I have a handwritten school notebook of my father's, which was used in about 1910. He came from a very blue-collar family, and it is clear that he was expected to become an Ag lab. Much of the subject-matter was apparently taught in those terms. For example, students calculated how much manure would be needed, in cubic feet, to cover a certain number of acres of land. They were taught how to properly "trench" the ground for the planting of potatoes. Etc. Now tell me, who would be better to teach these skills, a formally college-educated teacher, or a former Ag Lab with lots of experience and a bit of readin' and writin' skill whose arthritic hands and knees no longer allowed him to work outside? (Incidentally, my dad became a salesman, a Lt. Colonel in WWII, and then a successful business owner - but before all that he was at one time manager of a pig farm - prize-winning pigs, of course!) Happy hunting!   Diana Robinson (nee Gardner) Now in Rochester, NY, USA ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Sat, 6 Feb 2010 17:26:53 +0000 From: Brad Rogers <brad@fineby.me.uk> Subject: Re: [B&D] Musician -v- Coppersmith (was William Henry HARRIS c1825 BRISTOL) To: "Bristol & District ML" <bristol_and_district@rootsweb.com> Message-ID: <20100206172653.40ca572b@abydos.stargate.org.uk> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII On Sat, 6 Feb 2010 14:09:53 -0000 "Liz" <e.newbery@btinternet.com> wrote: Hello Liz, > Another which I still can't comprehend - an Ag Lab who became > a teacher!! Don't forget that the term Ag Lab is a catch all. Some of those jobs were quite skilled. Okay, it was still manual work, so still quite a leap. Unless he was teaching at agricultural college. :-)