NOTES. 199 



Agricultural Instruction in Ireland. — Acfordiiis to tlio Aiumnl Koport of the 

 Depiirtineiit of Agriculture and Tec-linical lustruc-tion for Ireland. llK»4-r), agri- 

 cultural instruction was continued at the Koyal College of Science, Dublin. th(> 

 Albert Agricultural College, Glasneviu, and at Munster Institute, Corlv. Ai the 

 Royal College of Science 38 students were in attendance. ;tt tlie Albert Agricul- 

 tural College 08, and at Muuster Institute 50, the latter all young women. 'IMie 

 courses in dairying, calf rearing, poultry keeping, gardening, sewing, cooking, and 

 laundry work at the Munster Institute are so highly appreciated that although 

 only ;"(() students can lie admitted, there were at the time of tliis r<>j)ort nearly 

 2~A) applicants on the waiting list of the department. 



Winter agricultural schools, running from six to twenty-six weeks, were held 

 at l(i centers and 317 students were enrolled. Twenty itinerant instructors 

 were at work during the year and attended a total of 1.054 meetings of farmers. 

 A large number would have been employed but for the difficulty of securing men 

 of adequate training and experience. To overcome this difficulty somewhat the 

 department held a forestry school for instructors in agriculture at Avondale 

 Forestry Station, a poultry-fattening school at Avondale Poultry Station, and a 

 bee-keeping school at All^ert Agricultural College. 



Reclamation of the Rann of Cutch in India. — The following concerning this 

 great reclamation enterprise is (pioted from tScioicr: "According to Renter's 

 Agency, the Indian government has under consideration a scheme for reclaiming 

 tlie Rann of Cutch, a work which, if carried out, will be similar to that under- 

 taken by the Dutch in the Zuider Zee. The Rann of Cutch is a waste, at some 

 seasons water, at others land, and it is proposed to reclaim it by closing the 

 inlets from the sea, which are narrow. The water, which is everywhere shal- 

 low, would then evaporate rapidly, leaving heavy saline deposits. These, it is 

 thought, could be washed out and drained away by a great canal to be con- 

 structed from the Indus. The application of scientific agriculture to the re- 

 claimed land and the construction of a railway linking Karachi and Bombay 

 would complete the jiroposed scheme." 



International Conference on Hybridization and Plant Breeding. — xVt the con- 

 cluding meeting of this conference, according to a note in Xatiirc. Veitch gold 

 memorial medals were presented to W. Bateson. F. R. S.. the president of the con- 

 ference. Professor Johannsen. Professor Wittmack. and I'rof. Maurice de Yil- 

 morin. and silver-gilt Banksian medals to Miss E. R. Saunders, lecturer on botany 

 r.t Newnham College, and R. II. Biffen, for eminent services rendered to scien- 

 tific and iiractical horticulture. Professor de Vilmorin, as the representative of 

 the Horticultural Society and the Botanical Society of France, invited the 

 society to hold its next conference at Paris. 



During the conference the following resolution was adopted : " That the mem- 

 bers of the International Conference on Ilyln-idization and Plant Breeding, 

 gathered from all parts of the world and assembled iu the Hall of the Royal 

 Horticultural Society of Great Britain, desire to express to the President of the 

 I'nited States of. America and to the Minister of the Department of Agriculture 

 at Washington their hearty appreciation of and thanks for the invaluable as- 

 sistance which has Iteen given to farmers, liorticulturists. planters, and scien- 

 tific men tiirouglumt thi' whole world l)y the lil)eral distribution of American re- 

 search ]>ubli cations." 



Jubilee Horticultural Exposition. — An iutern.itional ;irt and hortii-uitural ex- 

 position is to l)e held at Mannlieim. Germany, during the growing season of 

 JVMIT. Eiglit sjiecial exhibits are to be made on different dates, six of whicli will 

 be international in character. The first of the international exhiliits will l)e 

 held ^lay 18-21. at which forced fruits and vegetal»l(»s. including asparagus, will 

 be the special features. A secoud exhibit will be held June 8-11, with straw- 



