Q. 24. What do you understand by the term "proximate alimentary principles"? State the amount of these principles necessary in a diet for (a) ordinary work, (6) hard work.

The majority of the students attempted this question. The first part was indifferently answered, very few gave a correct definition of the term "proximate alimentary principles." The last part of the question was, as a rule, well answered. Only about three candidates gave the more recent numbers for diets in ordinary and hard work.

Q. 25. Name the parasites which may be transmitted to man by eating meat, and describe their appearance in the flesh of animals.

Very few candidates attempted this question, and only comparatively few of these gave any description or were able to name the parasites connected with meat supplies.

Q. 26. What is the difference between the high and the low pressure system of hot water heating? Describe shortly the arrangements of each, and state their relative merits and demerits.

Nearly every student attempted this question, and the answers were by far the best on this paper. Few mistakes were made, all being quite familiar with these systems of heating.

Q. 27. Describe the best form of w.c. for houses, for factories, for schools. Illustrate your answer by sketches.

The first part of this question was very well answered and, as a rule, the sketches given were good. The answers given to the last part were quite the reverse; there were few sketches and those who attempted them had never seen a trough closet, which was the one generally suggested. Very many gave an ordinary w.c., the base of which entered a common drain pipe. Under such a condition the basin would never be cleansed and the pipe would be foul. This question was not well answered.

Q. 28. Mention the strengths and the way in which each of the following disinfectants should be used:-Carbolic acid, perchloride of mercury, chloride of lime, sulphurous acid, formalin.

Those who attempted to answer this question had no idea of the strengths of the various disinfectants named, when used in a sick room or house. They were familiar with the names and knew how to apply them; but in the large majority of cases their knowledge ceased there. Q. 29. Describe the suitability of the following sites for houses :-Rock, sand or gravel, chalk, clay, and alluvial drift. State how these soils influence health.

A very favourite question, but answered very unequally. Some good replies were given; but on the whole the answers were disappointing. Q. 30. An outbreak of diphtheria having occurred in a school, what precautions would you take with regard to the school-buildings and appliances?

This question was a favourite one. Very many students dealt with the isolation, disinfection, and nursing of the patient, which was not asked for. Others entered into details as regards disinfection by sulphur. Only a few referred to the drainage and sanitary arrangements of the lavatories, etc., or to any possible source of danger in or around the buildings. Very few gave any method other than that of burning sulphur for disinfecting a room, and evidently the practice of spraying the walls, which is more effective, has not been referred to. On the whole, the answers were somewhat disappointing.

Report on the Examinations in Agricultural Science and Rural Economy.

EVENING EXAMINATION.

STAGE 1.

Results: 1st Class, 11; 2nd Class, 15; Failed, 12; Total, 38.

The improvement noted in the last report may be again seen; there is a little more evidence from the answers that experiments have been actually carried out before the class. But a great deal of teaching by rote still goes on, and energy is wasted over an elaborately technical nomenclature of the parts of a plant, to the neglect of the study of their functions in a simple and common-sense fashion. At this stage of the subject, technical terms like cotyledon, pericarp, phloem, &c., are not only an added burden to the student, but they are positive hindrances to his understanding of the facts. The sketches are still very bad.

Q. 1. Draw a sketch of a young seedling of wheat or barley, naming the various parts visible to the naked eye. Make another drawing showing the same seedling as growing in the open ground about a month later.

The first stage of the seedling was often correctly drawn, but not the later one. Nobody appeared to have seen a young plant from the open ground, with its adventitious roots and tillering.

Q. 2. Describe experiments to show that growing plants require air. What changes do they bring about in the air.

Most of the answers began "enclose a plant in an air-tight box and pump out all the air." Teachers should set their faces against such description of hypothetical experiments, and insist on being told how a thing is to be done in real life.

Q. 3. If you have made the experiment of weighing dried seeds and seedlings in successive stages of growth, say in which stage a loss of weight, and in which a gain in weight was observed. Give the reasons of these changes in weight.

Answers confused, because they showed no appreciation of the relative magnitude of loss by respiration and gain when assimilation begins.

