ADMISSION OF HIGH SCHOOL PUPILS.-APPEAL AGAINST THE ORDER-INCOUNCIL RESCINDING THE REGULATIONS.

I. THE CHIEF SUPERINTENDENT OF EDUCATION TO THE HONOURABLE ATTOrney-General MOWAT.

As the Order-in-Council of August last suspended the Programme, and all the Regulations of the Council of Public Instruction, respecting High Schools, as well as those relating to the examination of Pupils for Admission to the High Schools, the High School System is virtually dissolved, and the visits of Inspectors to these Schools are no more, practically than those of any other educated men, except that they examine the Schools more carefully and communicate the results to this Department. But they have no power to do anything, as there are no Regulations, or Programme, in force, according to which they can act. Under these circumstances, I have felt myself precluded from submitting anything in relation to the High Schools.

This Order-in-Council has caused, and still causes, the virtual suspension of the System. The injury caused by that act of the Government may be averted, even if you desire not to legislate on the subject this Session, by passing another Order-inCouncil to the effect, that the Programmes and Regulations of the Council of Public Instruction for the Organization and Government and Instruction of High Schools, the mode of Examination and Admission of Pupils, are hereby recognized as in operation and confirmed, and that the next ensuing Examinations for the Admission of Pupils shall include all Pupils that have been nominally admitted to the High Schools since last August.

TORONTO, February 25th, 1873.

EGERTON RYERSON.

NOTE. After consultation with the Attorney General it was agreed that the General Regulations of the Council of Public Instruction in regard to High Schools should be revised, which was done, and these Revised Regulations were approved by Order-in-Council in June, 1873. Those relating to the Admission of Pupils of the High Schools came into effect, and were acted upon in October, 1873.

For the last two or three years the duty of admitting Pupils to the High Schools had been committed to local Boards of Examiners, each Board preparing its own set of Questions, and affixing values thereto. It soon became apparent that the standards set up were as various as the Boards themselves; that whilst, in some places, Pupils were compelled to exhibit a fair amount of preparatory knowledge, in others the Entrance Examination was nothing but a sham and a delusion. To remedy this, and establish uniformity, the Council of Public Instruction last year instructed the High School Inspectors to prepare a set of Questions upon each of the subjects appointed for the Entrance Examination, and at the same time issued minute directions for the conduct of the Examination to each Local Board. The Government, however, vetoed these Regulations on the ground that the Council, in passing them, was not administering the Law, but adding to it. At the same time the Government declared that the High School Inspectors had no right to supervise the work of the Local Boards. check, therefore, upon the Admission of Pupils being thus removed, the demand for High School Education increased with astonishing rapidity, and in less than six months not fewer than 2,000 new Pupils were admitted to the High Schools. In one School in the west of the Province, which, for some time had been languishing with an attendance of about twenty Pupils, there was suddenly found to be an attendance of about two hundred. The secret of this haste to swell the attendance lay in the fact that the Legislative Grants in aid of the High Schools were based on average attendance

All

alone, no regard whatever being had to work done. A scheme has, however, been matured by the High School Inspectors for the Classification of the Schools according to work done, and the Inspectors now urge the adoption of a certain rate, per Pupil of average attendance, in the form of "payment by results," according to the class of the School, those of the First Class being paid at a higher rate than those of the Second, and so on. This scheme being equitable in itself, has worked well and has given great satisfaction.

INFERIOR QUALIFICATIONS OF CANDIDATES FOR ADMISSION TO THE HIGH SCHOOLS.

In order to show the great wrong which had been inflicted on the High Schools by the indiscriminate admission of Pupils to these Schools, after the Regulations for their admission had been cancelled by the Government in the previous August, I got the papers relating to the recent examination of Pupils for admission, and I carefully examined the High School Inspectors' Report on these recent Examinations for admission into the High Schools, and find that of twenty-seven Schools examined by them, they report that of 515 Pupils, they found that 350, or nearly three-fourths of them, were quite below the proper standard of admission,-some of them lamentably so, and not even capable of parsing a single word in a sentence! Considering that Pupils had been admitted to High Schools after studying little more than one-half of the Public School Curriculum, it will be seen that the standard is very low, indeed, quite too much so to allow Boys and Girls to pass in so loosely as the Inspectors report.

