Ypsilanti sentinel. [volume] (Ypsilanti, Washtenaw Co., Mich.) 1843-1900, 1845-04-09

AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL.

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AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL.
Professor yohnsfone said, that circumstances hay-
ing brought some OF their friends 10 Glasgow who
were acquainted wuh the suij+ct. the meeting
mad bcess called to receive sos,e information ON
tue po1t, whether rieraen,ary in schools could be
ndvanageously adopted in relation to Agricultural
Cne'nstry. Some bad doubts Oh this punt, and
leqn'rrd tht'r'naiion. which ihev would Obtain
ifo"' sotne I'll hts English and Irish fr,ctds, the
latter Ut "hu'n had brough. several boys from
!ne'r scbopl to be ex.,nsued by the meeting
lneie were three points 10 WHICH he wished to di.
rect their s,,eniioa. II i. were possible before
hoys ieh the ordinary school-, TO instruct them in
serculiufsl scirnce-- whether that information
could be communicated w,tppu. interfering with The
ordinary c"irse ui INSTRUCTION.. and with sac.ling
o'her branches; ar adopting new Il accIlnery; aud
*nai Time. how many hours a-day cond be ap-
p''eoto agricultural recreat,onr. Sal as TO enable
boy |" hen leaving school, to cultivate form, on
These points Mr. SHILLING the teacher. aud Kirk
patrick the secretary OF ,he sc,.ooI at Larnc Mag
"efamerhe). wond address them. and they would
s"efwards hear several other gentlemen OH The
same subject.
Mr.. SHILLING stated that the IRISH Board Of Ed
"cstion having resolved Ia Introduce the study of
they had ~ 1888 got model farm about two
miles from the Normal School IN Dublin. II was
required toTbe CONVENIENT TO the school to enable
The pupils 10 attend bah. From 80 TO 20 of the
students attended the Professor in the CITY OIL five
days s-week. and every morning they studied ag.
ncufure and horticulture under the guidance Off
qualified gardener. He occupied half an hour
each morning ON horticulture and Horticulture, and
m g.
appropriated TO examinai.sss, and at The end ufihe
cuur-e e;i six months, they found the students to
have made great progress IN these sciences a IS well
as in chemistry and geology. He then described
the system ofinsiructIon followed ou such as the
rotation OF crops, the qualities OF manures, drain.
lng. mixing soils, &c., aud in particular, the rails
ing OF geen crops for the HOUSEKEEPING Of cattle.
They practised spade labour alone, and. except
pioughman, the whole ork was done by the boys.
Alter eulogsing the abilities of Professors Johnston,
ne said they adopted his system of agriculture and
chemistry; and the teachers could now give nstruc.
tons to the children these points, without inter.
fer'ng with their other studies. There were out
OF The 5000 theachers about 600 or 700 employed
in this way. They had also several special agri-
culture schools. each with piece of land DIS at
the Normal School. The Normal model from
consisted of ihirty-two Irish acres, for which he
(Mr SklIlme) paid, besides rent and other usual
and incidental expenses, about f15O 10 e ITO OF
profit. He hoped the gentlemen would give him
visit when they came over, to the Dublin show.
He had IL cows and bull. &C., and all were
house fed. IL Scotland wished To retain her char
acter as an agricultural country, they must teach
children agriculture; and as they had succeed so
well in The rearing of animals. they should now al
tend 10 the human race.
DR.. kirkpatrick having given some historical
details, introduced five boys from the School Of
Larne. Alter some searching questions by Mr..
Gibson, Government Inspector of Schools, in
grammar. geography. and arithmetic, to show that
these studies had not been neglected, MIR Johnston
put great number of agricultural questions to
them, some of them ofconslderabIe difficulty, and
which were ans~ cred without hesitation. Sever
al other gentlemen pu, questions to them. after
which the meeting was addressed shortly by Mr.
M'Garral, the founder of the school at Larne, by
Lord Clements, by Mr. Alley, teacher of a similar
school founded by Lady Noel Byron. in MIddesex
(but in which various trades were practised as
well as sgnculiure) by Mr. Coquhoun of Killer
mont and others, all Of whom expressed their as
constituent and delight at the progress of The
boys. $500. = -
Principal Macfari moved resolution express
ave Of the desirableness of introducing agricullu
raj education into our elementary rural schools
and The perfect certainty of this not interfering
with their other studies. This was seconded b,
SIR Charles Ferguson. and agreedto. The meet
ING was afterwards addressed by Mr. Alexande
OF Souibbar, Col. Lindsay. Sir Robert Bateson
Mr. ID. Milne, DR. M'Leod. and Mr. Monteith. yr. Q
Closeb0rn; and committee was appointed to cen
slder the best means of carrying out the object i
view.
Setting out Trees. fssa