5

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to keep his bed-room and study in proper order, to clean his own boots, to wait at table in due course, and discharge other duties of a kindred nature. Discipline of this kind would involve no real hardship, and would foster a healthy spirit of self-help. Settlers of restricted means entertain the idea that the amount of attention sometimes paid to students at agricultural schools tends to render them dissatisfied with their homes, and unfits them for the plain homeliness of a settler's life. Any course tending to produce this feeling should be avoided as far as possible. If a large staff of waiters and attendants has to be maintained the fees must of necessity be high, which would prevent struggling settlers from taking advantage of the facilities afforded by the school. If, on the other hand, the students are required to wait upon themselves, as the majority would have to do in their own homes, the fees need not be higher than would be sufficient to cover the cost of board, the student's labour being considered to some extent an equivalent for the cost of teaching and the use of apparatus. Should it be determined to commence with a school of forestry and pomology alone, the cost of preparation and maintenance would be greatly reduced. The manager should, in that case, be able to lecture on forestry, pomology, and chemistry, and to take charge of the chemical laboratory. The salaries of farm superintendent and dairyman, also the heavy outlay for farm, buildings, horses, stock, and implements, would be saved, as well as the large amount that would be required for preliminary labour, drainage, &c, on the farm. Revenue. It is obvious that if the fees paid by students are not to exceed the actual cost of their board, the entire cost of teaching and maintenance must be defrayed by the Legislature until such period as the plantations, orchard, and farm can be made to contribute to revenue. Under these circumstances it seems only fair that the County Council of the district should be requested to grant an annual subsidy from the county rates, say, for five years, on. account of the direct benefit derived by the district from the large initial outlay and subsequent annual expenditure, and still more from the advantages that will result from improvements in the processes of agriculture and pomology through the district. After the end of the second year the farm may be expected to return some small profit, which would increase yearly; but, until an advance takes place in the market-value of agricultural produce, the income from this source will be but small at its best, as the land, being of poor quality, will require a large expenditure for fertilizers to render it profitable. At the end of five years the orchard should yield a profit, which would increase year by year, the amount depending upon the area laid down in fruit-trees. After making all fair deductions on account of unfavourable seasons, the average net profit on a good orchard, say, eight years after planting, should not be less than £10 per acre, and would in reality be much larger. The orchard should be sufficiently extensive to yield a net return of £1,000 per annum. About the same period—five years —will be required before any return can be obtained from the plantations. At the close of the fifth year the first profit might be expected from wattlebark. After the seventh year plantations of black or golden wattle would return a minimum average profit of £2 per acre, after deducting all. expenses. On 500 acres this would give a clear annual return of £1,000. Timber, also, must not be lost sight of as an item of revenue, although a lengthened period must elapse before it can be rendered available. Bearing in mind that the average price of timber in the colony must advance with the diminution of the supply of kauri, I estimate the return from 100 acres of ripe jarrah would amount to £10,000, which of itself would afford a substantial nucleus for an endowment fund. It is, perhaps, in this case, unfortunate that with the choicest products of forestry the interval between sowing and reaping is but rarely compassed by the average duration of human life, although the ultimate return is none the less certain. Other items of revenue would probably be afforded by the growth of oil-yielding eucalypts, from the thinnings of the plantations, mint, and other drug- and perfume-yielding plants, or by certain economic plants, as the earth-nut, which is largely imported into New Zealand. Some of these might be cultivated on a large scale. Several years must elapse before the entire block could be utilized for purposes directly connected with the proposed school. lam assured that a large portion of the area could be let easily at £1 per acre if laid down in grass. It might be found advantageous to adopt this plan with 400 or 500 acres, which would tend to the improvement of the land. The question of profits to be derived from farm-produce can only be properly dealt with by a competent person; but lam fully convinced that the sections of forestry and pomology would become self-supporting in a few years. School of Pomology. The proposal to establish a school for fruit-culture, so far as I am aware, is entirely new. It may therefore be expected that objections will be raised against it, simply on the ground of its novelty. It is consequently desirable to direct attention to one or two of the chief advantages to be derived from its successful working. The proper training of youth as fruit-growers necessarily includes those matters generally recognized by intelligent settlers as essential to success in fruit-cultivation —the preparation of the soil, and its adaptation to the requirements of the particular kind of plant in question ; planting, as distinct from " sticking a plant in the