34 



NA TURE 



[November io, 1904 



of the grazing and agricultural areas in the reserve. 

 Three years ago the wheat crop yielded 5000 bushels. 

 The following year it fell to 2500 bushels, and last 

 season the yield was only 800 bushels. .^ cattle ranche 

 in the range, which used to graze more than 100,000 

 head, will now support not more than gooo head. As 

 a remedy it is suggested to adopt stringent rules, 

 regulating the number of stock and the areas on which 

 they shall be grazed on each permit. Very little 

 lumbering has been carried out within the reserve, 

 which is apparently due to the difificulties and expense 

 of transport. The timber species, coniferous and 

 broad-leaved, number fifteen, the yellow pine being the 

 principal timber tree. It is distributed uniformly 

 throughout the extent of the reserve. In some ranges 

 it forms a pure forest. Its average height is 125 feet, 

 with 24 feet of clear trunk with a diameter of 18 inches 

 at breast height. It varies in age from 125 to 150 

 jears. 



The Engehnann's spruce occupies the moister areas 

 above an altitude of 9000 feet. It averages 70 feet in 

 height and 10 inches in diameter. Its age varies from 

 50 to 75 years. Its growth is extremely rapid, but the 

 tree is usually clothed with branches to the ground. 

 \ variety of the Engelmann's spruce, Picea engel- 

 niannii, var. Franciscana, known as the Arizona 

 spruce, gives much better results, averaging 100 feet 

 in height with 20 feet of clear trunk and a diameter 

 of 18 inches. Red fir, white fir, western white pine, 

 alligator juniper, and .'\rizona cypress also occur 

 within the area. The deciduous trees are confined to 

 the borders of streams and marshy areas. The repro- 

 ductive capacity of the various species is exceptionally 

 good, especially where the young growth is afforded 

 shelter by the larger trees. The underbrush through- 

 out the areas in which the yellow pine predominates 

 is very small, and consequently this region has not 

 suffered much injury from forest' fires. The report also 

 embodies detailed descriptions of the various sub- 

 divisions of the range, together with carefully prepared 

 maps and beautiful photographic plates. Of the latter 

 we have reproduced two as an e.xample of the interest- 

 ing way in which these papers are illustrated. 



TECHNICAL EDUCATIOX IN LONDON.' 



V 



'HE last report of the Technical Education Board 

 of the London County Council, dealing with the 

 year 1903-4, directs special attention to the progress 

 made in the provision of technical, secondary, and 

 higher education in London during the past eleven 

 years. Under the recent Education Act (London), 

 1903, the administration of the whole of the education 

 of London passed into the hands of the new Education 

 Committee, and the Technical Education Board ceased 

 to exist. The present report is consequently opportune, 

 and serves to record the great services which have been 

 rendered to education in London by the late Board. 



The most striking features of the report are the 

 evidences provided of the increase and rapid develop- 

 ment of polytechnic institutions, the establishment and 

 success of London County Council schools and 

 technical institutes, and the improvement in the equip- 

 ment and staffing of secondary schools. The extent of 

 the advances made can be estimated satisfactorily by 

 comparing the number of educational institutions pro- 

 viding good scientific and technical education at the 

 time of the supersession of the Technical Board with 

 the number in existence in 1S93, when Mr. Llewellyn 

 Smith reported on the provision made for technical 



1 "Annual Report of the Technical Education Board of the London 

 County Council, 1903-1904.'' (Westminster ; P. S. King and Son, 1904.) 

 Price 2j. bt/. 



NO. 1828, VOL. 71] 



instruction at that time. To take the case of the labor- 

 atory accommodation for the teaching of chemistry. 

 In 1893 there appear to have been about fourteen 

 chemical laboratories in London open in the evening 

 for instruction ; since that time well equipped depart- 

 ments for teaching practical chemistry have been 

 opened in eleven new polytechnic institutions. The 

 total volume of instruction in evening classes in 

 chemistry in 1893 was only about 38,000 student-hours 

 per session, and in polytechnics under 15,000 student- 

 hours. In 1893, after omitting the attendances of 

 students who did not attend for more than twenty 

 hours during the session, the amount of time devoted 

 to evening work in theoretical and practical chemistry 

 amounted to 64,554 student-hours in the polytechnics 

 alone. 



The result obtained by comparing the advance made 

 in the teaching of electricity and electrical technology 

 is just as striking as in the case of chemistry. In 1893. 

 there were five electrical laboratories open tor evening 

 instruction, while in 1903 there were twenty-three in- 

 stitutions giving evening instruction in electricity or 

 electrical technology, or both. In practical electrical 

 engineering there were only four centres in 1893 avail- 

 able for evening instruction, and only one applied for 

 aid from the Board, and at this institution there were 

 thirty-eight students. During the session 1902-3 there 

 were, in polytechnics aided by the Board, a large and 

 increasing number of students for electrical engineer- 

 ing, and the volume of instruction, omitting students 

 who attended for less than twenty hours during the 

 session, amounted to 43,909 student-hours. In addition 

 to these, a large number attended classes in electricity 

 and magnetism in the physics departments of the 

 institutions. The volume of instruction here reached 

 32,872 student-hours. 



Ten years ago there was scarcely any provision in 

 London for pure technological teaching. From the list 

 of evening classes for 1903 it appears that technological 

 instruction is now available in a great variety of sub- 

 jects, of which the most important are : — bricklaying 

 and brick-cutting in twelve institutions, cabinet- 

 making in nine, carpentry and joinery in twenty, furni- 

 ture design in nine, masonry in nine, metal-plate work 

 in eight, painting and decorating in twelve, photo- 

 process work in four, plastering in nine, plumbing in 

 fifteen, printing in four, smithing in six, tailors' 

 cutting in seven, and upholstery in six. This rapid 

 increase in the number of polytechnics and technical 

 institutes in which adequate provision is made for 

 practical instruction in trade subjects has had a re- 

 markable effect in producing an interest in the scientific 

 principles underlying the various trades concerned. 

 As an example, the report quotes the case of the 

 Northampton Institute in Clerkenwell, in which district 

 there is a very large number of special trades. Ir» 

 order to meet the demands of the neighbourhood, 

 classes were started in subjects in which no organised 

 technical instruction had previously been given in 

 Ivondon. Some of these have been remarkably 

 successful, and in several cases it has been found 

 necessary to increase the number of evenings of 

 instruction in order to provide for the large number of 

 students in attendance. 



There has been also, says the report, a natural 

 tendency during the past few years for sporadic 

 classes in trade subjects to disappear in consequence 

 of the increasing popularity of the polytechnics and 

 larger technical institutes, in which arc found 

 thoroughly well equipped laboratories and workshops. 

 The number of distinct trades in which practical in- 

 struction is provided, and also the number of centres 

 where such courses of instruction can be obtained, 

 have more than doubled during the past nine years, 



