One Irish Summer

by William Eleroy Curtis

An advisory council of one hundred and four members was formed, composed mostly of landowners and farmers, with a few merchants and clergymen, including the bishops of both the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Ireland, and a board of technical instruction of a similar character, with several professional educators, the provost of Trinity College, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Dublin, and representatives of the clergy of the Presbyterian and other nonconformist churches.

After considering the problem of technical education, which had never been undertaken in Ireland to any extent, it was decided to commence by introducing ordinary instruction in the common schools, and the sum of $275,000 has annually been distributed, in proportion to population, among the various counties to train children in the secondary schools of the rural towns in trades and in the simple principles of the cultivation of the soil, the breeding of cattle, and other practical duties of farming life. In order to qualify teachers to give this instruction summer schools were established at Dublin, Belfast, Cork, and other central points, and in the cities evening schools were provided for those who could make use of them. Faculties of experts were employed for all these schools, and inspectors were sent about the island inquiring into the methods and reporting upon the competency of the teachers.

The Metropolitan School of Art and the Royal College of Science, which have been in existence at Dublin for many years, were re-organized on a practical basis, inspired with new vitality, and brought into full activity for the instruction of young men and women in various forms of arts and handicrafts which were practiced by their ancestors for centuries, but have long since been lost sight of or neglected. The Science and Art Museum on Kildare Street, which was seldom visited except by tourists, is now a live place, and every morning is filled with young men and women eager to learn lace-making, designing, decorating, and other arts and industries which have been allowed to languish in Ireland.

In connection with these schools instruction is given in domestic economy, in the chemistry of cooking, in nursing, in dressmaking, millinery, laundry work, and various other branches of domestic economy which have never before been taught in Ireland. For the benefit of those who cannot attend these schools twenty-nine itinerant instructors are sent throughout the country to give instruction to the wives and daughters of farmers and laborers, how to make the best use of foods and how to practice other economies in household administration; how to raise poultry and bees, do cottage gardening, the culture and the preserving of fruit, and other practical domestic sciences.

This is something entirely new in Ireland, and the reports of the itinerant instructors and of the inspectors who have followed them to observe their work have been most encouraging as regards the interest taken by the younger women and girls and the improvement that has already been made in the conditions of the households of the working classes in the country, for these efforts are confined to the rural districts. There has been some attempt at reforming the sanitary conditions of the tenement houses of Dublin and other cities, but they have scarcely gone beyond the experimental stage, for the task is greater than the department would dare undertake at present.

A large staff of itinerant instructors who are thoroughly posted and trained in agricultural science are employed among the farmers, and especially among those who have recently become the owners of small farms under the Land Act of 1903. A sense of the responsibility of proprietorship is being gradually developed. Heretofore those who have occupied rented lands have had no incentive to improve them or even keep them in good condition, because they never knew when they might be evicted. But to-day one-third of the farmers in Ireland own the soil they till, and when the government is able to furnish the money to pay for purchases that have already been arranged one-half of the entire number will have permanent homes and land of their own. Realizing this, they are willing and in many cases eager to learn how to make the best use of their possessions, how to get the largest returns for their labor, and how to increase the value of their property. The demoralized condition of the farming population caused by the frequent political agitations has made instruction in these lines of economy useless until recently; but now that the land wars are over and the causes for agitation are being removed, and the farmers of Ireland are coming into their own, they take a different view of life, and welcome every offer of instruction that will enable them to improve their situation.

The itinerant instructors are practical men. They work among the farmers in the fields in the summer, and during the winter deliver lectures with practical illustrations in the schoolhouses, the town halls, and other convenient places. There have never been any agricultural schools in Ireland, and it would be difficult to persuade the farmers to attend them, even if they were established. Therefore the officials of the department have undertaken their work with the children of the farms in the secondary rural schools with the hope and confidence that the next generation can be persuaded to follow up this rudimentary learning by taking advanced courses in agricultural science. Indeed, many of them have already done so. There are to-day one hundred and twenty-eight young men, all of them sons of poor farmers, studying agricultural science in different institutions of Ireland, and many of them are being assisted financially to gain a technical as well as a practical education. The department has provided a system of pecuniary aid so that boys who have shown special aptitude in the secondary schools may pass on to the agricultural college, and the reorganized college of science, and even to the university.

The itinerating instructors are introducing better varieties of potatoes, grain, and other crops. They advise farmers as to the selection of crops after making a chemical analysis of their soil; they encourage the purchase of the best qualities of seed, show how it should be planted, and conduct field experiments, inspect buildings and suggest improvements, show how simple remedies can be applied to diseases of live stock, explain the most approved methods of feeding dairy cattle and butter-making, fattening chickens for market, egg packing, and other little matters which are of the greatest value to those whose happiness and prosperity depend upon the intelligent application of their labor. In 1907, 8,394 farms were visited in this way by the instructors and 66,144 persons received instruction. More than two thousand lectures were given, with an average attendance of sixty-seven.

To improve the live stock of the country the department loans money to competent farmers to purchase high-class stallions, bulls, rams, and boars, and takes their notes to be paid in annual installments. Last year eleven stallions, one hundred and thirty-five bulls, seventy-four rams, and a proportionate number of other animals were purchased in that way. And to encourage breeding it offers prizes for the best stock in the different counties, of a sufficient value to be an inducement for competition. It gives financial subsidies for the aid of stock, poultry, horticultural and agricultural exhibitions, plowing matches, implement trials, labor competitions, and for the best yields of potatoes, grain, corn, and other staples. It offers prizes in the different counties for the best gardens, the best kept poultry-yards, and the best butter, which has excited a widespread interest and resulted in a general advancement of conditions.

As a result of prize competition a rivalry has sprung up among the cottagers all over Ireland to improve the appearance and convenience of their farms and buildings. The prizes are sufficiently large to make it an object to keep their residences and stables in repair and neat and clean, both inside and out. There is a similar improvement in cottage gardens for the same reason. Last year more than $25,000 was given in prizes in the different counties for the best kept cottages and house gardens.