children, and I am happy to find that this opinion is steadily gaining ground both here and in the sister country. The facts previously stated bear me out in this assertion with respect to this country, and the following extracts, which I take leave to quote from a Parlimentary document, will show its progress in England, and may be useful in other respects."

Mr. Doyle, one of the poor law inspectors, in his Report, thus speaks of the progress of industrial education for pauper boys, and of the success which has attended it wherever introduced:

"The guardians of almost every union in this district in which there are upon an average a sufficient number of boys of an age capable of industrial occupation, either have already provided, or have determined to provide the means for their industrial training. The unions of this district being almost exclusively agricultural, the means of industrial training for boys consist chiefly in the cultivation of a few acres of land by spade husbandry. In those unions in which this system can be said to be fairly in operation, it has already been productive of much benefit, and it will be seen by the detailed accounts furnished from some of them that this mode of educating the children in habits of industry is attended with considerable profit to the guardians."

The master of the Wrexham union workhouse, in a communication addressed by him to Mr. Doyle, after describing the lamentable state of things that existed among the youthful inmates previous to the adoption of a system of industrial training, thus proceeds:

"It is these, and such like facts, which have impelled this board of guardians

to adopt some plan, if possible, to put a stop to these evils; and hence, in 1848 an acre of potato land was taken as a trial, to be cultivated chiefly by the boys. The success of the experiment was so satisfactory that the board was induced to rent, as a permanent appendage to the workhouse, a field of four acres, in which the schoolmaster in the afternoon of each working day trains the boys in spade husbandry. The profits of the first two years were comparatively small, still they have enabled us to lay in a good stock of tools; and besides, when taken together with the present year's profits, have realized in whole, in form of pauper labor, nearly £90. The statement now sent shows the result of our second year's operations in our own field, and as the general intelligence as well as the muscular capacity of the children is becoming equal to their work, we may expect greater pecuniary results; but at last the moral results likely to flow from our endeavors are the most pleasing; the children are more easily managed than formerly, are more contented and generally happier, and perform their work in a pleasing and cheerful manner. They are, I trust, in connection with the inculcation of sound principles, having those principles trained into habits, which, while they will fortify against temptation, give promise of enabling the children readily to adapt themselves to the sphere in life in which their lot is likely to be cast, and of ultimately becoming wholly independent of parochial relief. I have great pleasure in being able to add, that not one boy who has gone out to service since we began these operations has been returned on our hands, or is likely to be so."

Mr. Everest, clerk of the Atcham Union, writes to Mr. Doyle as follows:

"That the children of the poor may be efficiently taught, and so far as human means may produce the object, made useful and honorable members of society in a union workhouse, is a fact that I have long had the pleasure of witnessing in the union in which I have served from its commencement, as well as in one in which I previously served in the south of England. To illustrate the subject, I will now set forth, in as condensed a form as I can, the principles and practice maintained in the union school during the fourteen years of its operation. At first the number of children was small, the guardians feeling it desirable not to crowd their workhouse until time had afforded all parties concerned in its government a little practical experience therein. A school was at once established; but as no qualified schoolmaster applied in answer to an advertisement for such an officer, the situation was taken by a person who, though deficient in mental acquirements for such an office, was a practical agriculturist, of good moral character, and entered on his duties with a determination to do all he could for the welfare of the children put under his care. The first step was that of making the school a place of moral as well as physical training, to which I attribute its great success. For this purpose every thing that transpired was, to the extent of his ability, made the subject of some practical and familiar observations, enforced by such illustrations as became weighty by example. Industry was from the first a marked characteristic of the school, to inculcate which various indoor occupations were and still are practiced, such as knitting, netting, plaiting straw, &c., by which means it became a natural habit in the children to be doing something that was useful, so that when fatigued with heavier toils the child sat down to rest, it was, I had almost said, an instinctive feeling that led him to take his straws or needles in hand, and yet the gratification afforded when he found he had enough plait for a hat, and the pleasure evinced when by himself or his companions it was so formed, proved that his mind had received a correct bias as to production by his own application, nor was there ever occasion to enforce this practice when once begun, as it became a source of pleasure to be so engaged; but whenever we found a lazy boy it became the subject of a moral lecture, and as work was and still is held to be its own reward in our school, if a boy is found idle the punishment is simple, take him away from his work to look at the others busily employed, and so severe is this in almost every case, that I have scarcely ever known a boy remain half an hour without petitioning for liberty to go to work, and I have been equally pleased to see that others, instead of making any taunting remarks, have become petitioners in behalf of their schoolfellow.

"These may appear trifling incidents, but let guardians and officers try the plan,

and watch the issue in future service, and they will find, as I have done, that they are important facts; and I notice them because for the want of seeing this important fact at the outset, that the child is to be trained to the principle of being useful, so much of the other efforts are vain. Another important point we have always aimed at has been to teach the child to do his work well, to do that work in the right way, and then to make him understand why that particular way is best, and this gives them additional interest in their work, while it tends to make them good workmen in after-life. Our chief mode of employment is on the land we cultivate by spade husbandry, a portion of which has, from the opening of the school, been cultivated exclusively by the boys."

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Having stated the nature and practice of our school for fourteen years, it only remains to speak of its success. It has been said that the tendency of workhouse schools is to make perpetual paupers, and such statements are made, no doubt, in the full belief of their truth; but I am happy to say that, so far as fourteen years may serve for the data of calculation, it is without a shadow of foundation here. Our children go to service, and I would rather refer inquiriers to their employers for their characters as servants, than speak of it myself. Suffice it to say that, with a very few exceptions, (and those of characters the most vicious and thoroughly formed before they came to us,) and one or two cases of serious illness, they have not returned, except, as is frequently the case, to visit the school where they were trained in the habits of virtue and industry, and leave behind them some trifle, either in money or otherwise, to the school fund. If we trained them up as paupers, I think many of them bid fair to forget the place of their training before they return. Scarcely a child who has been taught in our school leaves it without those feelings of affection for their associates which indicate most clearly that the mind has been cultivated, and the assistance they afford in procuring situations for those they left behind proves the genuine character of their attachments; but to return to the workhouse after going to service is felt to be a disgrace, and will, I hope, as it has hitherto done, prevent such a circumstance ever occurring except in cases that are unavoidable; and in such cases I hope that a sense of rectitude and the love of virtue will seek such an asylum in preference to crime."

Mr. Farnall, another of the poor law inspectors, states:

"On reference to the tables, it will be seen that fifty acres of land, cultivated by 514 boys, have yielded in a year a net profit of £335 78. 1d.; there is, however, a far more valuable benefit acquired than that sum of money represents, for these boys have, in the acquirement of this pecuniary profit, been under_training for manual labor; have been instructed in the value of labor, and in the connection which must be maintained between labor and property; have been made acquainted, to some extent at least, with the natural world; have felt pleasure in the contemplation of their own work; and have been trained, as far as practicable, to meet the difficulties and distresses which may beset them in their way through life."

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