rest. and either gratuitously, or at a nominal price distributed by the Board, would create among farmers a general and increasing inteIn order, however, that that interest night become a source of individual benefit to farmers, not merely in gratifying curiosity, but in giving impulse to action, they ought to be prepared for the reception and true significance of the facts laid before them; they should themselves acquire a knowledge of the elementary principles of Husbandry upon which the suggestions they might receive would be based. For it is to a vast multitude of independent farmers scattered through the Province, each with one or two hundred acres of land, that such hints would be given. The only mode which has hitherto been adopted and which indeed seems capable of meeting the case, is by appealing to farmers through the teachers of Common Schools. The Board of Education for Upper Canada has adopted this method of diffusing elementary Agricultural Instruction through the country. His Excellency the Governor General has expressed in words, and, if possible, more impressively in action, the consideration and importance he attaches to the course adopted by the Board of Education. His Excellency has been further pleased to distinguish in a manner eagerly to be sought after, those individuals, who, in the Normal School, exhibit an endeavour to qualify themselves for communicating the elementary principles of Husbandry in their capacity of School Teachers. The Board of Education has determined that the period of attendance at the Normal School shall be increased from five to nine months. It may be reasonably expected that with this additional advantage, many will le able at the expiration of the session, to communicate a knowledge of the principles of Husbandry, not only in the School house, but also by means of lectures in their own immediate neighbour-. hoods. If the Teachers-in-training at the Normal School could have the advantage of witnessing a course of experiments during a period of nine months, upon a Model Farm, under the control of a Board of Agriculture, much good could not fail to result, and a most influential means of disseminating experimental, theoretical and practical knowledge at once attained. Farmers in their occasional capacity of School trustees, would soon be induced to interest themselves in educational matters, especially those which refer to their own peculiar labors of life. A Board of Agriculture would immediately acquire a new interest in the eyes of Farmers, from the circumstance of those engaged in educating their children or themselves, having been taught by its experience and benefited by its liberality. 1 am Sir, Your Obedient Servant, Toronto, April 22nd, 1850. Miscellaneous. H. Y. HIND. An intelligent mason can very soon try experiments so as to insure success. It is to be remembered that the black surface requires much more working with the smoothing trowel, than ordinary white finish. It should be finished by being softly smoothed with a wet brush. When perfectly dry, it is nearly as hard as slate, and almost as durable, if carefully used. Great care should be taken not to put in too much lampblack. The advantages of this kind of black surface over the ordinary black board, are, 1. The chalk easily takes effect upon it. 2. The chalk is much more easily wiped off. 3. There is but little noise made in writing upon it. 4. There is no reflection of light upon it. 5. It is cheaper, it costs but a trifle more than ordinary hard finish. Additional Suggestions.-In building a new school house it would be well to have a belt of this black surface pass entirely around the room, at the proper height. In a common school, when small children are to use it, its lower edge should be about two feet from the floor, extending thence upward from 3 to 34 feet. At the lower edge there should be a "chalk trough" extending the whole length, made by nailing a thin strip of board to the plank which bounds the black board, leaving a trough two inches in width and depth, in which to place the chalk, brushes, pointers, &c; this would also catch the dust which is wiped from the board. The upper edge should be bounded by a simple moulding. The Brushes.-The best thing for removing the chalk from the board is a brush, made of the size of a shoe brush, with a wooden handle on the back side, the face being covered with a sheep skin with the wool on. This removes the chalk at a single sweep, without wearing the surface, and without soiling the hand of the operator. This is a great improvement over a dust-cloth or a sponge. In all cases let the board be kept dry; never allow a pupil to wet the wiper when removing the chalk. Renovation.-By long use, especially if the surface is ever cleaned with a wet wiper, this kind of black-board becomes too smooth and glossy upon the surface; the chalk passes over it without taking effect, and the light is reflected by it. A very simple wash applied with a white brush, will immediately restore it; this wash is made by dissolving one part of glue to two parts of alum, in water, so as to make a very thin solution. It is well to have this wash slightly colored with lampblack. Care must be taken that this wash do not have too much "body." The above directions, if carefully observed, it is believed, will be found sufficient to enable any section to procure, at a cheap rate, an adequate amount of blackboard, ready for use at all times. If these suggestions shall tend to promote the welfare of the schools, by improving the means of instruction in the schools, the writer will have a sufficient reward. QUESTION FOR EACH YOUNG MAN TO DECIDE. I ask of the young man, then, who is just forming his habits of life, or just beginning to indulge those habitual trains of thought out of which habits grow, to look around him, and mark the examples whose fortune he would covet, or whose fate he would abhor. Even as we walk the streets, we meet with exhibitions of each extreme. Here, behold a patriarch, whose stock of vigor three-score years and ten seem hardly to have impaired. His erect form, his firm step, his elastic limbs, and undimmed senses, are so many certificates of good conduct; or, rather, so many jewels and orders of nobility