NOTES. 399 



aiul .'larioiiltnral subjects intended to prepare women to take charge of farm 

 homes, hichiding the kitchen, garden, poultry, etc. Adjacent to this school 

 is a training school which affords facilities for young women who wish to 

 prepare to teach home economics. A similar school is to be opened in the 

 spring of IWS at Scherpinger. in West Prussia. One of the possible develop- 

 ments of schools of this class, it is suggested, will be to make them social and 

 educational centers for the rural communities, with lectures, entertainments, 

 and libraries maintained In connection with the schools for the benefit of all 

 the people in the vicinity. 



School Gardens. — A series of articles on this subject is contributed by H. J. 

 Wright to AtiriciiUural Economist. Detailed instructions for the cultivation 

 of different crops are given. 



It is announced in The Country Gentlemun that the Chautauqua Institution 

 offers to provide 6 weeks' preliminary training in school gardening next sum- 

 mer to any rural school-teacher in Chautauqua County who will undertake 

 this work and carry it out as a feature of elementary instruction in agriculture. 

 The Chautauqua Pomona Grange will aid in perfecting plans for this course 

 and will arrange for 6 scholarships to fui'ther promote the work. 



In Ceylon there are now 117 government schools in which gardens are being 

 carried on. The seeds and implements are supplied by the government, and 

 the gardens are visited as often as possible by the superintendent of school 

 gardens and his assistant. 



State Department of Apiculture in Germany. — A State department of api- 

 culture, under the direction of Dr. A. Fleischmann, was established on Novem- 

 ber 1 in connection with the Zoological Institute of the University of Erlangen. 

 This institution includes a scientific division under the direction of Dr. Enoch 

 Zander, and a practical division under the direction of Karl Hofmann. The 

 Deutsche LanfJirirtschaftliche Pressc in its account of this new institution calls 

 attention to the fact that it is the first of its kind in Europe. 



French Silk Schools.- — According to the Journal of the Society of Arts, two 

 schools in Lyon teach silk culture. One of these (Ecole Superieur de Com- 

 merce) receives pupils from foreign countries and teaches them the entire 

 silk business from the raising of the worm to making the designs, w^eaving the 

 silk, and putting it on the market. The course of study covers two years. The 

 second school (Ecole Municipal de Tissage et de Broderie) is conducted by 

 the city and is intended only for the children of the inhabitants, although 

 foreigners are received on equal terms with the natives. 



Measures before Congress. — Bills introduced into Congress at the opening of 

 the session include the following: For the maintenance of agricultural colleges 

 in Congressional districts, to establish branch experiment stations, to establish 

 agricultural high schools and branch experiment stations connected therewith, 

 to establish a Bureau of Public Roads in this Department, directing the Office 

 of Public Roads to cooperate under certain conditions in the improvement of 

 rural roads, to acquire national forest I'eserves in the Appalachian Mountains, 

 for national aid in various drainage projects, to establish a national wood- 

 testing laboratory, authorizing further experiments and demonstrations by this 

 Department with the cotton boll weevil and other pests, and providing addi- 

 tional funds for the eradication of the Texas fever tick and the gips.v moth. 

 Most of these measures were introduced into the last Congress, but failed of 

 passage. 



Northwestern Live Stock Show. — The first annual show of this association 

 was held at St. Paul, November 19-22. The North Dakota College won a large 

 number of prizes, especially in the swine classes, and the Minnesota College of 

 Agriculture had a notable exhibit, though not entered for competition. W. J. 



