596 EXPERIMENT STATION EECOED. 



methods followed by a number of the leading American agricultural colleges, 

 and gives figures to show the number of students taking the four-year agricul- 

 tural courses in all of the agricultural institutions in this country. 



The writer concliides that, judging by the rapid progress America is making in 

 education, it is in a fair way to outstrip Germany not only in agricultural, in- 

 dustrial, and commercial lines, but also intellectually. The principal advantage 

 he finds in the American system of education is free tuition, by means of which 

 talent wherever found is stimulated to free and full development. He quotes 

 figures to show that in xVmerica it is eight times as easy for the children of 

 poor parents to go through the secondary .schools and colleges as it is in I'russia, 

 and concludes that it is not strange therefore that self-made men are so much 

 more numerous in America than they are in Prussia. He favors the extension 

 of the free-school system in Prussia as rapidly as circumstances will permit, and 

 recommends as a first step in this extension tlie development of winter courses 

 in the regular schools by means of which country cliildren fi'om 11 to 13 years 

 of age, who are needed at home during the summer, may be able to attend school 

 during the winter months and continue to do this until they are 16 or 17 years 

 old. 



He also finds that the greater adaptability of American schools to local con- 

 ditions is worthy of imitation. He favors the extension of the system of elective 

 courses, and also believes that the Prussian schools devote too much time to 

 language study for the purpose of acquiring facility in the use of words rather 

 than the acquirement of facts. And. finally, he says that Prussian schools have 

 no occasion to rest on their laurels, but should rather watch American progress 

 and not delay too long the adoption of such improvements as are practicable. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Experiment Station Work, XXXVII {U. ,S. Dcpt. Agr., Farmers' Bui 267, 

 pp. J2. piJ. 1). — This number contains articles on the following subjects: Breed- 

 ing corn ; buckwheat ; sugar beets on alkali soils ; alfilaria as a forage plant ; 

 apple bitter rot; grass mulch for orchards; hardiness of young fruit trees; 

 protecting cows from files; effect of silage on milk ; and cold storage of cheese. 



Farmers' bulletin subject index, G. W. Hill (U. 8. Dept. Agr., Div. Pubs. 

 Circ. 4, pp. IS). — A list of subjects in alphabetical order of the Farmers' Bul- 

 letins now available for distribution. 



The healthful farmhouse, Helen Dodd {Boston: Whitcomh & ,Barroics, 

 1906,pp.X-\-H9,pls.5,figs.S,dgms.3). — On the basis of experience the arrange- 

 ment and care of different rooms in the farmhouse are discussed with a view 

 to securing greater comfort and lessening worlv, and suggestions are made re- 

 garding plumbing, furnishing, and related questions. 



The volume contains an introduction and a supplementary chapter on the 

 opportunity of the consolidated school by Ellen II. Richards, particularly along 

 manual training lines. 