Formerly Pupils were not allowed to go into the High Schools until they had passed through the whole Public School Course. But, owing to the constant pressure brought to bear on the Council of Public Instruction, the Chief Superintendent, against his better judgment, consented to lower the standard to a point between the Third and Fourth, (out of the six), Classes of the Public School. But even with this inferior and reduced amount of Education required, the cry had been "reduce it still further," or "remove all supervision over the admission." The latter had been done, but with the sad results on the whole system, as reported by the Inspectors. The idea of guaranteeing at least $25 or $30 per Pupil, (of such a kind), and only eighty cents for them in the Public Schools must strike every one who considers the question as both unjust and indefensible.

CHAPTER XXI.

RETURN TO THE LEGISLATURE ON THE SELECTION OF A SITE FOR AN AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE FOR ONTARIO, 1873.

RETURN to an Address of the Legislative Assembly, to His Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor, praying His Excellency to cause to be laid before the House, copies of all Minutes and Orders-in-Council relating to the Agricultural College; the names of all Persons appointed to inspect the several proposed Sites for said College; the Instructions given such Persons, together with a Memorandum of the Expenses of such Persons; also, a copy of the Instructions given to Professor Mills, and his Report to the Government.

TORONTO, 6th February, 1873.

By Command,

T. B. PARDEE, Secretary.

LETTER OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE, AUTHORIZING THE REVEREND W. F. CLARKE TO VISIT AND REPORT ON AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES IN THE UNITED STATES.

Commission to the Reverend W. F. Clarke, Editor of the "Ontario Farmer."

You are hereby commissioned to visit the leading Agricultural Colleges of the United States, and report thereon to this Department, your Report to embrace, among other things, the following particulars:

1. The establishment, cost and mode of sustaining such Colleges; with the Experimental, or Model, Farms attached; their management; the Course of Study pursued at them; the Professorships in them; the attendance of Students; the estimation in which these Institutions appear to be held in the United States; their practical working; the results of their operations, so far as can be ascertained; the Expense of their maintenance; and the extent to which by Fees, Manual Labour of Students, or otherwise, they are self-sustaining.

2. You are also commissioned to visit the United States Department of Agriculture at Washington, and ascertain by what methods it aims to promote the Farming

interests.

On your return, you will, at your earliest convenience, embody the results of your Observations in a Report to this Department; and also submit an economical and practical Scheme for the establishment of an Agricultural College in this Province. You will also furnish this Department with any Suggestions your Tour may enable you to make, whereby its serviceableness to the Agriculture of this Province may be enhanced.

TORONTO, August 12th, 1869.

JOHN CARLING, Commissioner of Agriculture.

REPORT OF REVEREND W. F. CLARKE ON AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES TO THE HONOURABLE JOHN CARLING, COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE.

I had the honour to receive from you some months since, a Commission to visit and report upon the state of, and facilities for, Agricultural Education in the United States. In pursuance of the Instructions given me, I visited several of the more prominent Agricultural Colleges in the United States. It will hardly be necessary for me to give in detail the particulars of each such visit, inasmuch as the object of this Report is not historical, but practical. Among the Institutions visited by me, there are two, one at the East and the other at the West, which may be regarded as exemplary, if not model in their character, videlicet:-those of Massachusetts and Michigan. Some account of these two Colleges will probably suffice for the ends to be accomplished by this Report.

