§ Mr. JESSE COLLINGSasked the President of the Board of Education how many, if any, colleges for the training of elementary school teachers have land attached to them for the purpose of giving practical instruction to the students in the subjects of agriculture, horticulture, and nature study; and how many students at the present time are receiving such instruction?
Mr. PEASENature study normally forms part of the instruction in elementary science, which is a compulsory subject of the ordinary training college course. Expeditions, sometimes lasting over several days, are made in order to encourage an intelligent study of the subject. Three colleges at present enter students for an optional course in rural science; this course, which is only intended for selected students, involves a study of plant life, soils, and gardening. About sixty or seventy students are likely to take the examination this session, and the numbers seem to be increasing. In addition a number of colleges make use of their grounds, which are generally large, for encouraging a study of gardening. Students often have their own gardens. No college has as yet attempted to give instruction in the manipulative processes of agriculture, but one college is arranging for selected men students to take a three weeks course at a neighbouring agricultural college at the end of their training college course.