922 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



cases becomes the property of the boys, in others it is disposed of by the school 

 and the proceeds used for the purchase of seeds or for the benefit of the class, 

 and in others it is taken by the teacher, though the latter practice is not 

 commended. 



The agricultural instruction provided by the different county councils is quite 

 varied in nature. It includes aid to the agricultural departments of colleges; 

 employment of instructors in agriculture, dairying, poultry keeping, bee keeping, 

 and farm hygiene: the management of field experiments, experimental farms, 

 and fruit-growing stations, and the support of classes in horseshoeing, manual 

 training, horticulture, and school gardens, as well as the partial support of 

 training classes for elementary teachers. Not all of the councils carry on work 

 in all of these subjects, but each subject receives some attention in many differ- 

 ent counties of England and Wales. 



The receipts of the county councils from the Customs and Excise Act of 1890 

 have decreased considerably in recent years, but notwithstanding this fact the 

 county councils were able up to last year to increase the amounts devoted to 

 agricultural education. The total amount received in 1903-1 was .$3,369,310, 

 and of this amount $424,764 was devoted to agricultural education in 1904-5. as 

 follows: General expenditures. $47.997 : dairy instruction, $63,512; agricultural 

 lectures. $22.910 ; poultry keeping, $15,272 ; horseshoeing and veterinary science, 

 $13,296; bee keeping, $5,677; horticulture. $50,818; manual processes, $6,264; 

 miscellaneous, $19,633 ; scholarships. $51.240 ; and grants to colleges and schools, 

 $128,597. 



Agricultural instruction for adults in continental countries, J. Hamilton 

 (V. S. Dcpt. Agr., Office E.rpt. Stas. Bui. 163, pp. 32). — This bulletin is intended 

 to supplement Bulletin 155 of this Office on Agricultural Instruction for Adults 

 in the British Empire. It includes a discussion of systems of itinerant instruc- 

 tion in agriculture in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Hungary, 

 Italy. Netherlands, Prussia, Russia, and Sweden, together with notes on some 

 fixed agricultural schools for adults. 



Statistics of land-grant colleges and agricultural experiment stations, 

 1905, Marie T. Spethmann (U. 8. Dcpt. Agr., Office E.rpt. Stas. Girc. 64, 

 pp. 9). — Abstracts of statistics to be published later in full in the Annual Report 

 of the Office of Experiment Stations. 



Negro agricultural and mechanical colleges, J. H. Bluford (South. AYork- 

 man, 35 (1906), No. 1, pp. 28-35, figs. 6). — A general discussion of the origin 

 and present status of agricultural and mechanical colleges for negroes is fol- 

 lowed by a more detailed description of the courses of study and equipment of 

 the Agricultural and Mechanical College for the Colored Race at Greens- 

 boro, N. C. 



This institution is said to occupy a unique position among negro schools in 

 confining all of its instruction to agriculture, the mechanic arts, the English 

 language, and the sciences underlying the same, limiting its instruction to 

 males who have completed grammar school work, providing a very complete 

 equipment, and graduating an unusually- large percentage of students from its 

 agricultural course. 



Teaching agriculture in the common schools, G. Severance (Northwest 

 Jour. Ed., 17 {1905), No. 3. pp. 6-10).— After discussing in a general way the 

 need of agricultural teaching in the common schools and indicating the aim of 

 such teaching, the writer gives a list of inexpensive materials needed for illus- 

 trative purposes, and outlines 9 exercises relating to soils and cultivation. 



The relation of geography to nature study in the elementary school, H. W. 

 Fairbanks (Nature Study Rev., 1 (1905), No. 5, pp. 173-188).— In making a 