It may, however, be premised, that the Agricultural Colleges of the United States, are indebted, some for their very existence, and all for their efficiency, to that Act of Congress passed in 1862, by which a munificent Land Grant was made to every State in the Union for the permanent endowment of such Institutions. The purpose of this Donation is thus stated by the Originator of the Bill making the Grant:

"To establish at least one College in every State, upon a sure and perpetual foundation, acceptable to all, but especially to the sons of toil: where all the needful Sciences for the practical avocations of life shall be taught; where neither the higher graces of classical studies, nor the military drill our Country now so highly appreciated will be ignored, and where Agriculture, the foundation of all present and future prosperity. may look for troops of earnest friends, studying its familiar and recondite economies. and at last elevating it to that higher level, where it may fearlessly invite comparison with the most advanced standards of the world."

Under this Act, each State became entitled to a quantity of Public Land, equal to 30,000 Acres for each of its Senators and Representatives in Congress, under the

Census of 1860. It was provided that this Land should be sold to the best advantage under the supervision of each State, and the proceeds invested as a perpetual Endowment in safe Stocks, yielding at least five per cent. per annum. The Massachusetts Agricultural College owes its existence to the National Land Grant; that of Michigan was already in prosperous operation when the Land Grant was made, but has, of course, received a considerable impetus from that wise and patriotic Act of Congressional Legislation.

THE MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE AT AMHERST.

The quota of Land allowed to Massachusetts was 360,000 Acres. The State Legislature was prompt to accept the Grant, and proceeded at once to consider the best mode of appropriating it. A most important and much debated question in regard to Agricultural Education, was, videlicet: -Whether the object can be best promoted by making Agriculture one of the many subjects taught in a general College, or by having a College specially devoted to it, was thoroughly discussed by the ablest Scholars, Farmers and Politicians of the State. The Governor strongly urged in his Message of January, 1863, the bestowal of the Land Grant upon Harvard University, or rather upon those noble scientific Institutions which are affiliated with that University. But, in spite of the conceded advantages of existing Professorships in branches of Study required to be taught in a Course of Agriculture, and of means of instruction and illustration in large Libraries and costly Apparatus, the Massachusetts Legislature decided to establish a separate Institution as an Agricultural College, and, after deducting one-tenth of the avails of the Land Grant for the purpose of buying a Farm, as empowered to do by the Congressional Act, they appropriated two-thirds of the Fund to the contemplated new College, and the remaining one-third to the Institute of Technology, in Boston. The location of the proposed Agricultural College was left in the hands of the Trustees, and a proviso in the Act required that $75,000 should be raised by voluntary subscription for the erection of Buildings. This amount having been pledged by the Town of Amherst, and an eligible Site and Farm of 383 Acres having been secured in that Town, at a cost of $41,000, the Agricultural College of the State was located there, and opened for the reception of Students in the Autumn of 1867. At the date of my visit the Institution had received the following moneys:From the general United States Government, $168,000; from the Town of Amherst, $75,000; from the State of Massachusetts, $120,000; and from different individuals, $25,000; amounting in all to the sum of $388,000. This has been applied to the purchase of a Model and Experimental Farm, as above mentioned, the erection of Buildings, and various miscellaneous outlays for Apparatus, etcetera. There are Dormitory, Boarding, Class and Lecture-room accommodation for one hundred and ten Students. Two Students occupy a Suite of Rooms, having a Study in common and a Bed-room and Closet for each. There are seven Dwelling-houses, two Brick Dormitory Buildings, a large Edifice called the "College Hall," a Botanic Museum, and beautiful Plant-house, a spacious Model Barn and Outbuildings. A further expenditure of about $100,000 is considered requisite to complete projected Buildings, and provide Furnishings, Fittings, Books and Apparatus. This additional outlay would increase the capacity of the Institution so as to accommodate two hundred Students. The Faculty of the College consists of a President, who is also Professor of Botany and Horticulture; a Professor of Agriculture; a Professor of Military Science; a Professor of Mathematics and Physics; a Professor of Chemistry; a Professor of Modern Languages; together with sundry Instructors and Lecturers on a variety of special branches of Study. Two classes of Students are contemplated in the Course of Instruction which is provided, videlicet: "Those who wish to obtain a thorough Literary, Scientific and Business Education, qualifying them to act well their part, not only as Farmers and Gardeners, but also as citizens and men; and those whose circumstances, or wishes, induce them to seek a more limited and practical Course of Instruction, with particular reference

