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The complete scheme of educational assistance provided for dairy farmers is composed of several subschemes, of which the following are the main:

I. Pioneer lectures consisting of one to six meetings at centers convenient to country audiences.

II. Exhibits, demonstrations, and lectures at agricultural shows. III. Improvement of the smaller dairy herds by the formation of bull clubs.

IV. Improvement of milk yields by the formation of milk recording societies.

V. Advisory work in feeding and management of dairy stock.
VI. Courses of instruction in clean milk production.

VII. Traveling butter making schools.

VIII. Traveling cheese making schools.

IX. Cooperative dairy schools.

X. Fixed junior and senior dairy courses at county farm schools or institutes.

XI. Higher courses in dairying at dairy colleges.

XII. Dairy research at the National Dairy Research Institute.

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These are for the most part occasional lectures delivered to country audiences. It may be that their purpose is to convey instruction in a particular subject in which the local farmers are interested and desire information, but, generally speaking, their real purpose is to arouse interest and thereby cause the local people to join in making an application for a visit to one of the traveling schools.

EXHIBITS, DEMONSTRATIONS, AND LECTURES AT AGRICULTURAL SHOWS (SUBSCHEME II).

At certain of our principal annual agricultural shows the Ministry of Agriculture directly provides an exhibit and arranges for the distribution of agricultural literature. Most of the exhibits are intended to illustrate the application of the results of research and experiments to practical conditions. Many of our agricultural colleges make exhibits at the chief shows held within their respective provinces, as do also the farm institutes or schools within their respective counties. At the local county shows, it is the usual practice for the local education authority to cooperate with show committees, in the holding of dairy competitions-such as practical butter making, etc.-and in the provision of demonstrations and lectures dealing with various phases of dairy work. Latterly a considerable feature has, in this connection, been made of demonstrations on how to produce clean milk.

BULL CLUBS (SUBSCHEME III) AND MILK RECORDING SOCIETIES (SUBSCHEME IV).

These two schemes, together with what has been referred to under Subscheme II, are the only exceptions to the general rule that educational assistance to the farmer is administered through local education authorities and agricultural colleges.

The Ministry of Agriculture is directly responsible for the draft. ing of these schemes and for the supervision of the work carried out under them. Grants in aid are made by the ministry direct to the clubs or associations that have been formed, and are working in accordance with the rules laid down in the respective scheme. Each scheme is operated independently of the other but they may be said. to have a common object, namely, that through the improvement of the herd, economy in the production of milk may be effected and hence both the farmer and the consumer benefited.

ADVISORY WORK IN THE FEEDING AND MANAGEMENT OF DAIRY STOCK (SUBSCHEME V).

All colleges, farm institutes, and county staffs are available to the farmer for advice in this connection, but, in addition, very val uable work is being carried on in several instances by county educational staffs working in conjunction with milk recording societies. The societies supply to the educational staff particulars of milk yielded and the nature and amount of food consumed by the dif ferent herds, and from the information so supplied the farmer is informed as to the food cost per gallon of his milk and, if necessary, how that cost might with advantage be reduced.

COURSES OF INSTRUCTION IN CLEAN MILK PRODUCTION (SUBSCHEME VI).

From the earliest days this subject has been regarded as being of great importance, and latterly it has received very considerable attention. The instruction has now been given a more practical turn. During the winter period many of our county dairy instructors are engaged in conducting clean milk courses, the usual practice being to give a practical demonstration on a farm to which the public is invited, and afterwards to hold such number of evening meetings at that center, as may be necessary to explain the "why and the wherefore" of the precautions taken.

TRAVELING BUTTER MAKING SCHOOLS (SUBSCHEME VII).

The commonest and probably the most effective method of supplying itinerant instruction in butter making is by means of a traveling van in which the necessary equipment is moved from district to district. The instructor, usually a woman, has in most cases obtained a diploma at one of the recognized centers of dairy instruction. She has an assistant, a youth who sees to the supply of hot and cold water required and attends to the packing and conveyance of the equipment. The normal length of the course of instruction is a fortnight. Half an hour or an hour is taken up each day by lectures and demonstrations by the teacher and about two and a half hours by practical work. The class usually meets in the afternoon. This leaves the instructor free in the mornings to visit the homes of her students with the object of assisting them in applying what she is teaching in the school to their local conditions. At the close of each course it is the general practice to hold an examination of the students, and on the results of this examination it is in most cases

the custom to offer scholarships to the most competent and deserving of the class members to enable them to proceed with a still higher training at a farm institute.

TRAVELING CHEESE MAKING SCHOOLS (SUBSCHEME VIII).

Previous to the war only a small number of these schools were maintained. Indeed, at that time only five were in existence, and it was principally because of the food difficulties occasioned by the war that the number of such schools was greatly increased, the idea being to secure the best national use of the milk produced and to provide instruction in the technical process of cheese making. The work of these schools at that time proved so successful that they have become a permanent feature in the educational schemes of many counties.

The system on which each school is worked is briefly as follows: It is equipped with a set of cheese making apparatus and with a competent instructor or preferably two instructors working alternately with the same plant. The school is held at a farm or any other suitable accommodation for a period of two to four weeks under the charge of one instructor, who at the end of the course spends the following two to four weeks in visiting the homes of the students who have attended, in order to assist them to start cheese making on their own account. At the conclusion of the first school period the equipment is moved to a new center and there placed in charge of the second instructor, who, in turn, following the close of the school at that center, remains behind to start this new set of students to work in their homes, while the first instructor resumes charge of the school at a third center, and so on, alternately.