with which nature has honored him for his fidelity to her laws. His fair complexion shows that his blood has never been corrupted; his pure breath, that he has never yielded his digestive apparatus for a vintner's cess-pool; his exact language and keen apprehension, that his brain has never been drugged or stupified by the poisons of distiller or tobacconist. Enjoying his appetites to the highest, he has preserved the power of enjoying them. Despite the moral of the school-boy's story, he has eaten his cake and still kept it. As he drains the cup of life, there are no lees at the bottom. His organs will reach the goal of existence together. Painlessly as a candle burns down in its socket, so will he expire; and a little imagination would convert him into another Enoch, translated from earth to a better world without the sting of death. But look at an opposite extreme, where an opposite history is recorded. What wreck so shocking to behold as the wreck of a dissolute man ;-the vigor of life exhausted, and yet the first steps in an honorable career not taken; in himself a lazar-house of diseases; dead, but, by a heathenish custom of society, not buried! Rogues have had the initial letter of their title burnt into the palms of their hands; even for murder, Cain was only branded on the forehead; but over the whole person of the debauchee or the inebriate, the signatures of infamy are written. How nature brands him with stigma and opprobrium! How she hangs labels all over him, to testify her disgust at his existence, and to admonish others to beware of his example! How she loosens all his joints, and sends tremors along his muscles, and bends forward his frame, as if to bring him upon all-fours with kindred brutes, or to degrade him to the reptile's crawling! How she disfigures his countenance, as if intent upon obliterating all traces of her own image, so that she may swear she never made him! How she pours rheum over his eyes, sends foul spirits to inhabit his breath, and shrieks, as with a trumpet, from every pore of his body, "BEHOLD A BEAST!" Such a man may be seen in the streets of our cities every day; if rich enough, he may be found in the saloons, and at the tables of the "Upper Ten;" but surely, to every man of purity and honor, to every man whose wisdom as well as whose heart is unblemished, the wretch who comes cropped and bleeding from the pillory, and redolent with its appropriate perfumes, would be a guest or a companion far less offensive and disgusting. Now let the young man, rejoicing in his manly proportions, and in his comeliness, look on this picture, and on that, and then say, after the likeness of which model he intends his own erect stature and sublime countenance shall be configured.-Horace Mann's Thoughts for Young Men. PRACTICAL POWER OF KNOWLEDGE. The globe, with all its dynamical energies, its mineral treasures, its vegetative powers, its fecundities of life, is only a grand and divinely-wrought machine put into his hands; and, on the condition of knowledge, he may wield it and use it, as an artisan uses his tool. Knowledge inaugurates us into the office of superintendent and director of the elements, and all their energies. By means of knowledge, they may all be made ministering servants for our profit and our pleasure. Such is the true philosophic relation in which we stand to this earth, to the perfect system of laws which govern it, and to the mighty and exhaustless energies with which its frame, and every organ of its frame, is filled. It is our automaton. Gravitation, repulsion, caloric, magnetism, air, water, fire, light, lightning,-through knowledge, we can play them all, as Maelzel plays his chessmen !-Horace Mann's Thoughts for Young Men. THE GREAT TEMPTATION TO YOUNG MEN. But there is one pitfall of temptation, into which the young man of our day is in danger of falling, and into which the mercantile young man is in especial danger of falling. The gods of this world, the polytheism which has so long co-existed with Chemistry, is fast dying out. Men are rapidly coming to the worship of one deity;the only misfortune is, that it is neither the living or the true one. They deify wealth; and while they most falsely transfer their worship to an idol divinity, they most faithfully fulfil the letter of the commandment, and love it with all their heart and soul and mind and strength. Were it currently reported and believed that the river of Jordan rolled over golden sands, or that the pool of Bethesda was surrounded by "Placers," the Christian would vie with the Jew for the rebuilding of Jerusalem; all ships would be "up" for Palestine instead of San Francisco; and the Holy Land would be again inundated,-not by a host of God-worshipping, but of gold-worshipping Crusaders. Now I wage no war against wealth. I taint it with no vilifying breath. Wealth, so far as it consists in comfortable shelter and food and raiment for all mankind; in competence for bodily want, and in abundance for every mental and spiritual need, is so valuable, so precious, that if any earthly object could be worthy of idolatry, this might best be the idol. Wealth, as the means of refinement and embellishment; of education and culture, not only universal in its comprehension, but elevated in its character; wealth, as the means of perfecting the arts and advancing the sciences, of discovering and diffusing truth, is a blessing we cannot adequately appreciate; and God seems to have pronounced it to be so, when He made the earth and all the fulness thereof,-the elements, the land and sea, and all that in them is,-convertible into it. But wealth as the means of an idle or a voluptuous life; wealth as the fosterer of pride and the petrifier of the human heart; wealth as the iron rod with which to beat the poor into submission to its will, is all the curses of Pandora concentrated into one. It is not more true, that money represents all values, than that it represents all vices.