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Farmers’ Children and the Farming Industry

The discussion of farmer’s children and the farming industry is in two parts. On the one hand there is the question of whether or not farmer’s child is to go into farming and on the other the occupations of those children who are now occupied. In the first instance farmers' children have been divided into two groups – those who are already in farming who were 43% of all children of all ages and those who were either at school or in occupations not connected with farming who were 52%. It is this latter group with which the analysis is concerned.

Farmers’ opinions about their children were divided into three approximately equal groups; thus 29% of children not already in farming were intended for the profession, 36% were not and in the case of 35% of children, their fathers had not made up their minds or were waiting for the child to express his or her preference.

The proportion who said that their children were not intended for faming was somewhat higher (8%) in the group of farmers who were rated lower and the proportion who had not decided or whose children had not decided was somewhat higher in the group who were rated higher. The proportion going into farming was higher amongst famers with large holding and the proportion not going into farming higher in the group of farmers with small holdings; thus they were 42% up to 50 acres, 40% of those with 51 – 100 acres, 32% of these with 101 – 150 acres, 33% of those with 151 – 300 acres, but only 24% of these with over 300 acres. (These are proportions of children.)

A comparison of the groups of children of different ages and of fathers of different ages show quite clearly that as the child matures the intention of his parents and his own intentions became largely directed towards farming. The analysis by age of father suggests, if anything, that the younger group of farmers are more decided in favour of farming than the older groups although the final result is that over two-thirds of all farmers’ children over the age of 14 years are entering the industry.

The details of the occupation of farmers’ children are interesting as again they demonstrate the continuity and homogeneity of the farming industry; thus 63% of children who were occupied were farm workers, farmers or farmers’ wives, 11% were in the forces and many of these would be in peace time, 13% were housewives of occupied in domestic work and the rest were occupied in a variety of industrial, manufacturing, distributive and transport occupations, none of them a significantly large group.

The two groups of farmers with holdings of 101 - 150 acres and 151 - 300 acres had the highest proportions of children who were farmers or farm workers or farmers’ wives 73% and 69%. The proportions were lowest in the groups with the smallest holdings – 52% and the group with largest holdings – 58%.

The subject may be looked at in a different way by taking boys and girls separately and by comparing children of different ages. If all boys are compared with all girls it is found that 20% of boys intend or are intended for farming and 35% are already in farming, many of them as farmer’s wives, making a total of 43%. Thus it is likely that the farm industry will retain three-quarters of its boys and two-fifths of its girls.

Comparing children under 5, children of 5-14 and children over 14 years it is found that 38% of the first group of boys are intended for farming – even at this very early age, 57% of the second group and 6% of the last group. In this group, however, 74% of boys are already in the industry – a total of 80% in fact. The proportion for girls are 26%, 41% and 4%, but again in the case of girls over 14 65% of them are already in farming, making a total of 79% either in farming or intended for farming. Some of the children who are grouped here as being in farming are, however, temporarily absent in the forces.

The proportion of the children over 14 is possibly a better indication of the extent to which the farming industry retains its children than the figures for all children which include a large proportion who have not. as yet made up their mind. If this criteria is accepted then the farming industry is retaining four-fifths of its boys and girls, a fact which emphasises how much the future of farming is bound up in the attempts being made at present to improve the technique of the present generation of farmers.

The Education of Farmers’ Children

Farmers were asked “What sort of education are you giving your children” and “Why have you chosen it?" This question was asked for each child. The most important fact which emerges is that 53% of farmers are giving or have given their children some form of higher education - secondary, grammar school or public school. Thus a little under half of farmers’ children will have had elementary school only, although 77% in all will have attended elementary schools. About 10% were either going to or already attending Agriculture Colleges or Institutes, Universities or Technical Colleges.

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The Education of the Children of different groups of Farmers 1

There are many differences between different groups of farmers. As might be expected the youngest group of farmer have a higher proportion of children who are having or are intended to have some kind of secondary education – 78% compare with 66% in the next group, but only 42% in the case of the children of farmers over 55 and the children of the older group of farmers have a correspondingly higher proportion who have attend elementary school. The proportions who have been to Agricultural Colleges and Institutes, Universities and Technical Colleges are also much larger in the younger groups – 15% and 12% compared with only 7% of the Children of farmers over 55.

