690 EXPERIMENT STATION EECOKD. 



Course in nature study for elementary grades of Minnesota public 

 schools, Flokence E. Lillie i2Iinneapolis, Minn.: Dept. Pub. Instr., 1909, pp. 

 SI). — This course emphasizes at the outset the view that a nature-study course 

 should not be planned as an introduction to elementary science, or even as a 

 basis for future high-school science and agriculture; "into one or the other it 

 should gradually blend; but that is not its object." The work as planned in 

 this course is carefully classified as to the plants and animals to be studied each 

 term, to avoid uninteresting repetition and the frequently just criticism that 

 nature-study work is " scattering and disconnected." The outline for the higher 

 grades makes free use of The First Book of Farming (E. S. R., 17, p. 96), and 

 a considerable list of other standard agricultural and special texts is included 

 in the last two pages. 



Rural continuation schools in Prussia, Teunz (Illus. Landio. Ztg., 29 {1909), 

 Xci. JfJf, pp. Jf30-Jt32). — ^An account of the development of rural continuation 

 schools, and a discussion of their courses of study, with particular reference to 

 the amount of agricultural instruction to be included in them. 



The theoretical training of practical farmers, P. Herzbeeg (Landw. 

 Wchnschr. Sachsen, 11 (1909), IS^o. 3't, pp. 320, 321).— Brief descriptions are 

 presented of the various classes of German schools giving instruction in agri- 

 culture, including the agricultural winter school, the rural continuation school, 

 the farm school, a new school for practical farmers and estate managers estab- 

 lished last year at Neuhaldensleben with a course extending thi-ough one winter 

 semester, and the agricultural schools. 



Farraers' institutes for women, J. Hamilton ( U. 8. Dept. Agr., Office Expt. 

 Stas. Cire. 85, pp. 16). — ^A discussion of the importance of farmers' institutes 

 for women is followed by suggestions for organiziug such work, including the 

 form of organization for county and state associations, and data concerning the 

 kind of instruction women's institutes should give and the extent to which 

 women's institute work has been developed in the different States. 



Programme for technical schools and science and art schools and classes 

 {Dept. Agr. and Tech. Instr. Ireland [Circ], 1909, pp. 26). — This is an explana- 

 tory circular, with the regulations for 1909-10 for the administration and dis- 

 tribution of grants to schools other than day secondary schools. 



Beport of the Royal Institute for Instruction in Viticulture, Pomology, 

 and Horticulture, Geisenheim, J. "Woetmann {Ber. K. Lchranst. Wien, Obst 

 u. Gartenhau Geisenheim, 1908, pp. IV-\-212, figs. 11, dgms. Jf). — This is a report 

 on changes in the personnel of the institute, attendance, student excursions, 

 additions to buildings, the library, and the collections of specimens, the technical 

 and scientific work of the institute, the work of the viticultural station at 

 Geisenheim-Eibingen, and extension work. 



The progress of agricultural education in the state schools of the Sale 

 (East Gippsland) District, E. R. Davey {Jour. Dept. Agr. Victoria, 7 {1909), 

 No. 8, pp. 533-538, figs. 10). — Agriculture is now substituted for the science 

 course in 55 of the schools in this inspection district. The instruction is supple- 

 mented by a series of experiments in which the child's powers of observation and 

 reasoning are carefully and systematically cultivated. The course embraces 

 the formation and analysis of soils (correlated with physical geography), the 

 nature and value of humus, plant foods and how obtained (osmosis) and their 

 availability at different depths of soil, the water-holding capacity of soils (the 

 necessity for drainage, tillage, and mulching), the progress of plants in dry, 

 drained, and saturated soils, and the growth of plants under varying conditions. 

 School plats are maintained for the testing of varieties of cereals, forage crops, 

 fibers, fruits, and vegetables, and the comparison of crops grown with and 

 without fertilizers. 