As a means of breaking new ground in preparation for the work of a migratory school, single demonstrations in the making of small cheeses from small quantities of milk with improvised utensils is frequently adopted. This is a useful means of arousing the interest and of giving practical proof that the making of small cheeses is within the reach of most of the smaller dairy farmers.

Visiting instructors.-In certain of our counties where the number of cheese makers and the quantity of milk produced warrant it effective educational assistance is provided by means of visiting instructors whose duty it is to visit farmhouse dairies where assistance is sought by the occupiers. In such cases it is usual for the instructors to remain at each dairy from three to six days and, if necessary, to pay a renewed visit of brief duration later in the season. This instruction is provided with a view to improving the quality of the cheese made and is not to be looked upon as a method of teaching the uninitiated. Again, it is the usual custom to use the traveling cheese schools after the same manner as a traveling butter making school as a means of selecting the most competent persons to proceed for higher training through fixed dairy courses.

The extent to which these cheese schools are being employed may be briefly indicated by mentioning that for the six years, 1916 to 1921, inclusive, the average annual engagements were:

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COOPERATIVE DAIRY SCHOOLS (SUBSCHEME 1X).

These schools had their origin in the success which attended the earlier working of the traveling cheese schools.

In conducting the traveling cheese schools it frequently happens that the quantity of milk offered by the local producers to the school for manipulation was considerably more than the school equipment could accommodate. This led the ministry to prepare the cooperative-school scheme and to urge its adoption on local education authorities. The main conditions laid down in the scheme are that before a school is undertaken at any center the milk producers in the district applying for a school must form a representative committee, which must undertake: (a) To provide the premises in which the school can be held; (b) to deliver at the selected center a stated minimum quantity (usually not less than 200 gallons) of milk daily; (c) to agree to accept payment for the milk supplied on a strictly cooperative basis, i. e., from the results obtained from the sale of the products; and (d) to take an active part in the business of the undertaking. These requirements being promised, the local education authority undertakes to conduct a school for a period of two or three months, or until such time as an adequate demonstration has been provided.

In practice the holding of a school has meant supplying an instructor and the necessary apparatus and carrying on at the same center for a full milk producing season. It has never been required that the milk producers applying for and obtaining a school mustnecessarily form themselves into a registered cooperative society. Instead the ministry has trusted to the effect of the demonstration, a trust which has proved justified, as up till now in all but a few cases a healthy cooperative society has been the outcome of the holding of a cooperative school.

Since this scheme was originated in 1916 the number of individual cooperative dairy societies existing in England and Wales has, in consequence of the holding of the schools, been more than doubled. The societies so formed have in several instances developed into considerable undertakings, but whether large or small they have brought new life into the districts where they are located. They have by introducing new business methods quickened life and stimulated farming to a greater intensity. Thus, it is reported from some of the districts where a cooperative dairy factory has been established that cow keeping has increased by amounts varying from 10 per cent to 100 per cent.

FIXED JUNIOR AND SENIOR COURSES AT COUNTY FARM SCHOOLS AND

INSTITUTES (SUBSCHEME X).

There are at the present time 12 farm institutes and 7 other institutions functioning in a similar capacity-totaling 19 in England and Wales-which provide junior courses of instruction in the production of milk, in the technique of the manufactures, and in the rudiments of the sciences relating to dairying. These courses are largely attended by students who have passed with credit through a traveling school. In the case of several of the institutions, they

are held during the summer when the purely agricultural students are not in session, but in other cases they are repeated throughout the year. The duration of the course varies from 5 to 13 weeks.

Senior or certificate courses, varying in duration from 14 weeks to 1 year (but usually the latter) are provided at 9 separate institutions.

HIGHER COURSES IN DAIRY COLLEGES (SUBSCHEME XI).

There are 6 institutions providing higher courses of instruction in dairying. These courses, while primarily intended to prepare students to sit for diplomas granted by the respective colleges, also cover, in nearly all cases, the syllabus of the examination for the national diploma in dairying (N. D. D) which is an independent examination conducted by the national examination board appointed jointly by the Royal Agricultural Society of England and the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland. The course requires two years residence and is intended to provide the student with a thorough training in practical dairy work and the sciences relating thereto. At some of the colleges the handling of milk on a large scale, such as occurs at dairy factories, receives special attention. It is through these courses that our teachers and many of our dairy factory managers are provided.

DAIRY RESEARCH (SUBSCHEME XII).

Each of the dairy colleges is in a position to carry on research: but as a general scheme of dairy education would not be complete without a central dairy research station, there was established in 1912, in conjunction with the University College, Reading, the National Institute for Research in Dairying. The equipment of this institute has been steadily improved, and it is now provided with suitable laboratories, etc., and land to the extent of 340 acres. The functions of this institute are wide. Within its province. are included all questions relating to the production, handling, and distribution of milk, and the manufacture of dairy produce.

The useful work which the institute has done during the 11 years of its existence has not only brought about a healthy spirit of cooperation between it, the dairy teaching centers and the traveling instructors, but has also gained for it the esteem of the more enlightened dairy farmers.

This account of the general scheme of dairy education in England and Wales is necessarily sketchy in order to conform to the limits. set for paper readers. Many minor. but nevertheless important, schemes have perforce been omitted, but it is hoped that sufficient has been said to convey a general idea of the scope of the educational assistance which is being provided for what has become the most extensive branch of British agriculture.

Chairman HATCH. We will take a few moments for discussion, if you have remarks to make upon this presentation. Is there any discussion? If not, we will proceed immediately to the next paper, by Miss D. G. Saker, superintendent of dairy department. Cannington Court Farm Institute, England. Miss Saker. [Applause.]

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