The differences between farmers with different size holdings are most striking when the group with the largest holdings is compared with the rest in respect of elementary education, this group holding is compared with the rest in respect of elementary education, this group having only half as many children attending elementary school as in any other groups. On the other hand they have very considerably more who are attending secondary schools. The proportions are 44% of the children are farmers.

whose holdings are up to 50 acres, 43% of those with 51 - 100 acres, 58% in the next group, 60% in the next, but 88% of the over 300 acre group. The proportions attending Agricultural College, University or Training College show smaller differences, they are 8%, 10%, 7%, 11% and 15% in order of size of farmers holdings

It appears from a comparison of the education which children of different ages are having or have had that the attitude of farmers towards education has changed in recent years. This may be judged by comparing the proportion of children in each age group who have had or are intended to have education of secondary level; thus farmers’ intention about their sons under 5 were that 81% of them should have ultimately education of secondary school standard. The proportion of boys between 5 - 14 years was 68%, but the proportion of over 14 years was only 42%. A similar difference appeared when all types of education of university level were compared. The proportion for the boys under 5 years was 17%, for those 5-14 years it was 14%, but of those over 14 years the proportion was only 7%. Some of this difference is, of course, due to the difference between intention and realization.

Similar differences were found in the analysis of the education of girls. Farmers intentions about the under 5 years was that 79% of them should have education of secondary level, of all girls from 5 - 14 years the proportion was 82% and of those over 14 years 49%. The proportions of girls who were intended to go or were going to college or university was 13% of those under 5 years, 20% of the 5 - 14 year old girls and 6% of the girls over 14.

Some part of the difference between the groups is possibly due to other factors than a change in farmers’ attitudes towards education, but nevertheless much of it must be due to a greater appreciation of the usefulness of higher education.

Comparison of the Education of Fathers and the Education of their children

The proportion attending secondary, grammar and public schools - 53% in this creation may be compared with the proportion who had this type of education amongst fathers - 28% and the proportion who are attending Agricultural Colleges and universities - 10% may be compared with the proportion of their fathers who had this type of education - 4%. It is obvious that the importance of better education is widely appreciated.

58% of the children of fathers who had only elementary school education are having elementary school education and 42% of these children are having secondary school education. Of the children of fathers who had secondary, preparatory or public school education 83% were having secondary or other similar education and only 17% them were having elementary education. Or looked at in another way; of the children who are having elementary school education only, nine-tenths of their fathers had elementary school education only, but of those children who are having secondary education three-fifths are the children of parents with elementary and two-fifths are the children with parents of secondary education.

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The Education of Farmers' Children in relation to their parents’ intentions about their industrial future and in relation to the occupations of these who have left school 1

The main conclusion from these analyses difference is that whereas for those children who are already working there has been very little differences in the proportion who have had secondary education between those in farming and those in other occupations, in the case of children who have not yet left school those intended for farming have a higher proportions who are to have education of a secondary standard than those intended for other occupations.

Of the farmers' children who are already in farming, 40% of them have had education of secondary level, as have 43% of those farmers' children who are in other occupations excluding the forces. The proportion of farmers' children who are in the forces who have had secondary education is 54%.

The proportion of farmers' children who have not yet taken up employment but are going into farming, who are either having or who are intended to have secondary education is 70%. The proportion of those who are not going into farming who are having secondary education is on the other hand only 57%, 11% of children intended for farming were going or hoped to go to an Agricultural College or Institute, 2% to University and 2% to a Technical College. The proportion amongst those not intended for farming were none, 4% and 9%. 1

In all this discussion of the education of children in relation to their intentions it must be pointed out that the discussion relates to a little over two-thirds of farmers' children, since about the remaining third of children of school age the farmer had not made up his mind. Nevertheless as other analyses have shown since this lack of decision relates mainly to very young children and since as children grow older the proportion of them intended for farming increases, it may be taken as some indication of farmers' attitudes to education in relation to farming It shows that in general farmers believe that education of a secondary school standard or higher is needed more for farming than for the other occupations available to their children; measured by the proportion of farmers' children intended for farming who have this type of education.

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The Reasons why Farmers have chosen certain types of education for their children

The reasons farmers give for having made certain choices in relation to their children’s education are interesting from two points of view. They are first of all facts about the farmers themselves and secondly describe the attitude of farmers to education. They also throw light on the farmers' attitude to the needs of farming. Many other factors enter into the choice of education, some of them fortuitous like location of school, others related to other factors in the farmers' broad facts. In spite of this, however, the results display certain broad facts.

