13* 



NA TURE 



[June 7, 1888 



cation of those managers, determine whether the terms so 

 proposed are reasonable. 



3. — (1) Any local authority empowered to carry into execution 

 the provisions of the Public Libraries Acts with respect to the 

 ■establishment and maintenance of public libraries, public 

 museums, schools for science, art galleries, and schools for art, 

 may from time to time supply or aid the supply of technical in- 

 struction by providing or aiding in the provision of teachers, 

 apparatus, or buildings to such extent and on such terms as the 

 authority think expedient, and may exercise its powers under 

 this section either with or without exercising any of its powers 

 -under the Public Libraries Acts. 



(2) Provided as follows : — 



(a) In a district for which there is a School Board, the local 

 authority shall not out of their own funds supply or aid the supply 

 of technical instruction suitable for scholars receiving at a public 

 elementary school instruction in the obligatory or standard 

 subjects prescribed by the minutes of the Education Department 

 for the time being, except to the extent, if any, to which the 

 .authority was so supplying or aiding before the establishment of 

 a School Board. 



(b) In a district for which there is not a School Board, the 

 managers of a public elementary school shall not receive aid 

 under this section except for scholars for whom technical in- 

 struction may be supplied or aided by a School Board in a 

 district for which there is a School Board. 



(3) The amount of the rate to be levied in any one year 

 under the Public Libraries Acts as amended by this Act for the 

 additional purposes authorized by this section shall not exceed 

 the sum of one penny in the pound, and where the powers given 

 by the Public Libraries Acts are exercised concurrently with 

 the powers given by this section shall not exceed txvopence in the 

 pound. 



4. — (1) The managers of any technical school in the district 

 -of a School Board or local authority may make an arrangement 

 with the Board or authority for transferring their school to that 

 Board or authority, and the Board or authority may assent to any 

 such arrangement. 



(2) The provisions of section twenty-three of the Elementary 

 Education Act, 1870, with respect to arrangements for the 

 transfers of schools, shall apply in the case of arrangements for 

 the transfers of schools in pursuance of this section. 



5. — Every minute of the Department of Science and Art with 

 respect to the condition on which grants may be made for technical 

 instruction shall be laid on the table of both Houses of Parlia- 

 ment within three weeks after it is made, if Parliament is then 

 titting, and if Parliament is not then sitting, within three weeks 

 after the then next session of Parliament, and shall not come 

 into operation until one month after being so laid. 



6. — In this Act — 



The expression "technical instruction" means instruction in 

 the principles of science and art applicable to industries and 

 in the application of special branches of science and art to 

 specific industries or employments. It does not include teaching 

 the practice of any trade or industry or employment, but, sub- 

 ject as aforesaid, includes instruction in the branches of science 

 and art with respect to which grants are for the time being 

 made by the Department of Science and Art, and any other 

 form of instruction which may for the time being be sanctioned 

 by that Department by a minute laid before Parliament and 

 made on the representation of a School Board or local authority 

 that such a form of instruction is required by the circumstances 

 of its district. 



The expression "technical school" means a school or 

 •department of a school which is giving technical instruction 

 to the satisfaction of the Department of Science and Art. 



The expression "manual instruction" means instruction in 

 the use of tools and modelling in clay, wood, or other material. 



The expression "the Education Department" means the 

 Lords of the Committee of Her Majesty's Privy Council on 

 Education. 



The expression "local authority" means the Council, Com- 

 missioners, Board, or other persons or authority carrying into 

 execution, or empowered to carry into execution, the Public 

 Libraries Acts. 



The expression " Public Libraries Acts " means the Public 

 Libraries (England) Acts, 1855 to 1887, and the Public Libraries 

 {(Ireland) Acts, 1855 to 1884. 



7- — This Act may be cited as the Technical Instruction Acf, 



SCHEDULE. 



Standard. 



Reading. — To read a passage from some standard author. 



Writing. — A short theme or letter on an easy subject, spelling, 

 handwriting, and composition to be considered. An exercise in 

 dictation may, at the discretion of the inspector, be submitted 

 for composition. 



