﻿ix. d. 2 Cain: History of the Spanish Normal School 143 



ELEMENTARY ACRICULTLRE 



1. Agriculture, its object and divisions. 



2. Purposes to which the agriculturist should aspire and conditions neces- 

 sary to his success. 



3. Tillable soil, soil test, and means of improving the soil. 



4. Climate for agriculture, its agents and composition of soil. 



5. Improvements of the soil and how they are made. 



6. How to prepare virgin soil for cultivation. 



7. Fertilizer, its different classes and method of application. 



8. Special advantages of mineral fertilizers. Plants that need chalk or 

 ashes. 



9. Agricultural instruments, their division and the object of their use. 



10. Object of agricultural labor, preparatory labor, and labor for cultiva- 

 tion. 



11. Principal organs of the plant and parts of the flower. 



12. Three ways of planting. Of what do they consist? 



13. How many ways are there to water and how are they varied? 



14. Time of harvesting and way of preserving the fruits. 



15. Among the cereals, what is the richest fruit? How is it planted and 

 irrigated? 



16. Two kinds of rice and way of cultivating and cleaning. 



17. Planting of maize and cultivation of barley and buckwheat. 



18. Cultivation of sugar cane and way of propagating the common 

 bamboo. 



19. How are leguminous plants cultivated in the Philippine Islands? 



20. Roots and tubercles used for food and how they are multiplied. 



21. Preparation of tobacco seed-beds, how the plants are transplanted, 

 and way of harvesting. 



22. Lawns. Plants that can form an artificial lawn. 



23. Usefulness of animals to the farmer; work animals in the field and 

 their general characteristics. 



CONTEMPORARY COMMENT 



DIFFICULTIES IN THE WAY 



The early years of the normal school were not without their 

 vicissitudes. The following were the most pronounced difficulties 

 that confronted the school : 



A lack of competent teachers. — Father Luengo says: "First 

 of all the normal school needs a sufficient and capable staff." 18 

 The Jesuit fathers, who had been previously banished from 

 the Islands, were allowed to return in 1852, upon the condition 

 that they devote their attention to higher education and to 

 the missionary fields of Mindanao. Great efforts were put 

 forth to extend the Christian faith to the new charge. A 

 zealous priest writing from Mindanao says: 



By the mercy of God, the conquest of heathen people is continuing at 

 a tremendous rate, and I believe that, despite the lack of laborers, God is 



18 See No. 19 in the bibliography. 