Information is available about the reasons why farmer had decided on the education of about three-quarter of all their children, The remaining quarter comprise those children has yet been made and some children for whom no reason was given.

Two groups of reasons mentioned farming specifically – they were those which said the education had been chosen because it was a “a good education for farming”. This answer was given in respect of 6% of all children about whom information was available. A second group 10% were those children of whom it was said the education they were getting was needed. To this might be added another 5% who said that the education the child was getting was “all they needed “. This group did not, however, mention farming.

The largest group of all, however, show quite clearly that farmers regard education as a thing in itself rather than in relation to any specific occupation; thus the reason given for the education of 28% of the children was that it was a “good education”, as good as a possible”, or “the finest child can have”. To this might be added 3% who are having “the Best education the father could afford” and these categories are undoubtedly related to the 9% who were having an elementary. school education which was “all the parents could afford”.

The reasons for the choice of an education were different in the groups of farmers of different ages; thus the younger farmers had the highest proportion who were giving their children a “good education” or the “finest possible”. This reason was given in respect of 52% of the children of the youngest group of farmers, 33% of the next group, but only of the highest. The oldest group of farmers had the largest proportion 15% for whom the education had been chosen because it was enough for a farmer, that is to say not much was needed. This may be compared with 5% and 6% in the other two groups.

In comparing the reasons about the children of farmers with different size holdings a factor emerges which suggests that the appreciation of education is very similar in each group, but that amongst farmers with smaller holdings financial difficulties make it impossible for farmers to carry through their educational intentions; thus the proportion of farmers' children about whom it has been said that they are having “a good education”, “the finest possible” is 25% of the children of farmers in the up to 50 acre group , 23% in the 51-100 acre group, 31% in the 101-150 acre group, 28% in the 151-300 acre group and 40% in the over 300 acre group. The proportion, however, who are giving the children the “best they can afford” is larger in the groups with smaller holdings and the proportion who are going to elementary school because it is all that could be afforded is also larger in the groups with smaller holdings. If the proportion in these groups are added much of the differences between the attitudes of farmers with different size of holding disappear; thus the proportion that is either having the best possible education or the best the father can afford is 40% in the up to 50 acre group and 35%, 37%, 39% and 42% respectively in the other groups.

The reasons for choosing a particular education have been analysed by the age of the child about which the reasons have been given and the results reinforce the conclusion of the earlier section that farmers’ appreciation of education has grown in recent years; thus the proportion about whom it is said that the child is to have the best possible education is 52% of children under 5 years, 42% of those from 5-14 years compared with only 20% of those over 14 years and similarly the proportion about whom it is said that the education they are having is enough for a farmer, (not much needed,) is much higher in the over 14 years group than in either of the others.

An analysis of the reasons given for choosing a particular type of education shows interesting differences between the children who are intended to enter farming and those who are not.

Comparing these two groups, it is found that 41% of the first group are having in the farmer’s opinion “a good education”, “the finest possible” compared with 26% of those who are not intended to enter farming. The proportion of the former group who are having a “good education for farming’’ is 16% compared with 1% of the latter group and in contrast the proportions who are having an education to prepare for some occupation other than farming are 2% and 16%. It is interesting that the proportion of those who are intended for farming who are having “enough for a farmer”, that is to say not much is needed is only 7% of the total.

The analysis of the reason for choosing the education of those children who are already occupied do not show that children in farming have had a better education than the others, for the proportions who have had the “finest possible education” are the same in both groups. Those who are farm workers and those in other related occupations, and those who are now in occupations other than framing. Children In the forces have been excluded from this discussion. This reinforces the conclusion that appreciation of education by farmers has increased in recent years.

The reasons why certain types of education have been chosen may also be related to the sort of education that the farmer has had. For this purpose the education has been divided into two groups – elementary only, and secondary all other higher education. This analysis shows that experience of secondary education is related to a greater valuation of education; thus 42% of the children of parents with secondary education were having a “good education”, “the finest possible compared with 22% of the children whose parents who had only elementary school education were not always able to give their children as good an education as they would have liked, for in the cases of 12% of children the parents had given them elementary school education because it was “all that they could afford”, whereas this was a factor in the cases of only 2% of the children of fathers with secondary education. Two other categories are worth comparing although the differences between them are very small. 5% of the children of elementary school educated parents were having “a good education for farming” compared with 9% of those children whose parents had had a secondary education. The proportions, however, having “enough for a farmer”, that is to say “not much needed” were 12% and 6% respectively.

