The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-06-27

When "Kitchener's Mob" comes marching home again at the end of the war it will be met with a carefully worked out plan for putting the men and their families back on the land and for building up agriculture in Great Britain. The plan has been worked out blythe Departmental Com nittee appointed by the President Of the Board of Agriculture to Consider the Settlement or Employment on the Land of Discharged Sailors and Sol diers, copies of whose report have just been received in this country.
 Says the committee:
 ''The dem obi1ization of the navy and army at the close of the war will afford a unique opportunity of devel- oping agriculture in this country. It is of the utmost importance to the wei fare of the nation that this opportun- ity should be. seized and turned to the greatest possible advantage.
 Nation to Own the Land.
 s"The men who have joined the forces include representatives of all the best elements of our population, many of them possess a, high degree of enterprise and intelligence, and if any substantial number can be at tracted to seek a career on the land at home it will give a stimulus to the agriculture of the country
 The principal recommendation is for the. creation/ of large state colonies of small holdings by the Board of Agri- culture. This colonization bears a strong resemblance to the provisions of the Crosser bill now before Con gress, especially in that it insists on the necessity of retaining in national | ownership the land which is to be leased out to men of the necessary experience. No man is to be allowed f < @o1y hn l experience, either through previous | vocation or through training received | in employment on a state colony at a | weekly wage.
 1 The idea is that. while in such l employment and after having shown
 promise of becoming satisfactory small land holders, men should be given the privilege of renting land
 near their cottages, provision being
 made in laying out the estate that adjoining land may be added to their l holdings in course of time as they l become capable of taking a larger | area. The initial housing difficulty is to be overcome by taking over from | the War Office, free of cost, some of the military huts no longer required after the war.
 1 Expert Guidance. | Considerable emphasis is laid on the 1 need for expert guidance for the set
 tiers in each colony by resident | director and an agricultural or hor- l ticu1tura1 instructor. Men of prac- i ticaI experience as we'll as scientific l knowledge are to be chosen for these ] appointm In addition, the plan I provides for occasional instruction in l the several branches of agriculture by
 a system of extension lectures more l familiar in this country than in Eng l land.
 There will also be demonstration | farms, run as far as possible on a l commercial basis, as to teach | proper business meth ods as we'll as
 meth hods of good cultivation. Farm 1 mana cement, in fact, is to be one of l the principal subjects of instruction | not only for the men but also for their | wives who frequently make the better 1 bookkeepers!
 l Cooperation in all directions is tC
 be encouraged and helped, each col
 ony being provided with an estab-