Q. 4. Describe experiments to show that all parts of the young root and the young shoot of a plant do not grow at the same rate. Generally correct.

Q. 5. How would you show the difference in the production of starch by the white and green parts of a variegated maple or geranium leaf? What is the cause of this difference in the parts?

Q. 6. How is charcoal made? Name a few substances from which it may be prepared. What effect has the gas produced by burning charcoal on lime-water? What names do chemists give to charcoal, and to the gas which it produces on burning?

These two questions were well answered.

Q. 7. Draw a sketch showing what is seen on cutting an apple down the middle. Explain the nature of each part.

The sketches were quite unrecognisable, yet some of the answers were stiff with botanical equivalents for skin, flesh, core and pips.

Q. 8. What is the value to the plant of (1) the spines upon gorse; (2) the prickles upon a rose bush ?

Most candidates knew that prickles kept off animals, but not that rose thorns were also useful for climbing.

Q. 9. As the trunk of a tree increases in thickness, where does the new growth take place? If a ring of bark be taken off can the tree repair the damage?

The teacher wants to try and forget all about phloem and xylem, and to make his class look at a tree as does an intelligent countryman, who knows that a certain layer is alive and will grow when the tree is wounded, and that it will unite to other similar layers, as in budding or grafting.

Q. 10. A wheat crop may weigh several tons per acre though only two bushels of seed were put in ; from whence does this large amount of matter come?

Answers rather confused because they did not recognise the relative quantities of combustible matter and ash in a crop.

Q. 11. Describe carefully some section of soil aud subsoil which you have seen in a quarry or railway cutting, illustrating your remarks by a sketch. What does this section teach as to the manner in which a soil may be produced?

Well answered.

Q. 12. If you work on a clay soil when it is in a wet state, how will its behaviour be affected (1) as regards rain falling on the land, (2) as regards its cultivation when dry?

Rather confused.

STAGE 2.

Results 1st Class, 36; 2nd Class, 103; Failed, 43; Total, 182.

SECTION A.-TILLAGE AND CROPS.

The answers this year showed a marked improvement and indicated better and more systematic teaching.

Q. 1. What points have to be specially attended to if a good tilth is to be obtained in spring on a heavy clay soil? What previous treatment of the land will aid in obtaining this result?

Generally well answered, though too many candidates were content to say merely plough again in the spring" without indicating the necessity of catching the soil in the right state of dryness.

Q. 2. How much straw would you expect to obtain on an average from 100 acres of arable land farmed on the Norfolk four-course rotation? How much farmyard manure would this straw produce?

Fairly answered.

Q. 3. What variety of barley is chiefly grown in your part of the country? What are its chief characteristics as compared with other barleys? What yield per acre would you expect to obtain both of grain and straw?

Fairly answered, but candidates should give their answers in statute bushels and acres; often the Examiner can only infer that the bushel of which the candidate is talking represents some unknown local measure. Q. 4. Give the average weights of a bushel of wheat, barley, and oats. How are these affected by a wet or a dry season? What are the characteristic appearances in each of these grains by which their quality is judged?

Candidates seem to have little idea of what a good sample of corn ought to look like.

Q. 5. Mention the chief leguminous crops grown by the English farmer, the circumstances under which each would become especially suitable for cultivation, and the uses to which each is put.

Q. 6. Under what conditions of soil and climate would it be advisable to grow oats instead of barley or wheat? How much seed per acre would you employ for an oat crop, what produce would you expect if ordinary or Tartar oats were grown, and what would be the weight per bushel in each case?

These two questions were fairly answered.

Q. 7. Set out two rotations designed to include a potato crop as one of the most important items, and explain the reasons for the arrangement suggested.

Indifferently answered.

Candidates seemed to have little idea of the

practice prevailing in the potato growing districts.

Q. 8. Describe how you would proceed to lay a piece of land down to permanent grass. What seeds would you sow, and in what quantities? State the character of the land you have in view.

Well answered.