Finally it is interest to relate the reasons for choosing a particular education to the type of education chosen.

The most important reasons for choosing elementary education were “enough” for a farmer, not much needed” given about the education of 21% of the children receiving elementary school education to which can be added 9% “think it is sufficient”, all that could have been afforded” again in the cases of 21% of children, “the child’s preference” in 14% of children, 10% whose school has been chosen it was “Convenient, nearest or near” and 12% for whom the elementary school was “all that was available”. In the case of the children who were attending secondary or grammar schools 55% of them were having this type of education because the parent considered it was “A good for farming” was occupation other than farming “ for 14% children.

(This analysis is derived from a tabulation which dealt also with father's education, in consequence 54 children for whom the information about the father was lacking have been excluded.)

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Farmer’s opinion about the future of Education in relation to Agriculture

Farmers were asked “Are there any ways in which you think education could be improved for children going on the land”. To this question only 5% of farmers replied that they thought education as it stood was satisfactory. 14% of farmers considered that education could do little to prepare children for the life of a farmer of whom most said that farming could only be learned by working on the land, a minority said that the young farmer needed to have farming “Born in him”. Related to this suggestion and representing somewhat the same attitude of mind was the suggestion that children should leave earlier and work on farms as soon as possible. This was made by 9%. In addition to these categories 7% were unable to give option.

The rest of the farmers, (67%) however, had fairly clear and positive ideas. The most important group suggested that more agricultural Subject should be taught. Such as soil chemistry, botany, biology, elementary mechanics and bookkeeping were mentioned by many and this latter subject would be extended by some farmers to come of the elementary work of marketing.

Most of the farmers’ comments were directed to integrating school life with life on the land. The answers had a wide range from -”education should have a positive direction towards the land” - mentioned by 5% to such suggestions as “children should undertake practical work related to agriculture at school” mentioned by 11%, “that children should have close contact with farms during school life”, possibly adopting a farm and visiting it after school or during school hours, spending holidays on it and helping with some of the work, this was mentioned by 6%. Associated with this idea but with the emphasis being rather more on work was the suggestion that children should work on farms whilst at school, working half days or at week-ends, this was mentioned by 4%. Another group of farmers suggested that there should be lectures and demonstrations after school hours.

About education after school, many positive suggestions were made, the most important of which was that children should go on to an Agricultural College or Institute made by 12% of farmers. 1% of farmers, however, said that they thought Agricultural Colleges should be less scientific and more practical. (A detailed discussion of Agricultural Colleges will be introduced at the end of this section.) 1% of farmers said there should be continuation classes for young farmers and 4% said that children should go to Young Farmers Clubs.

There were some small differences between different groups of farmers. The farmers who were rated good had 20% who thought that more agricultural subjects should be taught in schools compared with 2% in the case of the other group. There were one or two small differences between farmers with different size holdings. Thus comparing the largest and the smallest groups - a comparison which shows the main tendency; 21% or the group of farmers with the smallest holdings said that more agricultural subjects should be taught and of the group with the largest holdings.

Similarly 12% of farmers with the smallest holdings thought that children should go to an Agricultural College or Institute and the proportion in the group of farmers with the largest holdings was 16%. None of the other differences are at all significant. There were no important differences between farmers in different age groups.

In addition to these answers farmers made a number of other suggestion some of which are of sufficient interest to quote:-

“Senior children could have interesting speaker such as County Organisers. They can be interesting even to children if they had little patches of their own attached to the school and see the effects of manures, etc. That would be a good thing.”

“Lessons in agriculture – experienced school teachers or someone like a retired farmer to teach the children for an hour once or twice a week.”

“Each county should have an experimental farm for children like Connington Court.”

“Think there should be a real local miniature Agricultural College course in local rural areas for those who want it from 14-16 years, run in connection with the schools.”

“Local Agricultural Colleges and Institutes should have classes for children plus practical work”.

“To my way of thinking, children need careful observation by farmers who can judge if they are suitable. They can tell best. No flash-in-the-pan men wanted. Promising lads might go with a grant to a place like Houghall.”

Agricultural lecturer to give talks occasionally to children while at school. Children could spend part of holidays on farms”.

“Give them occasional trips to Agricultural Institutes - village school teachers not first class - Agricultural adviser for schools would be good idea.”

“Make agriculture a compulsory subject at school and make it a matriculation subject.”

