248 



NATURE 



[May 8, 1913 



nection at home the effects were identical with 

 those shown at the Imperial College. 



In this country little attention is paid to piano- 

 forte touch, owing-, probably, to the use of boxed- 

 up pianos covered with jangling' ornaments, when 

 sufficient volume of sound has to be obtained 

 by violently hammering the keys and bobbing 

 down the pedals through harmonics and discords. 

 Moreover, the average pianoforte pupil has too 

 much to do with learning execution to trouble 

 about "touch," and very few professionals produce 

 variations in the quality of their notes at all 

 approaching the possible maximum. It is not 

 surprising, therefore, to find widespread belief in 

 the single-variable theory. At the same time, I 

 do not consider it possible to overlook the numer- 

 ous results of independent observation which are 

 inconsistent with that theory. 



It is much to be hoped that the increasing 

 popularity of the player-piano will lead to in- 

 creased interest in the more scientific aspects of 

 piano-playing. 



The explanation of the acoustical effects pro- 

 duced by the modern pianoforte is probably a 

 dynamical problem of considerable complexity, de- 

 pending on a number of causes, many of which 

 have hitherto been neglected. It is important 

 that not only should attention be directed to any 

 investigations bearing on the matter which have 

 commonly been overlooked, but that further ex- 

 periments should be carried on with the object 

 of better localising the apparent discrepancy 

 which exists between theory and observation. 



G. H. Bryan. 



AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 



FOR many years past technical education of a 

 more or less efficient kind has been provided 

 for the majority of our leading industries, but for 

 some reason or other our greatest industry of all, 

 and that on which indirectly all the others depend, 

 has been left with scarcely any provision at all. It 

 may be that this is due to the fact that agriculture 

 is the nurseling of one Government Department 

 and education of another, and that under our rigid 

 red-tape-bound system, agriculture has no dealings 

 with education. It gives peculiar pleasure, there- 

 fore, to note that this system shows signs of 

 amendment, and one of the firstfruits of reform 

 is seen in a memorandum recently issued by the 

 Board of Agriculture and Fisheries to local au- 

 thorities in England and Wales offering grants 

 from the newly-established development fund 

 towards the furtherance of technical instruction in 

 agriculture and horticulture. 



The grants promised are intended to aid (1) in 

 the establishment of advisory councils to be set 

 up in each county or group of counties for the 

 purpose of reviewing, governing, and co-ordinat- 

 ing or initiating schemes for providing higher 

 agricultural education and educational experiments 

 in connection therewith; (2) in the provision and 

 maintenance of buildings and lands for farm 

 schools and farm institutes, at which young 

 agriculturists and others whose daily business is 

 NO. 2271, VOL. 91] 



connected with the land may obtain scientific and 

 practical instruction in the technicalities of their 

 art. At each of these schools and institutes it is 

 intended that a highly efficient staff shall be main- 

 tained to give short courses of instruction in 

 summer and winter suited to the requirements of 

 the district, also to conduct experimental and re- 

 search work, and to which agriculturists can apply 

 for advice in cases of difficulty. The grants for 

 farm schools and institutes may be partly annual 

 where new or additional work is being undertaken. 



Somewhat stringent conditions are laid down 

 for the administration of the grants to prevent 

 their being applied to the relief of the ratepayers 

 in those districts where such work has already 

 been begun, but that these districts may not be 

 discouraged, the proportion of the grant to the 

 actual expenditure may vary from 50 to 75 per 

 cent., having regard to the financial burden 

 hitherto undertaken by each local authority in this 

 direction. 



A covering letter directs attention to the lead- 

 ing provisions of the memorandum, and gives, 

 amongst other things, the Board's ideas with 

 regard to the appointment and duties of a respons- 

 ible official or organiser in each county or divi- 

 sion. The success or otherwise of the scheme 

 will depend very largely upon whether the right 

 man is or is not found for this important post, 

 and as suitable men cannot at the present time 

 be very plentiful, the authorities will be well 

 advised not to insist too rigidly on the paper 

 qualifications of the candidates, but to judge each 

 on his merits, past performances, and experience 

 in agricultural education and organisation. 



The scheme outlined contains the germ of an 

 excellent system, but its success or failure will 

 depend largely upon the skill and tact with which 

 it is developed. When the curricula and atmo- 

 sphere of our rural elementary and secondary 

 schools have been reformed so as to complete the 

 scheme, and the inherent prejudices of the farm- 

 ing community have been overcome, we may hope 

 for a i,'ood return for the money spent, but we 

 must not look for abundance of fruit before the 

 tree has had time to take root and expand its 

 branches. Progress will doubtless be slow, and 

 much patience, skill, and trouble will have to be 

 expended before a crop may be looked for. 



William Aldridge. 





NOTES. 

 At the meeting' of the Linnean Society on May i 

 Prof. Hermann von Vochting was elected a foreign 

 member, and the president announced that it had 

 been decided to award the Linnean medal to Prof. 

 Adolf Engler. 



The council of the Manchester Literary and Philo- 

 sophical Society has nominated Sir Thomas H. Hol- 

 land, K.C.I.E., F.R.S., to represent the society at 

 the twelfth International Congress of Geology, to be 

 held in Toronto in August next. 



A message from the Wellington correspondent of 

 The Times on May i savs : — Miss Procter's mission 



