54 Surveys“ (m the Edge 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     The provincial government was encouraging 
     
     agriculture in every possible way. The year 1900 saw the 
     
     setting up of the first Farmers' Institutes, including one 
     
     in Tignish. These groups were designed to educate 
     
     farmers, both practically and theoretically, by means of 
     
     regular meetings (some with speakers) by enabling 
     
     farmers to buy better sires for their livestock, and through 
     
     other upgrading projects. The Tignish group was a large 
     
     one and remained so for many years. No similar interest 
     
     was taken in fishermen or the fishing industry. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The biggest change in the educational field was the 
     
     founding of the Société Saint-Thomas—d’Aquin (SSTA) in 
     
     1919. Founded by a number of leading Acadians, its 
     
     purposes were to ”Improve the social, intellectual, and moral 
     
     state of its members, and instruct them in integrity, sobriety, 
     
     and frugality,” and to “Set up and manage a reserve fund, 
     
     and use this fund for the Society’s aims according to its 
     
     regulations". From its beginnings, its members concentrated 
     
     on raising money to allow promising Acadian students to 
     
     receive post-secondary training at universities, teachers’ 
     
     colleges, and business schools. Although the SSTA was 
     
     not to affect Tignish directly for some time, its founding 
     
     was an important step towards improving both the 
     
     chances of survival of the Acadian culture and language, 
     
     and of developing an educated class of Acadians. Sooner 
     
     rather than later it would become a part of the educational 
     
     resources upon which the young people of Tignish. could 
     
     draw. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Already in the century’s first decade, the Island’s 
     
     Acadian teachers had formed an association for mutual 
     
     encouragement and upgrading. The branch in Tignish 
     
     was an active one, both at its own regular meetings and 
     
     the annual one which brought all branches together 
     
     for an intensive series of lectures and the resulting