900 EXPERIMENT STATION EECOED. [Vol. 36, 1917] 



Provision lias been made for a state educational survey by a board consisting 

 of the presidents of the state university, the A. & M. College, the College of In- 

 dustrial Arts, and one of the state normal schools, the state superintendent 

 of public instruction, aud the state commissioner of agriculture. A report is to 

 be submitted to the next legislature. An appropriation of §2,000,000 was also 

 granted by the legislature for the benefit of the rural schools. 



Agricultural Education and Research in Latin America. — School and So- 

 ciety announces that a Pan-American university has been established in the 

 Republic of Panama. The trustees are to consist of the Secretary of Public 

 Instruction of Panama and the diplomatic representatives of the American Re- 

 publics or their delegates, together with similar representatives of other nations 

 which may maintain chairs in the university. It is hoped that the institution 

 may be of international value, especially along the lines of medicine, law, and 

 agriculture. 



In Venezuela, a presidential decree of March 12, 1917, creates an experimental 

 station of agriculture and forestry, with an acclimatization garden, to be located 

 near Caracas, and intended to serve as a model for other such stations to be 

 established in other parts of the Republic. The objects of the station are the 

 improvement of the methods of cultivation of the principal agricultural products 

 of the country ; the introduction, selection, and distribution of seeds ; experi- 

 ments in reforestation ; the suitability of soils to crops and of crops to the 

 various regions ; and practical work for the training of agricultural foremen 

 9nd forest rangers. H. Pittier, until recently with the U. S. Department of 

 Agriculture, has been appointed in charge of the station and will also superin- 

 tend the making of a survey of the unoccupied land of the Republic, which has 

 recently been ordered. 



The Council of Public Instruction of Ecuador has arranged to establish an 

 agricultural class connected with the faculty of science of Central University 

 at Quito. The professor in charge of this course is also to edit an official bulletin 

 to encourage the study of agriculture. 



Organization of Agricultural Work in Java. — Agricultural work in Java is 

 mainly organized under the Department of Agriculture, Industry, and Com- 

 merce, for which appropriations of about $3,000,000 per annum are available. 

 The agricultural work consists of 14 main bureaus besides several experiment 

 stations. Two of these, the experiment station for tea culture at Buitenzorg 

 and for tobacco at Klaten are in close relation with the department, although 

 supported in part by planters or their associations. Less closely related to the 

 department, but receiving some of its funds, are the station at Salatiga, devoted 

 to local work on coffee, cacao, etc. ; that at Malaug, occupied chiefly with coffee 

 and rubber ; aud that at Djember, principally devoted to tobacco and rubber. 

 There are also two stations without official relations, the sugar-cane station at 

 Passoeroean with its six substations, and the Deli tobacco station at Medan, 

 Sumatra. Efforts are taken, however, not to duplicate these activities. 



Some of the principal enterprises within the department are the bureau of 

 forestry, the botanic gardens, the institute for phytopathology and plant breed- 

 ing, an office of agrogeology and agricultural chemistry, the veterinary institute 

 and service, a laboratory of microbiology, aud special work with rubber, coffee, 

 and cinchona. 



