The scope of work of the College of Agriculture in the University of Nanking will be considerably widened when a special one year course, taught in Mandarin, is opened next September. Hitherto, students of agriculture have been confined to the five year courses in agriculture and forestry, which are taught largely in English, or to summer courses. The new course is to run through one school year and one summer, totalling 11 months. It will combine an intensive study of the most useful subjects, with an abundance of practice by having all classroom work arranged in the forenoon and requiring, during each afternoon, field, garden, or nursery operations.
Practically the whole regular faculty of the College of Agriculture and Forestry will participate in giving the courses mentioned, or in supervising field work. More than 800 mow of farm gardens and nurseries are available for every line of farm practice. The object of this special course will be, primarily, to so train rural teachers, pastors and extension workers that they will be able to meet the particular problems in their own localities and become active community leaders. Secondarily, it is intended to develop farm foremen, experiment station managers, operators of pure seed farms, ete.
In order that students from farming communities of but limited means may enter, the expenses have been reduced to the lowest possible figure, being only about $128 for the 11 months for board, tuition, books and incidentals. For the first year, the entering class is limited to 25, though it is hoped that the usefulness of such a work will justify the preparation of accommodation for a much larger number in subsequent years.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.