284 



NA TURE 



[July 18, 1901 



it is preeminently a sheep farm, the soil being a light 

 loam resting on chalk ; the main features of the farming 

 consist of a breeding flock of the Romney Marsh breed, a 

 small dairy herd of shorthorns and a large stock of 

 .poultry. There is a small hop garden, planted in 1S95, 

 to test the various systems in vogue of traming hops and 

 for other experimental work. The two fruit plantations 

 are both young ; one is used for teaching purposes, the 

 other is mainly laid out for experiments. On the farm 

 are situated the dairy, forge, carpenter's shop, apiary, &c. 

 The staff of the College consists of seven resident pro- 

 fessors and lecturers, together with instructors in practical 

 subjects, demonstrators, &c., the necessity for this exten- 

 sive staffbeing that the College is also a centre for much 



practical experience with the children of the Wye Ele- 

 mentary School. 



At present there are some fifty to sixty students in 

 residence, mostly taking the ordinary course, but a few 

 are doing special work in the laboratories ; it is hoped 

 that such students will increase with the facilities the 

 institution now affords for research which requires work 

 both in the field and the laboratory. Both at home and 

 in our Colonies and dependencies agriculture wants 

 trained investigators and teachers if we are to keep our 

 place, and the South Eastern Agricultural College is 

 making a serious attempt to supply within the London 

 University the kind of institution that has done such good 

 service for American and German farminij. 



Fig. 2. — Biological Laboratory of the South Eastern Agricultural College. 



«xtra-mural work in the counties of Kent and Surrey, 

 such as courses of lectures, analyses of soils and manures, 

 reports on crop diseases, field experiments and similar 

 investigations. As regards the latter, experiments on the 

 manuring and cultivation of hops have been carried on 

 consecutively for six years, and results of considerable 

 practical importance are beginning to emerge. Other 

 work extending over several years has been done on the 

 quality of barley as affected by manuring, the cost of 

 growing sugar beet and its food value, and a systematic 

 examination of the soils of Kent and Surrey has also been 

 in progress for some time. 



The normal course of instruction extends over two or 

 three years ; the College grants a diploma of its own, and 

 with the constitution of a board of agricultural studies in 

 the University of London it is expected that regulations 

 for the degree course will soon be forthcoming. 



Short sessions for special purposes are held from time 

 to time ; in .August, for example, there will be a normal 

 ■course of instruction in "nature knowledge" for ele- 

 mentary school masters, the outcome of two years' 



NO. 1655, '^OL. 64] 



THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 



Glasgow Meeting, September 11-18, 1901. 



IN the first article which appeared in Nature on 

 May 23, particulars were given regarding the local 

 arrangements as to reception room, rooms for sectional 

 meetings, and the halls in which the presidential and 

 other evening scientific lectures were to be delivered. 

 The Friday evening lecture is to be given by Prof. W. 

 Ramsay, on inert constituents of the atmosphere, and 

 the Monday evening lecture is to be given by Mr. Francis 

 Darwin, on the movemients of plants. 



Two important fixtures by the Excursions' and Enter- 

 tainments' Committee have been made si nee the last 

 notice, namely, the chartering of one of the Clyde 

 steamers for a whole day's sail on Saturday, September 14, 

 and the acceptance of an offer by Lord Blythsvvood, 

 president of the Philosophical Society of Glasgow, to give 

 a garden party in the Botanical Gardens on the afternoon 

 of Monday, September 16. 



Promises of nunierous papers by eminent authors are 



