•198 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



by the Department of over 99 per cent, ami an inc■rea^^e in the animal rentals 

 of 150 per cent. 



Measures before Congress. — A bill has been introduced into Congress by Sen- 

 ator Nelson and liepresentative Davis to increase the annual appropriation to 

 agricultural colleges. The bill provides an increase of .$.j,000 to each college for 

 the year ending .June 30, 1908. increasing this amount .'F5.000 each year for 5 

 years, when a maximum annual appropriation of .$25,000, in addition to the 

 Morrill Fund, will be I'eached. A portion of the appropriation may be used 

 " for providing courses for the special preparation of instructors for teaching 

 the elements of agriculture and the mechanic arts." 



Other bills recently introduced into Congress include the following: A joint 

 resolution to provide for the printing of 50,000 copies each of the Special Report 

 on the Diseases of the Horse, and of the Special Report on the Diseases of 

 Cattle ; to appropriate $50,000 additional for demonstration farms in the cotton 

 boll-weevil district ; appropriating .$2.30.000 to eradicate the Texas fever tick ; 

 for the establishment of a drainage fund and the construction of works for the 

 reclamation of swaiiip and overflowed lands, and for the maintenance of agri- 

 cultural colleges in Congressional districts. The urgent deficiency bill as 

 passed contains an appropriation of .$250,000 to enable the Secretary of Agri- 

 culture to enforce the provisions of the pure-food law enacted at the last 

 session. 



Conference on Secondary Education in the South. — At a conference recently 

 held at the University of Virginia, participated in by representatives from 

 Southern State universities and colleges, superintendents of education, and 

 other invited educators, a session of 4 hours was given to the discussion of 

 agriculture in high schools, at which addresses were given by Dr. S. A. Knapp, 

 of Louisiana; D. .T. Crosby, of this Office; Prof. William Lochhead. of Mac- 

 donald College, and others. It seemed to be the consensus of opinion that all 

 over the South there is an increasing demand for instruction in agriculture in 

 schools of different grades, but that it is not now feasible to introduce it into 

 all schools on account of the lack of competent teachers. It was agreed, how- 

 ever, that every effort should be made to take advantage of conditions which 

 seem favorable for its introduction. 



Virginia Educational Conference. — At a conference of superintendents, 

 school officials, the State Teachers' Association, and the Virginia Library 

 Association, held at Richmond, A. C. True read a paper on Agriculture in the 

 Public Schools ; A. M. Soule, of the Virginia Station, presented a report on The 

 Virginia Farmer and the Schools, and D. J. Crosby gave an illustrated lecture 

 on How Agriculture is Taught in the Public Schools. 



New Veterinary College and Physiological Laboratory. — The Breeders' Gazette 

 states that sulistantial progress has licen made toward establishing a veterinary 

 college at the Chicago Union Stock Yards as a department of the Univei'sity of 

 Illinois. A proposition to this effect has been submitted to the trustees of the 

 university and has met with favorable consideration. The object of this insti- 

 tution will be, in addition to the training of ordinary veterinary practitioners, 

 the supplying of inspectors for the Government "service. In connection with the 

 veterinary instruction the project contemplates completely equipped labora- 

 tory for physiological research. It is understood that the packing houses pro- 

 pose to contribute liberally toward the erection of buildings and the initial 

 endowment, but that the management will rest entirely with the University of 

 Illinois. 



Downton College Closed. — The College of Agriculture at Downton, England, 

 a.ccording to a recent note in Mark Lane Express, has been closed. This college 

 was a private institution, opened in 1880 by Professor Wrightson. and was quite 



