302 EXPERIMENT STATION EECORD. 



in botany, chemistry, geology, ph3^sics, agricultural zoology, ento- 

 mology, meteorolog}', land surveying and leveling", and bookkeeping, 

 all with special reference to agriculture and horticulture. Instruction, 

 largely in the form of lectures, is given during the forenoon of each 

 school day, and in the afternoon students, both men and women, engage 

 in the operations on the farm under the supervision of their instructors. 

 A foreman, gardener, and small force of laborers are employed, so that 

 the farm operations go on continuously, the students doing such work 

 as they can in the three or four hours a day that they devote to their 

 practical exercises. The school is conducted, as its title indicates, as 

 a practical school, and no attempt is made to furnish a general educa- 

 tion, only such branches of science being taught as are necessary to an 

 intelligent understanding of the practical instruction in agriculture and 

 horticulture. 



The school is maintained by tuition fees of §100 a year per pupil and 

 a charge for board in the dormitorv of §280 a year, together with funds 

 secured by the trustees from private sources. 



The present year about thirtj'-five students are in attendance, almost 

 all of whom come from cities. Their ages range from 16 to 35 years, 

 and most of them have previously had a high-school education or its 

 equivalent, while some have enjoyed college privileges. Among them 

 are some persons of considerable means who are studjing agriculture 

 with special reference to investments in land or the management of 

 large estates. The school has been remarkably successful in attracting 

 students, and has already reached the present limit of its accommo- 

 dations. Plans ai-e therefore being made for securing equipment on a 

 larger scale. The applications for admission show that if the tuition 

 fee and board were not so high, man}' more students could easily be 

 obtained. It thus seems clear that the school is meeting a real demand 

 for practical instruction in agriculture on an entirely different basis 

 from that given in the agricultural colleges, and that there are a con- 

 siderable number of young people in our cities who, for one reason or 

 another, would prefer to engage in pursuits of country life, provided 

 they had the training requisite for success in them. This school will 

 not in any way take the place of the agricultural college or of second- 

 ary schools of agriculture maintained at public expense and intended 

 for the instruction of boys and girls on farms. Its success is, however, 

 one of many indications that the time is at hand for the broadening of 

 our system of agricultural education to include secondary and special 

 schools of agriculture and horticulture, to meet the varied needs of our 

 youth in both city and country for training which will tit them to meet 

 with success in practical agriculture and horticulture. 



At the Briarcliff' school, as elsewhere, when attempts have been 

 made to give practical instruction in agriculture and horticulture, dif- 