Q. 9. Discuss the differences which should be observed in the management of a good pasture, and of meadow land mown every year for hay, if both are to be kept in a profitable condition.

Candidates forgot that farming does not simply consist in applying manure; very little was said about rolling, dragging, paring anthills, moving dung, etc., all necessary items in the management of grass land.

Q. 10. Describe the construction and arrangement of the knives of a reaping machine. How are they sharpened?

Well answered.

SECTION B.-HORTICULTURE.

The answers were neither so numerous nor so good as in former years, and need not be dealt with in detail, since they call for no special comment or elucidation.

SECTION C.-ANIMAL HUSBANDRY.

Both the numbers and the quality of the answers in this section were much better than usual, the only defect about the answers, speaking generally, was that they were too exclusively local and showed little or no acquaintance with general farming customs in other parts of the country. Q. 1. Describe the management of either a (a) Sussex, (b) Devon, or (c) Aberdeen-Angus steer from its birth until it is killed as fat.

Q. 2. Describe the dentition of the horse, and explain how its age is judged thereby.

These two questions were well answered.

Q. 3. What advantages are the cross-breds supposed to have over purebred stock for the purposes of the ordinary farmer? Mention some crosses that are commonly made among both cattle and sheep.

Here certain local crosses were mentioned, but seldom such standard crosses as the "Blue grey," or the use of a Down ram on the commoner breeds of sheep.

Q. 4. Write a brief account of the management of some one breed of pigs. Explain how you would feed the young pigs until they were ready for market. At what weight would you sell them?

Q. 5. Describe the operations incident to the shearing of any breed of sheep with which you are familiar. What weight of wool would you expect, and what price ruled for it last season?

Q. 6. By what characters would you decide whether a bullock were ready for market or not? About how much average increase per diem will a good bullock make from its birth until it is killed? What proportion should the dressed carcase bear to the live weight?

These three questions were very fairly answered in a practical way. Q. 7. For what reasons does the farmer prefer linseed or cotton cake for feeding dairy cows or fattening beasts? Is there any justification for the difference in the price of these two feeding stuffs? Very few candidates discussed the relative merits of linseed and cotton cake.

Q. 10. Describe the process of butter making from the milk onwards. While some of the answers were excellent, others showed a curious ignorance of such important points as the souring of the cream.

SECTION D.-CHEMISTRY OF PLANT AND SOIL.

The general average was seriously lowered by one or two classes which had not been taught on lines that would enable them to deal at all with the questions. The few who had been taught sent in very fair papers calling for no special comment.

SECTION E-CHEMISTRY OF MANURES AND CROPS.

The answers were not very numerous, but were generally sound. Q. 1. Would an application of sulphate of lime (gypsum) or phosphate of lime to land produce a similar effect as an application of lime? Give the reasons of your answer fully.

The distinction between lime as a free base, and sulphate or phosphate of lime as neutral salts was only appreciated by a few candidates, yet it should be pressed home upon students.

Q. 4. What difference in composition would you expect between cakefed and ordinary dung in both the soluble and insoluble portions of the manure?

The differences in composition are important, and should be carefully taught to students. The value of cake-fed dung lies in its higher proportion of amides and ammonia salts, representing the digested albuminoids of the richer food.

SECTION F.-CHEMISTRY OF ANIMALS AND FOODS.

Larger numbers presented themselves this year and the quality of the answers also rose.

Q. 2. What is meant by the digestibility of a food, and how is it ascertained experimentally.

The answers often showed confusion between the nitrogen retained by the animal and that excreted in the urine. Very often the former alone was regarded as representing the digested nitrogen.

Q. 3. What difference is there between the digestive organs of ruminants and non-ruminants? What influence has this difference in the digestive apparatus on the kinds of food suitable for each class of animal?

Q. 4. What is approximately the composition of the increase in live weight put on by a bullock during the latter stages of fattening? How does it differ in composition from the increase during earlier stages of growth?

Q. 6. What percentage of the cellulose in the food will be digested by an ox? Has the digestible cellulose the same nutritive value to the animal as other digestive carbohydrates? Give the reasons for your answer fully.