NOTES. 1039 



the inspection. The law requires a guaranty of the percentages of protein and fat, 

 and forbids the addition of any mineral substance, sawdust, dirt, or other foreign 

 substance injurious to the health of animals. 



Washington College and Station. — W. S. Thornber, formerly of South Dakota, has 

 been appointed professor of horticulture in the college and horticulturist to the 

 station. 



National Farm School. — The State legislature of Pennsylvania has appropriated 

 812,000 for the school, to be used for agricultural instruction. An offer has been 

 received of a new dormitory, which, with gymnasium arrangements and electrical 

 appliances, will cost about 857,000; and an endowment fund is now being raised to 

 maintain the building. The school receives more applicants for instruction than it 

 can accommodate under present conditions, and there are now about 70 prospective 

 pupils on its waiting list. 



School Legislation in Minnesota. — The Minnesota legislature at its recent session 

 passed two laws of considerable importance to the agriculture of the State. One of 

 these provides for the establishment of a branch school of agriculture at Crookston, 

 to be a department of the University of Minnesota under the direction of the board 

 of regents of the university. The other provides for local option in the establish- 

 ment and maintenance of county schools of agriculture and domestic economy, lim- 

 iting to 820,000 the amount that any county may appropriate for this purpose in 

 one year. The initiative in the matter of establishing such schools may be taken by 

 the people or by the county commissioners, but the county commissioners can not 

 finally establish a school until the question has been submitted to the electors in 

 the county. Two or more counties may unite to establish a school of agriculture 

 and domestic economy. 



The schools are to be under the control of a county school board of 3 members, 

 the secretary of which shall be the county superintendent of schools, and the other 

 2 members are to be elected by the county commissioners. Each school must have 

 connected with it a tract of land, suitable for purposes of experiment and demon- 

 stration, of not less than 10 acres. Tuition is to be free to residents of the county 

 or counties contributing to its support. The State superintendent of public instruc- 

 tion is to have general supervision over the schools, and with the advice of the dean 

 of the College of Agriculture is to prescribe the courses of study to be pursued. 



Agriculture in the Public Schools. — According to an item in the Rocky Mountain 

 News the Colorado State Board of Agriculture is making an experiment in the intro- 

 duction of agriculture into the high schools of the State. Members of the State 

 Agricultural College faculty have been giving short courses of lectures in the high 

 schools of Montrose and Delta. If the experiment is successful an attempt will be 

 made by the board to introduce agricultural teaching in all of the high schools of 

 the State next year. 



A circular of the YVaterford, Pa., High School has been received, which outlines 

 for 1904-5 an agricultural course. This course corresponds to the scientific course of 

 the school, except that lessons on plant life, field, orchard and garden crops, domes- 

 tic animals, soil physics, and chemistry of soils and of plant and animal life are sub- 

 stituted for parts of English history, physical geography, bookkeeping, social law, 

 commercial geography, and other similar subjects. The course covers 4 years, and 

 the students taking it are required, in addition to their regular laboratory and recita- 

 tion work, to prepare special papers on agricultural topics, such as soil exhaustion, 

 plant diseases, soil fertility, feeding farm animals, fruit culture, and the beef type. 

 Farmers' meetings, open to all interested in farming, are also held frequently under 

 the auspices of the agricultural department. 



The board of supervisors of Coles County, 111., has voted $100 to assist in introduc- 

 ing the study of agriculture and domestic arts in the public schools of the county, 