“Best way exchange - children who live in would gain practical. Farmers’ children are exchanged with other farmers in a different part of the country - in this way youngsters gain insight into farming and would bring home new ideas.”

“At least 12 months before leaving school (which should be at 18) they should be given practical education on a farm - theoretical and scientific training included as well, and after leaving school all facilities for improving their education not only in this country but abroad.

“Should have a lot of land attached to the school to practise on. Lectures from County Advisers to encourage children, should go round the schools. Scholarships necessary to the Colleges for farm labourers’ sons as well.”

“Country Schools: Special teacher once a week, ordinary elementary teachers not “up” in agricultural work. Members of Agricultural Organisers Office would be good. Town schools. Pick out children with interest and tendency. Find a way to hold their interest. Chief difficulty is low wages.”

“Necessary for lads to be mechanically minded and therefore trained. Evening classes should be held. An expert on different subjects should travel round. Young Farmers’ Clubs are splendid.”

“Preliminary Agricultural course would be of great use. Good idea here is the local schoolmaster, encouraged would-be farmers, first to draw a plan of a few local farms, then to watch carefully exactly what each farmer was doing and then gave explanation why, with farmers permission, this got over the difficulty of country experimental farms for children.”

“There should be places for boys to go after they leave school to get advice perhaps classes one or two nights a week. They could learn a lot off experts, example about different kinds of grasses.”

“The mechanical side of farming should be instilled into them at school. It is important and at present in its elementary stages. They should be given tuition in the engineering and mechanical machinery connected with the farm.”

An interesting feature of this list of suggestions is the number of times the Agricultural Adviser or Agricultural Organiser is mentioned, an interesting measure of the appreciation of these services.

In conclusion it is clear that throughout the farming community there is an interest in improving education for children who are going into agriculture and relating it more clearly to life in the country and work on the farm. The quite high proportion of farmers who think that children should go to an Agricultural College or Institute is a notable feature of this part of the inquiry.

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Agricultural Colleges and Institutes

The question “What do you think about Agricultural Colleges and Institutes” was asked to explore further, farmers' attitudes to higher agricultural education. The answers may be roughly divided into three groups; those of farmers who approve of Agricultural Colleges and Farm Institutes, those who disapprove and those who offered no opinion. In most cases this latter group said that they had had no experience upon which to base a judgment so that this category is not necessarily an indication of lack of interest.65% of farmers approved of Agricultural Colleges and Institutes, 16% disapproved and 20% gave no opinion. The only difference of any importance between the different groups of farmers was that the proportion which approved was higher than that of the oldest group, 70% compared with 59% and the proportion who disapproved was lower, 11% compared with 20%.

The answers have been further analysed in the two groups who approved and disapproved to show the grounds for their approval or disapproval. The proportions are those of all farmers.

20% were entirely in favour of Agriculture Colleges without giving any special reason or qualifying their approval in any way. 9% said that they were good because they gave a scientific training, but were not practical, 4% said that they were good for scientific training, but did not qualify their approval, 16% approved but qualified their approval in various ways. Of these who disapproved 8% said the training given was not sufficiently practical.

Young Farmers’ Club

The following discussion of the membership of Young Farmers’ Clubs is limited to farmers' children who are old enough to belong to Young Farmers' Clubs and at the same time are still in farming; thus very young children and children now in other occupations have been excluded.

9% of the children who could join Young Farmers’ Clubs were members; they were of eligible boys and 7% of eligible girls.

There were one or two interesting differences between different groups of farmers; thus 12% of the eligible children of the higher rated group of farmers were members compared with only of the lower rated group and 12% of the children of the 33 - 55 year group were members compared with only 7% of the eligible children of farmers over 55 years. On the whole the membership of Young Farmers’ Clubs was greater amongst the children of farmers with large holdings than those with small although the differences were small.

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Conclusions

The conclusions to this section fall under a number of headings. The first point is that the majority of all farmers' children are going into agriculture. It appears likely that about four-fifths of boys and seven-tenths girls are to become farmers, farm workers or farmer’s wives; thus attempts to influence technical level of present farmers is likely to have a direct influence on the following generations.

The discussion of the education of farmers' children showed that farmers had not only a lively appreciation of the value of education for its own sake and a determination that their children should have a better education than their own, but also an appreciation of the value of education for farmers.

It was found that over half of all farmers' children are having or are have some form of higher education and that about one in ten of them are either attending Agricultural Colleges or Institutes, Universities, Technical Colleges, or are intended for this type of education. These proportions are in both cases about double the proportions of those of present farmers who have had these types of higher education.

