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nutrition, feeding-stuffs; breeding, rearing, and management. Disease and pests of plants and animals. Book-keeping and Correspondence, with special reference to farm accounts. Botany. —Structure, growth, development, and classification of plants. Chemistry. —The chief elements and their compounds; the laws of combination ; chemistry of life; analysis of foods and manures, &c. An excellent laboratory for practical work is provided. Drawing. —Geometrical, freehand, and model; plan- and machine-drawing. Geology. —Formation, composition, and distribution of rocks; the formation of soils therefrom. Horticulture. —Soils, management of various kinds ; trenching, manuring; fruits and flowers, hardy and exotic. Vegetables, culture and rotation; improvement of plants; diseases and pests. Mathematics. —Good knowledge of arithmetic and elementary mathematics. Mechanics, especially as applied to agricultural work. Mensuration, Land-surveying, Levelling. —To ascertain the acreage of fields, contents of stacks, heaps, timber, &c. ; to draw plans of farms, estates, &c. Veterinary Hygiene. —Structure and functions of the various organs of the different farm animals, their diseases, the symptoms, causes and treatment, especially the horse, cow, sheep, and pig. Practical demonstration is provided. Wood-work or Carpentry. —Splicing, mortising; the alteration and repair of farm requisites, doors, gates, &c. Zoology. —Vertebrate and invertebrate; characters of animals; sub-kingdoms; parasites on animals and plants ; British mammals. The school year is divided into three terms : From the New Year to middle of April; middle of April to middle of July; middle of August to end of November. The fees are as follows : Day pupil only, £6 6s. per annum; students under sixteen, £30per annum; students over sixteen, £36 per annum; students outside the County of Cheshire under sixteen, £40 per annum; students outside the County of Cheshire over sixteen, £48 per annum. Day pupils may dine at the school at a daily charge of Bd. Students boarding outside or attending for special courses of work are charged ten guineas per annum. Diplomas and Certificates. —On the completion of the school course, students who satisfy the examiners in the science and practice of agriculture, or horticulture, chemistry (general and agricultural), botany, zoology, geology, veterinary hygiene, land-surveying and levelling, mechanics, and book-keeping, will be awarded a diploma, while those who obtain 75 per cent, in either agriculture or horticulture alone will obtain a certificate. Scholarships are awarded to candidates, who must be not less than thirteen years of age or more than sixteen. Scholarships are granted for one year, but are renewable for a second and third if the reports as to conduct and progress are satisfactory; they are of £30 value each, and £1 for medical fee. After the scholarship-holder attains the age of sixteen £6 per annum for board must be paid. A scholarship is not awarded to any candidate who fails to gain an aggregate number of marks equal to 70 per cent, of the total number obtainable. Grammar-school Lectures. —A weekly lecture upon the principles of agriculture is given at eight of the grammar-schools in Cheshire. During the summer months instruction was given to these pupils on grasses and pastures, and they are taught to distinguish the various kinds, and make collections of the same. The pupils are taken for practical demonstrations on neighbouring farms. Most of these schools will shortly be in possession of good laboratories, when systematic instruction will be given. The following extract from a report by Mr. T. W. Kirk, F.L.S., of the Agricultural Department, in relation to South Australia is interesting : " Although I do not propose to give here any detailed account of the agricultural institutions, there is one matter which must be mentioned. Dr. Cockburn, the Minister for Agriculture in South Australia, has instituted primary schools of agriculture, where, for the small fee of Is. per week, boys are instructed in elementary farm botany, land-surveying, objects to be obtained by tillage, application of manure, rotation of crops, &c. Several acres of land surround the school I visited, and portions of the ground have been laid off in" plots, where various varieties of grain and vegetables were growing, having been planted by the boys under the direction of the master, in order to demonstrate the relative results of different systems of planting, the difference between manured and unmanured lines, &c. The pupils take great pains with these cultivations, and the interest exhibited was certainly very encouraging to those responsible for the conduct of the school. Should these schools achieve the success which it is anticipated they will attain, Dr. Cockburn intends to start others. Institutions of this kind in the country districts here would no doubt prove beneficial." Other instances might be freely quoted, but sufficient information has been given to illustrate the nature of the school-farm suggested, and I am inclined to think that the establishment of such schools would meet with very considerable success, especially if dairy-schools are made an important feature of instruction, available for boys and girls. It would be an advantage also to have the sympathy and financial assistance of the various agricultural societies of the colony. Scholarships. —Scholarships should be available from primary schools, higher-grade schools, or continuation classes to the farm-schools, and higher scholarships from the farm-schools to the Canterbury Agricultural College. Departmental assistance would require to be in the form of a grant per head for each scholar instructed, as well as in grants towards buildings and farm stock and appliances.