300 EXPERIMENT STATION EECOED. 



State School of Agriculture in Vermont. — The legislature of Vermont has 

 passed a bill establishing a State school of agriculture with an appropriation of 

 $20,000 for buildings, repairs, and equipment, and $10,000 annually for main- 

 tenance. The bill also makes provision for the discontinuance of the State 

 Normal School at Itandolph, and the transfer of its property to the trustees of 

 the new school of agriculture. This will give a fairly good equipment of build- 

 ings to begin with, and it is understood tliat suitable land can be procured in the 

 vicinity. The act is to take effect at once and it is expected that the school 

 will open in the fall of 1911. The board of trustees is to consist of the gover- 

 nor and the commissioner of agriculture, ex officio, and three practical agricul- 

 turists to be appointed by the governor, and the trustees are to appoint a local 

 director. 



Agricultural Instruction at Columbia University. — It is announced that the 

 projected agricultural school of the university will be located at Fishkill-on- 

 the-Hudsou, where William Blodgett has given the university a farm of about 

 750 acres for the purpose, and that active development of the property will be- 

 gin this spring. 



Continuing the work inaugurated last winter the university is conducting a 

 course of 16 lectures on economic agriculture, the lectures being given weekly 

 at 4.30 o'clock by different specialists and by farmers in the vicinity of New 

 York City. The enrollment for these courses, according to the Country Gentle- 

 man, was 170, as against 35 last year. 



Experiment Station at Oaxaca, Mexico. — According to a recent note by Consular 

 Agent E. M. Lawton, of Oaxaca, Mexico, the formal opening of this station (E. 

 S. R., 22, p. 408) occurred in connection with the recent centennial celebi-ation of 

 Mexican independence. The equipment includes 2,000 acres of diversified soils 

 and altitudes, an electric pumping plant, an irrigation system, and extensive 

 buildings. Stock raising, dairying, forestry, and plant propagation are among 

 the lines of work contemplated. It is also planned to open a school for the 

 practical instruction of prospective overseers and foremen of haciendas and 

 ranches early in 1911. 



New Jersey Country Life Meeting. — A rural life conference was held at 

 Morristown, N. J., November 19. The speakers included President Henry A. 

 Buttz, of Drew Seminary, who presided ; President K. L. Butterfleld, of the 

 Massachusetts Agricultural College, who spoke on the rural church in country 

 life; Assistant Secretary W. M. Hays, of this Department, who discussed the 

 rural school systems and agricultural high .schools ; Miss Sarah B. Askew, of 

 the New Jersey State Library, who spoke of the benefits of traveling libraries 

 to country people; Mrs. Frank Ambler Pattison, president of the New Jersey 

 State Federation of Women's Clubs, as to the possibilities of such clubs in 

 rural districts; and Preston G. Orwig, organizing secretary of the Boy Scouts 

 of America, tand Dr. George E. Fisher, of the International Committee of the 

 T. M. C. A., regarding certain phases of their work for country boys. During 

 the conference a commission was appointed to study rural conditions in Morris 

 and Essex counties, with a view to putting into practical working the sugges- 

 tions presented. 



Montana Country Life Commission. — A country life commission of five has 

 been oi-ganized in Montana, among the members being F. S. Cooley, of the 

 Montana College. Among its suggested projects is the organization of farmers' 

 clubs. 



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