NOTES. 1137 



ment of the Universit}- of Xebraska, has been appointed professor of l)aeteriology in 

 the university and station, and will enter upon his duties Sejitember 1. 



Flokida Ageict-i.tural IxsTixrTE. — The legislature of the State of Florida at its 

 recent session jirovided for the establishment of an agricultural institute, for practi- 

 cal instruction in that subject, to be located at Kissimmee. An appropriation of 

 |5,000 was made for establishing the institute, and ?5,000 for its maintenance for 

 two years. 



California Polytechxic School. —The first annual I'atalogue of thi.s new school 

 has recently been received. The State legislature in 1901 appropriated §50,000 for 

 the establishment of the school, and it was located on a 280 acre tract of land near 

 San Luis Obispo. The past winter the legislature appropriated §H4,400 to complete 

 the buildings undertaken, and for equipment and maintenance during the biennium. 

 It is distinctly stated that the institution will not be of the college grade, and will not 

 aim to prepare students to enter a higher institution of learning. ' ' Its course of study 

 is arranged solely in view of the needs of the boy and girl who are going to earn a 

 livelihood after completing its course." This covers three years. The work of the 

 first two years is prescribed for all students, and includes both agriculture and 

 mechanics for the boys and domestic science for the girls. The third year about one- 

 half the course is elective. The instruction will be both theoretical and practical, and 

 much of the work on the farm and in erecting frame buildings for the farm will be 

 done by the students. Two buildings, an admission building and a dormitory, each 

 having two main floors and a high basement, are approaching completion. The 

 school Avill open in September, and the prospects for the entering class are already 

 good. The director, it will be remembered, is Dr. Leroy Anderson, formerly of the 

 New York Cornell Station, and more recently of the California Tniversitv and 

 Station. 



Japanese Expekiment Stations. — The successful work of the local agricultural 

 experiment stations in Japan has made it possible for the Ministry of Agriculture 

 and Commerce to reduce the number of branch experiment stations connected with 

 the Central Agricultural Experiment Station at Nishigahara, and to concentrate its 

 efforts and funds on a smaller number of stations and fewer lines of work. Until 

 April, 1903, there were 9 of these branch stations, but at that time 6 of them, viz, 

 the Hokuriku, Too, Tokai, Shikoku, Sanio, and Sanin branch stations, were turned 

 over to the control of the local governments, and the funds and staffs of these insti- 

 tutions were transferred to the Central Agricultural Experiment Station, and the 

 3 remaining branch stations, i. e., those at Kashiwabara, Idzumimura, and Hanada- 

 temura. The funds available for the Central Station and its 3 branches for the fiscal 

 year ending March 31, 1904, amount to $91,920. The total budget of the Ministry of 

 Agriculture and Commerce for the same year is 63,386,713. The local stations 

 referred to above now number 39. They receive subsidies from the Ministry of 

 Agriculture and Commerce amounting to §65,000 a year and also funds appropri- 

 ated by the local governments. The annual expenditures of these stations varv from 

 §2,200 to §11,232. In addition to the stations supported by public funds, there are 

 3 private expermient stations. The island of Formosa supports 3 agricultural experi- 

 ment .stations and a tea exi^eriment station, all of which are under the control of the 

 Bureau of Industries of Formosa. 



Tour of the German Agriculturists. — The party of forty-four gentlemen, mostly 

 landowners and members of the German Agricultural Society, who had been on a 

 tour of this country since May 2, concluded their trip in New York June 24. The 

 party visited points of agricultural interest in eighteen different States, and traveled 

 for that purpose about 11,000 miles. At the request of the German Agricultural 

 Society the itinerary of the trip had been arranged in this Department, and ^Ir. J. I. 

 Schulte, of this Office, accompanied the jjarty as conductor. A slight change was 



