PROGRESS IN AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION, 323 



culture, the duties of Avliieh are the iuiprovenient of afjricultural 

 methods by the introduction of l)etter (luality of seed grains and 

 roots, by tlie adoption of up-to-(hite machinery and implements, by 

 experimenting^ with soils and fertilizers, and by the study of j)lant 

 diseases and economic insects. '' The board has also under consid- 

 eration a system of agricultural tuition, with a view to a distribution 

 throughout the country of men trained in the science of the subject." 

 It has Ix'en decided to publish a (juarterly journal on agricultural 

 subjects, and also to issue separate scientific pul)lications. 



The following facts regarding agricultural instruction in the Col- 

 lege of Science, Poonah, India, are furnished by Prof. J. B. Knight, a 

 graduate of the Massachusetts Agricultural College and at present 

 professor of agriculture in the college at Poonah. It appears that the 

 College of Science was originally a college of engineering, but in 1879 

 provision was made for a class in agriculture and forestry and 72 

 acres of land for a college farm were bought. In 1884 an herbarium 

 and a botanical garden were added, and in 1885 a chemical labora- 

 tory. Two years later a veterinary hospital and operating rooms 

 were provided, and in 1890 graduates from the agricultural class 

 were given a diploma in agriculture. A lecturer in agricultural 

 chemistry was appointed in 1898, and the following year the standard 

 of the agricultural work was raised and the degree changed to licen- 

 tiate of agriculture. The course given at present covers three years 

 and includes theoretical instruction in agriculture, agricultural chem- 

 istry, botany, veterinary science, etc. There are at present 77 students 

 taking the agricultural work, by far the larger proportion being 

 first-3'ear men. 



According to the last annual rej^ort of the Transvaal Department of 

 xVgi-iculture there is no agricultural school in that country, but the 

 Transvaal Technical Institute has recently been established, and it 

 is expected that this will form the nucleus of a future university 

 which will include a college of agriculture. In the meantime some 

 instruction in agriculture is provided by making arrangements to 

 receive students or ap])rentices at the veterinary experiment station 

 and the ditlerent government laboratories, experiment farms, fruit 

 gardens, poultry yards, etc. School gardens are maintained in con- 

 nection with most of the schools in the Marico and North Lichtenburg 

 districts. 



The agricultural schools conducted under the Imj)erial Department 

 of Agriculture for the West Indies, which are now in operation in St. 

 Lucia, St. Vincent, and Dominica, were established for the special 

 l)ur])os«' of affording practical training in agriculture to a selected 

 Jiumbcr of boys of about IH years of age who have jjassed tlu' fourth 

 standard in the j)ublic schools. After j)as<ing a pi"ol)ationarv period 

 of three months bovs are formallv admitted into the schools on an 



