Miscellaneous. 



338 



[October, 1909. 



and Botanical assistants, and at the 

 eastern extremity of the building lies the 

 Biological Laboratory. So far as the 

 actual construction is concerned, the 

 building operations were carried out by 

 Mr. H. T. Keeling, Executive Engineer, 

 under the supervision of Mr. H. H. 

 O'Connell, Superintendent Engineer. 



The College was opened to the public in 

 June last year, when twenty students 

 joined it. Another twenty joined the 

 College in June last ; while twenty more 

 will be admitted in June next year. 

 There is accommodation for sixty 

 students in all ; and the course being 

 one of three years we may expect that 

 from June, 1911, twenty students will be 

 turned out every year from the College 

 ready to take part in and further the 

 development of Agriculture. 



The Cost to Government. 

 The total cost of the entire block of 

 buildings approaches 8 lakhs, the main 

 buildings in which the College and 

 Institute are located, costing about 4? 

 lakhs. Besides this capital cost of 8 

 lakhs, the Government incurs an annual 

 recurring charge of over Rs. 50,000 on the 

 maintenance of the necessary staff of 

 experts and their assistants. The 

 superior staff consists of an expert agri- 

 culturist who is also principal of the 

 College and Superintendent of the 

 Central Farm, the Government Botanist, 

 the Agricultural Chemist and Entomo- 

 logist and Mycologist. Each expert is 

 provided with assistants and demon- 

 strators in his own branch, so that the 

 time of the specialists may not be 

 frittered away merely on the elementary 

 tuition. 



The Aim op the Institution. 



The object of the College is to send 

 out in the course of years an army of 

 trained agriculturists who will go amidst 

 cultivating ryots and teach them by 

 practical work the advantages of scien- 

 tific agriculture. The department has 

 wisely resolved that the College should 

 be thrown open to Matriculates and 

 even to unpassed men, so that those 

 whose ambition in the direction of higher 

 education is blocked may seek this 

 avenue and thus try to perform a useful 

 task. The educational qualifications 

 thus required of candidates being 

 extremely low and no fees being demand- 

 ed from them there ought to be no 

 practical difficulty in getting the re- 

 quisite number of young men to apply 

 yearly for training in the College. 

 Though no actual promise of employ- 

 ment is held out to them by Govern- 

 ment, it is possible that for some years 

 to come at any rate every one of the 

 students successfully turned out of the 



College will find employment under 

 Government in the various agricultural 

 stations which will doubtless be estab- 

 lished all over the Presidency. There are 

 already seven or eight agricultural farms 

 in existence, and if more agricultural 

 stations have not been established, it is 

 due more to the lack of trained young 

 men competent to carry on agricultural 

 work than to anything else. In the 

 course of a few years one may therefore 

 expect to see every district provided 

 with at least one agricultural farm if 

 not more where the ryots will be able to 

 see for themselves what advances can 

 be made on their present methods of 

 agriculture. On the ordinary ryot any 

 amount of lectures on scientific agri- 

 culture makes no impression what- 

 ever, but if he could be satisfied by 

 practical demonstrations as to the 

 results of scientific agriculture, as 

 he will doubtless be at these agricul- 

 tural stations, he will lose no time 

 in assimilating improvements into his 

 time-honoured methods of cultivation. 

 The agricultural diplomates of the college 

 will also find employment as itinerant 

 agricultural inspectors whose services are 

 very much in requisition by several 

 agricultural associations, and may also be 

 availed of by groups of villages. There 

 is altogether a very bright prospect 

 in the agricultural output of the Presi- 

 dency, and it is to be hoped that every- 

 thing will be done by the officers of 

 the department to second aud loyally 

 carry out the efforts and intention of 

 Government. While no fault can be 

 found with the rules laid down for the 

 conduct of the College, one cannot help 

 regretting that no serious efforts are 

 being made to induce brilliant gradu- 

 ates of our University who have passed 

 in Chemistry and Biology to undergo 

 a training at the agricultural college, 

 so that in time to come they may take 

 their place as agricultural leaders of 

 the Province and also as officers of the 

 Agricultural Department. Though tbe 

 prospects held out by the department 

 to brilliant young men are not very 

 encouraging, yet it must be admitted 

 they are not altogether gloomy. There 

 are a number of minor appointments 

 in the Department with salaries ranging 

 from Rs. 25 to Rs. 150, and it is expected 

 that in the near future a few higher 

 appointments with salaries ranging from 

 Rs. 150 to Rs. 400 will be created which, 

 at any rate, will prove to be incentive 

 to young men of superior culture to take 

 to agriculture as a profession. 



His Excellency Sir Arthur Lawley ar- 

 rived here this morning at a quater past 

 10 by motor car from Ootacamund for 

 formally opening the Agricultural Col- 

 lege and the Research Institute. After 