to Farming as a profession." The regular Course of Study occupies four years, and those who complete it receive the Degree of B.S., (Bachelor of Science). The Farm Superintendent gives daily instruction in the best methods of Practical Agriculture. Every Student is required to labour two hours on alternate days, as a College exercise. For this no pay is given, but for all extra labour Students are paid at the rate of 12 cents per hour. Thus far more than half the Students have voluntarily worked. more or less, for wages, as a means of reducing the cost of attendance at College. The expenses are as follows:-Tuition, $12 per Term; Room Rent, $5 per Term; incidental expenses, $1 per Term; Boarding, $3.50 per week; Washing, 50 cents per dozen; expenses of Chemical Laboratory to Students of Practical Chemistry $5 per Term; public and private damages, including Chemical Apparatus, at cost; total expenses, inclusive of Fuel and Books, about $250 per annum. The last Report of the Trustees of the College, holds it out as an inducement to Students that, with the Manual Labour facilities provided, a young man of good talents, who is healthy and willing to work, can obtain a superior Education at this Institution for $100 per annum, in addition to what he can earn on the Premises. Most of the Agricultural Societies in the State have assumed the responsibility of paying the Term bills of one or more Students. the amount per annum of each being $54. These Agricultural Society Scholarships are offered for competition, and the Candidates passing the most creditable examination become entitled to them. By this means, and the Manual Labour arrangement, a Scholarship Student is at an outlay of not more than about $50 per annum. It speaks well for the reputation of this College, that it has been well filled with Students ever since its opening in October, 1867, and that they have been chiefly Farmers' Sons who have been in attendance. No one is admitted at a younger age than fifteen, and thus far the Students have averaged eighteen years of age. Nearly all have been Full Course Students. This College is considered to have been remarkably successful. The State Legislature and wealthy Agriculturists deem it worthy of liberal appropriations and benefactions; and, while it is too young to point with pride and triumph to any distinct marks of moulding power and usefulness, as having been put forth on the Agriculture of the State as yet, it is confidently believed that it will be able to do so at no very distant day. The total cost of its maintenance, inclusive of the Farm, is about $20,000 per annum, of which Term Bills, Farm Produce, etcetera, pay about one half, leaving about $10,000 per annum to be provided for out of the Endowment Fund. The Course of Studies pursued at the Massachusetts Agricultural College is as follows:

COURSE OF STUDY AND INSTRUCTION, MASSACHUSETTS AGR CULTURAL COLLEGE.

FRESHMAN YEAR.-First Term.-Algebra, Human Anatomy and Physiology, Chemical Physics.

Second Term.-Geometry, French, Chemistry.

Third Term.-Geometry, French, Botany.

Lectures upon Hygiene, Chemistry, Botany and Agriculture; and exercises in Orthography, Elocution and English Composition during the year.

SOPHOMORE YEAR.-First Term.-German, Agriculture, Commercial Arithmetic and Book-keeping.

tice.

Second Term.-German, Trigonometry, Analytical Chemistry, with Laboratory prac

Third Term.-Mensuration, Surveying, Analytical Chemistry, Zoology, Drawing. Lectures upon Comparative Anatomy; Diseases of Domestic Animals; Organic Chemistry; Dairy Farming, and Market Gardening; and Exercises in English Composition and Declamation during the year.

JUNIOR YEAR.-First Term.-French, or German, Agricultural Chemistry, with practice in the Laboratory and the Field, Drawing.

Second Term.-Physics, Rhetoric, Horticulture.