NOTES. 199 



Actual building will be begun as soon as possible and it is planned to liave the 

 school in operation by next winter. 



A New Avicultural School in Argentina. — The Consul General of Buenos 

 Aires reports that a school of aviculture is to be established at La Plata as 

 an annex to the zoological garden, to give instruction in poultry and bee keep- 

 ing and in the rearing of rabbits and pigeons, the latter for consumption and 

 as carriers. A course in carpentry and other trades necessary in the work of 

 an aviculturist will also be offered. 



A Vernacular Agricultural School in Bombay. — A vernacular agricultural 

 school was opened as an experiment at Poona on June 10, 1910, in charge of 

 K. ;m. Pawair and an assistant. Twenty-one boys were admitted to the 2-year 

 course, which is open preferably to boys between 13 and 16 years of age. A 

 part of the agricultural college farm is to be used for practical work, the boys 

 spending K! out of 82 school hours a week in actual field work. 



County Staffs of Instructors in Agricultural Subjects in England and Wales. — 

 A report has recently been issued by the rural education conference, which was 

 Qgtablished by the presidents of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries and 

 the Board of Education in 1910, with reference " as to whether it is desirable 

 that each county should have its own staff of instructors in agriculture, horti- 

 culture, and other allied subjects, or whether it is possible that the services 

 of a single staff should be made available for groups of contiguous counties; 

 as to the training and qualifications which such instructors should possess in 

 order to enable them to secure the confidence of agriculturists; and as to the 

 manner in which the staff should be composed for each county, or group of 

 counties, in England and Wales, in view of the different branches of rural 

 industries followed in each locality." 



The conference reviews the status of the different counties in this respect 

 and states that the gi*eat majority of the counties have a separate staff of 

 their own, which is often supplemented and the work supervised by the staff 

 of the center with which the county is associated ; and that the only grouping 

 of counties is for the purpose of establishing or assisting to maintain a joint 

 college or institute, or more often arises out of association with such a center 

 for agricultural education and research. In the case of certain counties no 

 center at present exists with which they could conveniently be associated. The 

 conference considers that every county either should be associated in combina- 

 tion with other counties with an efiicient center, or if not in combination, 

 should have a minimum efficient staff of its own ; that it is desirable, especially 

 in view of the difficulty of obtaining trained teachers, to concentrate higher 

 agricultural education as far as possible in a few efficient centers; that any 

 county council which is unable or unwilling to establish a minimum staff of 

 its own, should associate itself with the council of an adjoining county; that 

 the minimum staff should consist of an agricultural organizer or adviser, a 

 horticultural instructor, and in most counties, a dairy instructor, to be sup- 

 plemented by competent scientific investigators from the university or agricul- 

 tural college, and instructors in special branches of agriculture. The report 

 also defines the duties and qiialifications of such a staff" and gives specimens of 

 existing staffs of typical counties. 



Agricultural Education in Hungary. — Consul General Paul Nash, of Budapest, 

 reports that agricultural subjects are taught in all Hungarian schools. There 

 are 7 agricultural colleges with experiment stations for the maintenance of 

 which the budget for 1911 provides $192,000. There are also 32 agricultural 

 schools of lower grade for which the cost of maintenance in 1911 is estimated 

 at $865,000. Of this Parliament has appropriated $702,000, the balance coming 

 from tuition fees, etc. 