Arithmetic. — Eractions, vulgar and decimal, simple pro- 

 portion, and simple interest. 



A GRICUL TURA L ED UCA TION IN NOR THERN 

 ITALY AND IN PRUSSIA. 



jV/TR. COLNAGHI, Consul-General at Florence, in the course 



A of an elaborate Report on his district, refers at some 

 length to agricultural education in the province of Florence. 

 He describes especially the well-known "Academia dei Geor- 

 gofili," the Tuscan Society of Agriculture, the Comizi Agrari, 

 or Agricultural Boards, the Stazioni Agrarie, and also refers to the 

 various institutes and schools which have been established of 

 late years in the province. The "Academia dei Georgofili"of 

 Florence was founded in 1753, and was the first Association of 

 the kind formed in Italy to promote the science of agriculture. 

 On the roll of the Academy are to be found the names of the 

 most distinguished Italian agronomists, and the long series of its 

 Transactions contains important papers on all points of interest 

 connected with the agriculture of Tuscany. 



The Royal Tuscan Society of Horticulture, which was estab- 

 lished in 1854, now numbers about 700 members. Much useful 

 work has been done by this body in encouraging the improved 

 cultivation of fruit, vegetables, flowers, and ornamental places 

 and by the holding of annual shows in Florence. 



Each district of the province has its Comizio Agrario, the 

 objects of which are to extend agricultural skill and knowledge, 

 or encourage improvements, and to form a centre for the 

 diffusion of information. The Comizi offer prizes for improve- 

 ments in cultivation, hold Conferences on various subjects, and 

 publish Bulletins containing much useful information on prac- 

 tical subjects. These bodies are supported by members' subscrip- 

 tions, and by grants from the Minister of Agriculture and from 

 the province. Besides the annual shows held at Florence, there 

 are regional agricultural shows (Concorsi Agrarii Regionali), 

 instituted by the Ministry of Agriculture and the Comizi Agrari, 

 which are held at stated periods, and in which some five or six 

 provinces are included. These larger shows have been useful in 

 bringing agriculturists from various parts of the country together, 

 showing the latest improvements in machinery, and in displaying 

 the various products of the different districts. 



At the " Stazione Agraria" of Florence, which is a branch of 

 the Technical Institute, and is under the direction of Prof. 

 Bechi, experiments are made on the culture and diseases of the 

 vine, the olive, and other plants, and analyses are made of soil, 

 minerals, water, wines, &c. Attached to the Stazione is an 

 experimental farm six hectares in size, and also a Government 

 depot of agricultural machinery. 



There is also in Florence a Bureau of Agricultural Entomo- 

 l°gy> under Prof. Tragioni-Tozzetti, where great attention is 

 paid to the Phylloxera. This Bureau is in fact the centre of 

 information for the whole of Italy on entomological subjects. 



For practical instruction the province contains the Regio 

 Istituto Forestale (Vallombrosa), the Regia Scuola di Pomo- 

 logia e d'Orticoltura (Florence), and the Scuole Agrarie of 

 Castaletti, near Signa, and of Scandicci, in the immediate 

 neighbourhood of Florence. The Forest Institute of Vallom- 

 brosa, now under the Presidency of Prof. Piccioli, who is 

 assisted by eight professors, was founded in 1869, on the model 

 of the forestry schools of France, Germany, and Austria, to 

 supply a sufficient number of trained officers for the Department 

 of Woods and Forests. From 1869 till the present time, 159 

 students have entered the school, and of these 136 have received 

 diplomas. All of these have entered into the service of their 

 native country, except one who was a Swiss. The course of 

 study lasts three years, during which time instruction is given in 

 forestry and kindred subjects, and in French and German. The 

 limits of age at entrance are sixteen and twenty-two, and the 

 annual charge for board, residence, and instruction is fixed at 

 700 lire. The State pays a portion of the cost of some of the 

 students, and sometimes their respective provinces do so. 



