110 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Aug. 2 , 1897 . 
bevy of girls and inspect their work. The girls all 
put on their heads white the wear fas/ct, the 
colour of which differs according to the age, those 
below 20 be red and those over 20 light blue. A new 
kind of tea called tancha (a lump of interior tea 
pressed and hardened, and to be nsed by shaving) 
was recently originated. About 6,000 catties of this 
tea was manufactured last year principally for ex- 
portation to Yladivostock. The result being satis- 
factory, it is intended to increase the manufacture of 
htis kind of tea . — Japan Times, May 21. 
♦— 
AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 
Those who have followed even cursorily the corre- 
spondence which from time to time breaks out in the 
daily and weekly press on technical education, must 
have become aware of prodigious gulf that lies be- 
tween the ideas of foreign nations and our own on 
the subject of scientific knowledge. With us it is 
scarcely suggested, far less taught, in schools ; it is 
just barely recognised in our Universities ; in ordinary 
society any allution to it is counted pedantic , in the 
Legislature it only appears when some restriction is 
to be placed on its exercise ; aud in the ;executive 
departments it only finds place for one chemist in the 
Custom House, and another in the Excise. As a 
consequence, or an illustration, of this uni ersal neglect 
there is scarcely a single manufacturer who resort to 
scientific research as a method of advancing his in- 
terests, and the small amount of knowledge which is 
actually employed is almost limited to the purposes 
of detecting adulteration is materials purchased, and 
calculating proportions of ingredients in compounds. 
But abroad, whether we look to large States, such as 
Prance or Germany, or to small ones such as Den- 
mark aud Switzerland, the case is as different as 
day from night. The common schools teach every 
child the elements of the knowledge of things around 
him, that is of physics an 1 chemistry. The Univer- 
sities have large endowments for scientific training 
and research. Institutions exist for giving the in- 
struction requisite in every special department of 
industry. Manufacturers recognise that there is pro- 
fit to be made not only in routine methods, but in 
new discoveries and improved processes and they pay 
high salaries to men engaged in what to us seem 
the unpractical and absurd idea of merely discover- 
ing new truth. But the consequence is that they 
drive us out of the foreign markets and invade our 
own, that their progress treads everywhere on our 
heels, even if it does not leave us behind ; and that 
though the volume of their transactions may not 
yet surpass ours, they are advancing in a far more 
rapid ratio. 
In the department of agriculture the same differ- 
ence of system is apparent. In Great Britain the 
State does absolutely nothing for it. Abroad, for 
the last half-century at least, the State has maintained 
numberless establishments for learning and for teach- 
ing the scientific facts on which agriculture in all 
its branches depends. The knowledge thus gradually 
built up is disseminated by ^reports and journals. 
In America the same system has been adopted ; every 
several State has its experimental station, which 
E ublishes an annual ‘‘.bulletin” of results ascertained 
y its scientific, that is to say, its exact, inquiries. 
Very lately we have seen the statement, which may 
perhaps not be precisely true, but which, at least, 
shows the mental attitude of American farmers, that 
within a radius of twenty miles of each State sta- 
tion there is no agricultural depression, so much 
have its object-lessons aided those within its sphere 
of influence to adapt themselves to their new con- 
ditions. For those who are more distant there are, 
besides the bulletins issued, not a few books in which 
the latest practical results of American and German 
scientific investigations are embodied. 
It is a further remarkable fact that not only in such 
foreign sources is the information on scientific agri- 
culture at present to be exclusively found, but that 
till lately it could be obtained only by ordering the 
books from the countries in which they were pub- 
lished. The American works were, of course, written 
in English, but no English bookseller thought them 
worth showing to his customers. Armsby and Stewart 
two household names on the other side of the Atlantic 
as teachers of the principles of feeding stock, were 
utterly unknown here. The German works were not 
even translated, nor could any reference to them be 
found except in the excellent little manual of “Agri- 
cultural Chemistry,” by Mr. Warington, now Sibthor- 
pian Professor of Agriculture at Oxford. But this 
l.amentable hiatus in our literature has been partly 
filled by the publication last year of a translation, by 
Mr. Herbert Cousins, of Professor Wolff’s treatise 
on the “ Rational Feeding of Farm Animals.” Still 
more recently we have a translation, by Dr. Aitken 
and Mr. Wright, of Professor Fleischmann’s Booh of 
the Dairy . At last, then, the English farmer has 
the access, in these two works, to the soundest and 
best guidance in the two departments which they 
cover. If he will only read aud digest them, he will 
not merely gain knowledge, but direct mone.y profit 
as well; for what they contain is the knowledge how 
to reach the results he seeks with the least expense 
at the smallest risk, and to the highest advantage. 
* * * • 
We are, indeed, perfectly aware that the excellent 
works we have recommended will, to a large extent 
be beyond the comprehension of the great majorile 
of those who, as agriculturists, have a direct interest 
in their subjects. But this melancholy truth only 
makes stronger the case for giving serious consider- 
ation to the treatment of scientific education in this 
country, If farmers and landlords are as a rule so 
ignorant of the mere elements of science that they 
cannot understand books which treat of the business 
JO their lives, it is obvious that there is something 
radically wrong in the education which they receive. 
And if they aud the Government, which is in a great 
degree subject to their influence, are unable to see 
the importance of coming up to a level with the 
technical knowledge enjoyed by their foreign rivals 
in every department of industry, it is absolutely cer- 
tain that year by year they will find themselves fur- 
ther outstripped in the race of competition, in which 
victory, by Nature’s inevitable law, falls to those who 
are able most deeply to penetrate her secrets. —The 
Melbourne Leader. 
THE “AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE” OF 
NEW SOUTH WALES. 
We have received from the S.N. Wales Govt. Printer 
a copy of this Agricultural Gazette for April. The 
Chemist, Mr. F. B. Guthrie, has a valuable article 
on the fertilising value of bonedust, and the infor- 
mation given should be of interest to those who go 
in for that manure. Dr. Cobb’s contribution is a 
long series of letters on subjects embracing Wheat — 
varieties aud nomenclature — Diseases (smuts bunt; 
white-heads) ; Maize Rust , Disease of the Plum 
Apple (bitter pit, canker) ; Potato (wet rot, scab) 
Orange (Melanose [?] mal di goma, verrucosis, die, 
back, blackspot) ; Peach and Nectarine (peach freckle, 
curl, the crease in peaches); The Gall-worm ; Disease 
of the Grape; Onion ; Timber Diseases ; Preparations 
and Use of Bordeaux Mixture; Compound Mixtures ; 
Drying Fruit for Home Consumption. i 
All the diseases, &a., are illustrated by means of 
excellent blocks ; and as the Doctor has been careful 
to express his ideas in the plainest possible language 
the contribution is of extreme interest, and should 
be carefully read by all engaged in wheat-culture 
and the treatment of diseases of orchard and farm 
crops. A chapter on the diseases of timber is in- 
tructive, while for the information of those who 
desire to try the various sprays recommended, the 
Doctor’s suggestions concerning the preparation of 
the mixture should prove useful. Those engaged in 
fruit-drying should note the remarks concerning the 
use of sulphur fumes. Mr. W. L. Boyce, of Lochinvar, 
recounts his experience of feeding cattle on boiled 
prickly-pear. The poultry expert, Mr. McCue, takes 
up cudgels on behalf of pure strains of table and 
laying fowls. Mr. Allen, the new fruit expert, has 
some notes for the guidance of persons planting 
orchards, and there are many other interesting items. 
