706 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



the Finnish lyceums (corresponding to our high schools) and students 

 holding a bachelor's degree from the State University at Helsingfors 

 are admitted without examination, on presenting the required certifi- 

 cates from pastor and doctor as to age, moral character, general health, 

 freedom from contagious disease, etc. Applicants having had at least 

 a year's experience in practical farm work are given precedence in filling 

 vacant places. 



As in case of all Finnish educational institutions, the confusion of 

 languages in Finland places the teachers at agricultural schools under 

 peculiar difficulties. The Swedish- speaking population of Finland num- 

 bered 14.3 per cent in 1880, and the Finnish-speaking 85.2 per cent, the 

 rest — less than 10,000 — being made up of Eussians, Germans, Lap- 

 landers, etc. Of the city population about 40 per cent are Swedish 

 speaking. In the elementary schools located in the southwestern part 

 of the country the instruction is given in Swedish, while in the other 

 schools the Finnish language is used. In a few cases both Finnish and 

 Swedish are used. Thus, at Mustiala, the professors, according to a 

 Government decree, lecture in Swedish and Finnish in alternate years 

 of the course, and they may therefore in one hour lecture to one class in 

 Swedish and in the next hour to another class in Finnish. 



For a number of years past there has been considerable discussion in 

 Finland concerning the system of higher agricultural education. It has 

 long been felt that the instruction at Mustiala under the conditions 

 present — with the management of a 15,700 acre farm and of the higher 

 and the elementary agricultural school alike in hands of the director of 

 the institute — did not come up to what might reasonably be expected 

 of a modern institution for the scientific training of young men in 

 agriculture. The matter has been discussed by committees appointed 

 by the Government and in the agricultural and daily press, and as an 

 outcome a law has recently been passed providing 2 professorships 

 at the Alexander University in Helsingfors, one in agricultural eco- 

 nomics and agriculture, and the other in agricultural chemistry and 

 agricultural physics, with an instructor (adjunht) in botany and bac- 

 teriology, " in order to advance in this country scientific research and 

 instruction in the subjects j)ertaining to agriculture." The advanced 

 agricultural instruction will then be transferred to the State University, 

 in connection with which an agricultural college will gradually be built 

 up, and Mustiala will be reorganized as an intermediate agricultural 

 school, with courses of instruction similar to those now offered at 

 Kronoborg and Harjus. 



Higher agricultural instruction in Sweden. — Turning our attention 

 now to higher agricultural instruction in Sweden, we find here 2 well 

 organized and equipped agricultural colleges, one each at Ultima and 

 Alnarp. 



(1) Ultima Agricultural College is the oldest Swedish agricultural 

 college. It is located near Upsala, the university city, about 40 miles 

 north of Stockholm. It has a faculty of 11 members, 4 so-called lektorer, 



