Magazine  of  the  School  of  Agriculture. 
43 
dren  leaving  the  Elementary  or  Public  school  at 
13  or  14,  could  continue  for  3 years  to  receive 
general  instruction  in  Literature,  Mathematics, 
or  Science,  and  special  instruction  in  commercial 
subjects  in  a Commercial  Department,  and  Art 
Training  (Drawing,  Carving,  Modelling)  in  an  Art 
Class,  with  workshop  practice  for  all  would  form 
an  intermediate  stage  leading  up  to  the  Technical 
School  or  School  of  Technology  whenever  it  be 
founded.  With  Science  and  Art  and  Technology 
entering  into  the  teaching  of  all  the  schools,  with 
the  education  of  the  hand  and  the  eye  supple- 
menting the  education  of  the  mind,  with  special 
schools  for  furthering  Scientific  Instruction,  Art 
Training,  and  Technological  teaching  1 can  con- 
ceive of  no  better  provision  for  Technical  Education 
for  the  people,  no  scheme  which  will  specialise 
instruction  and  bring  it  within  easier  reach  of 
the  masses,  no  better  means  of  interesting  chil- 
dren in  their  school  work  and  enabling  them  to 
lead  such  full  and  rich  and  harmonious  lives  that 
“ Mind  and  soul  according  well  may  make  one 
musicfuller,  richer,  more  harmonious  than  before.” 

OCCASIONAL  NOTES. 
It  is  our  painful  duty  to  record  the  unexpected 
death  of  Sir  Samuel  Grenier,  and  to  offer  our 
deepest  sympathy  with  those  who  are  bemoaning 
his  loss.  Apart  from  the  interest  he  showed  in 
Technical  Education  in  general,  Sir  Samuel  evinced 
his  concern  in  agricultural  education  in  particular 
by  offering  a prize  to  be  competed  for  by  the 
students  of  the  School  of  Agriculture.  The 
deceased  Knight  was  more  than  once  present  at 
our  public  prize-givings,  and  also  supported  our 
Magazine.  Among  the  last,  if  not  the  last  of  public 
functions  in  which  Sir  Samuel  Grenier  took  part, 
was  the  occasion  of  the  inauguration  of  the 
“ Marsh  Lectures  ’ at  the  School  of  Agriculture, 
when  he  occupied  the  chair. 
By  the  time  this  number  reaches  our  subscribers, 
the  New  Year  will  be  upon  us.  To  all  we  wish  a 
year  of  happiness,  to  agriculturists  in  particular  a 
season  of  plenty  and  prosperity. 
The  virus  of  glanders  is  said  to  consist  of  a 
bacillus,  and  if  dry  may  maintain  its  vitality  for 
six  weeks,  but  in  damp  surroundings  it  perishes 
more  quickly.  Infected  horses  coughing  and 
sneezing  scatter  the  bacillus  over  the  mangers  and 
amongst  the  food  of  healthy  animals,  and  thus  it 
becomes  ingested.  Buckets,  sponges  or  even 
harness  used  for  the  sick  convey  the  virus.  The 
bacillus,  it  is  pointed  out,  thrives  best  in  close 
warm  stables,  and  finds  less  resistance  in  overtaxed 
horses,  or  those  pulled  down  by  influenza  or  other 
reducing  disease.  In  Great  Britain  glanders, 
whether  in  its  acute  stage  of  development,  or  in 
its  chronic  type  in  which  the  horse  may  be  still 
fairly  fit  for  work,  or  in  the  form  of  farcy  more  or 
less  pronounced,  must  now  not  only  be  reported 
on  pain  of  penalties,  but  any  animal  found  to  be 
diseased  by  the  Inspector  when  called  in  must  at 
once  be  slaughtered.  Infected  animals  and  those 
that  have  been  in  contact  with  them  will  in  future 
be  immediately  slaughtered,  and  half  their  values, 
not  exceeding  £20,  allowed.  Suspects  will  be  isola- 
ted, and  if  slaughtered  and  found  free  of  disease 
full  compensation  will  be  paid  for  them.  The 
requisite  funds  for  carrying  out  the  order  will 
be  obtained  from  Imperial  sources.  This  order 
firmly  and  uniformly  applied  through  the  country 
is  expected  to  exterminate  glanders  in  a little 
more  than  a year.  It  has  been  estimated  on  good 
authority  that  glanders  and  farcy  annually  kill 
in  London  alone  about  2,000  horses. 
I would  only  have  you  remember,  says  Dr.  Sims 
Woodhead,in  an  address  before  tire  Royal  Physical 
Society,  that  an  enormous  amount  of  work  has 
been  done  to  prove  that  bacteria  belong  to  the 
animal  kingdom  ; it  may,  however,  be  generally 
accepted  that  they  are  to  be  transferred  to  the 
domain  of  the  botanist.  We  must  remember, 
however,  that  they  are  of  a low  form  of  proto- 
plasm, and  tl’.at  although  in  certain  cases  they 
may  be  considered  as  having  special  functions, 
the  general  powers  of  protoplasm  are  most  strongly 
developed  in  them,  and  that  their  specific  powers 
are  more  readily  affected  than  where  develop- 
ment is  of  a higher  order. 
In  a paper  on  “ The  Utilisation  of  Waste  Produce 
of  Forests  and  Woodlands  ” in  the  last  journal  of 
the  Highland  and  Agricultural  Society,  the  writer 
asks  the  question  : — “ Do  we  utilise  to  the  fullest 
extent  the  by-produce  of  the  forest  and  woodland, 
and  so  diminish  waste  and  at  the  same  time  add 
to  the  general  revenue  of  the  Forest  Department  ? 
By  waste  products  or  by-products  is  meant  any- 
thing other  than  wood,  or  of  wood  not  in  a 
condition  in  which  it  is  generally  used,  and 
includes  bark,  charcoal,  firewood,  faggots  for  house 
use  and  for  kilns,  tar,  woodspirit,  turpentine, 
rosin, acetic  acid,  sawdust,  wood-ashes,  leaf-soil,  &c. 
That  much  can  be  done  both  in  the  economy  of 
production  and  utilisation  of  waste  produce  is 
well  known  to  those  in  charge  of  woods  and 
forests;  and  where  the  by-products  cannot  well 
be  utilised  in  any  of  the  abovementioned  ways, 
better,  perhaps,  reduce  them  to  ashes,  for  by  so 
doing  insect  and  fungus  life  are  lessened,  and  a 
valuable  manure,  whether  for  grass  or  certain 
farm  and  garden  crops,  obtained  in  the  ashes 
which  are  particularly  rich  in  potash.” 
The  annual  home  supply  of  bark  in  Great  Britain 
is  estimated  at  nearly  300,000  tons,  but  in  addition 
to  this  some  30,000  tons  are  imported  from  the 
Continent.  Tanning  bark,  though  not  at  present  a 
valuable  product,  will,  it  i.s  stated,  yield  a good 
margin  of  profits  even  at  the  present  low  price  of 
£5  10s.  per  ton  for  English  bark  (oak  and  to  some 
extent  larch)  through  careful  and  judicious 
management. 
WEEDS. 
A weed  has  been  described  as  a plant  out  of 
place,  and  it  is  therefore  true  that  what  may  be  a 
weed  in  one  situation  may  be  a desirable  plant  in 
another.  The  question  has  lately  been  mooted  as 
to  whether  certain  plants  that  are  wont  to  spring 
up  continually  in  cacao,  coffee  and  tea  plantations 
are  weeds  or  useful  plants,  useful  in  the  sense 
that  they  check  wash  of  soil,  conserve  and  add  to 