It appears that higher education larger holdings have a higher farmers than by the older group, and farmers and higher education than proportion who intend giving their children subsequent analysis of reasons show that those with small holdings, although a subsequent reasons are not able to give their give their So that it may be said that those with small holdings, although reasons are not farmers with smaller holdings for economic So that children the sort of education that they like. education is highly appreciated and through out the farming community secondary children education of this kind that where certain groups are not giving the for want of means rather than to the same extent as other groups it is usual that they do not appreciate its importance.

The discussion of the education of farming were on the whole future occupation showed that children other occupations, receiving a higher standard of education than although this had not been so in the past.

The reasons why farmers had chosen the education for their children were many, but the largest group were those who had chosen as good an education possible, the appreciation of education being for its own sake rather than for any reason related to a specific vocation. There were still a small group who had chosen an elementary school education for their children because they thought it was sufficient for a farmer, but this group is a declining one and is only a very small proportion of the younger group of farmers. There was no considerable difference here between farmers with different size holdings except that as has already been mentioned the proportion who were unable to give their children an education of a higher level than elementary was highest among farmers with small holdings.

When farmers were asked about the ways in which they thought education could be improved for children going on the land, a great number of valuable and interesting suggestions were made showing that farmers had already given a good deal of thought to this problem. Farmers were conscious of the handicaps of the rural school when compared with the town school and had a general complaint that the teachers training had no specific direction towards the special problems of the countryside and in fact, tended to over-value urban occupations.

An important group of farmers suggested that subjects relating to agriculture should be taught like soil chemistry, botany, biology, elementary mechanics and bookkeeping and as an example of the failure to relate school science to the needs of agriculture, farmer expressing a common view complained that "it was no good my son having Matric chemistry if he can’t test soil for lime”.

Another group of farmers made various suggestions to the effect that children should have practical work related to agriculture whilst at school and yet another group suggested that they should have some contact with farms and farming whilst at school.

They were many suggestions too of further education in relation to farming particularly for farmers' children after they had left school.

About the same proportion 12% of farmers said that children should go to Agricultural Colleges and Institutes, as had already said that their children were going or were intended for this form of higher education.

The common impression that farmers were antagonistic to Agricultural Colleges and Institutes and scientific farming in general was disproved by the fact that more than two-thirds of farmers approved of Agricultural Colleges and Institutes and that only one–sixth of them disapproved, about one-fifth said that they hadn’t sufficient knowledge upon which to make a judgment. Some of the approval was qualified particularly because farmers thought that too much concentration was put on the scientific rather than the practical side and a good deal of the disapproval was because the training was not sufficiently practical.

The importance of education for farmers may be judged by results of the analysis of some of the questions about the education farmers have had.

The effect of some of the media of the Ministry is greater in the case of farmers who had education other than that of the local country elementary school; thus the proportions of farmers who found that leaflets had been useful to them was only 50% of the group who had had elementary education in country schools, whereas it was 63% in the case of the group who had been educated in town elementary schools, 62% in the group who had been educated in secondary schools and 67% of those who had been educated in public schools. There was a similar difference between the proportions who had seen Ministry of Agriculture advertisements and an even greater difference between those in different education groups who had been to commercial demonstrations. Thus, only 14% of farmers who had been educated at country elementary schools had been to commercial demonstrations, 23% of those who had been educated at town elementary schools, 27% of those who had been educated at secondary schools and 33% of those who had had a public school education. The proportion of farmers in the different groups who had seen films about farming showed a similar but rather greater difference in favour of the groups with the better education.

Farmers who had had only a country elementary school education had the lowest proportion who thought there should be an advisory service after the war - 58% compared with 75% of the farmers v/ho were educated at town elementary schools, 69% of those who had had secondary education and 85% of those with public school education. This group, too, had the lowest proportion who wanted the War Agricultural Executive Committees to continue on present lines.

The questions about practice showed also the importance of education; thus there were higher proportions of farmers who dressed their seed corn with mercurial dressings amongst those with a better education as is shown below:-

Finally, it is interesting to compare the proportions of farmers who knew the correct reasons for using a mercurial dressing. They were 56% of farmers with a country elementary school education compared with 64% of those educated at secondary schools.

The last part of the section on education dealt with Young Farmers’ Clubs and it was found that about 11% of the eligible boys and 7% of the eligible girls were members. This suggests a large field for improvement.