-Horace Mann, THE CHILD'S WAY TO HEAVEN, Oh I am weary of earth, said the child, On the snow-white dove which it held in its hand, So the child came out of its little bower, And it said, I am going this very hour- There was shining light where the sun had set, And it seemed as if earth and heaven met And the child looked out in the far, far west, And it saw a golden door, Where the evening sun had gone to its rest But a little while before. There was one bright streak on the cloud's dark face, As if it had been riven; Said the child, "I will go to that very place, For it must be the gate of heaven." So away it went to follow the sun, But the bright clouds would not stay, Then the evening shades fell heavily, With night dews cold and damp, A light wind wafted the fleecy clouds, And the child called out, when it saw them stray, By the evening breezes driven, Bright stars, you are wandering far away Then on it went through the rough waste lands Till the pricklers scratched its dimpled hands, It could not see before it well, And its limbs grew stiff and cold, So the child knelt down on the damp green sod, And it fell asleep as it thought of God, A long, long sleep-for they found it there- The sunbeams glanced on the drops of dew, -Fraser's Magazine. From the N. Y. Journal of Education. COMPARATIVE VIEW OF EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND THE UNITED STATES. The object of the present article is not to give a detailed account of education either in Britain or in the United States, but only to point out in what particulars their methods and means of instruction differ. The writer's knowledge is derived from personal observation, from teachers, and from official documents. The differences observable in the education of the two countries, has naturally arisen from the different circumstances of each. The United States have labored under the disadvantages of a more scattered population, and more urgent demands upon their time to procure the necessaries of life. When the colonists arrived in the new world, they had to clear away the forest, build houses, fence in their fields, and defend themselves and their possessions against wild beasts, and more formidable wild men; besides attending to the many wants of a newly established community. This left less time and means to be devoted to education. At the same time, the value of practical knowledge would be more appreciated than in a country where less labor was requisite to procure a subsistance, and the absence of all time honoured abuses, and invidious distinctuess of classes, would naturally produce a system adapted to the whole of the community. Hence the education of the United States aims more at immediate practical application, and embraces a wider range, while it is less thorough in the amount of knowledge which it communicates on any particular subject, and less efficient as an instrument of mental discipline. The plan of teaching the higher branches by means of printed questions is more common in the United States, than in Britain, where the student is generally required to answer such questions as his teacher may ask. Instead of a single text-book, the British student is frequently required to master several treatises on the subject. The teacher gives out a certain subject for study, and mentions the authors that may be consulted. When he comes to examine the scholar, he does so in a general way, without caring whether the answers to his interrogatories are given in this treatise or that.On the contrary, in the United States, one book only is generally studied by the scholar. Another difference in the method of teaching, exists in regard to written exercises. These are much more common in Britain, where the examinations for degrees are frequently conducted altogether in this way, some of the teachers being present the whole time to see that the student obtains no assistance, either from books or notes, or from a third party. The branches taught in Britain are fewer in number, and consist chiefly of such as were cultivated in early times. The sciences of recent origin, such as geology and chemistry, generally form no part of the regular course in the higher Institutions; but the extent to which the subjects of study are taught is usually greater. This is particularly the case with the classic languages, and with the mental and moral sciences. The time devoted to study is nearly the same in both countries, being only a little longer in Britain. Hence, as the subjects taught there are fewer, they can afford to teach them more thoroughly and extensively. The greater number of teachers, and the larger libraries belonging to the first class seminaries, also give in that country an additional advantage. The branches which the British student is required to master, in order to obtain a degree, differ widely in the various colleges of Britain; but they are almost always fewer than in the United States. The more recent institutions, such as London University, require more studies than Oxford or Cambridge. The reader must not suppose, however that the subjects which are not specified as essential and necessary to be pursued to obtain a degree, are therefore not taught in the British seminaries. There are no branches of human knowledge, of general interest, which may not be learned in most of the Universities. Thus Oxford has professors of Arabic, Sanscrit, Botany, Civil Law, &c., although attendance on these classes is optional with the candidates for degress. The attendance at such classes is generally small, and the professors are paid in a great measure from tlie annual proceeds of endow ments. In this respect, Scottish Universities most nearly resemble those of this country. The small number of subjects requisite for an examination at Oxford, would rather sith an American student. The ancient practice of declamation is much less common in Britain than in the United States. It is altogether optional in many of the English Universities, and has been totally discontinued in most of the Scottish. The practice of giving prizes and honors to distinguished students is more common in Britain.-In most Institutions, the efforts of a few Students are quickened by the hope of reward and distinctions.--The general absence of these hot-bed stimulants is a decided advantage to the Colleges of this country. We state as the result of considerable observation, that prizes and honors lead to superficial attainments, and stimulate to fevered exertion those who require no stimulant, while they produce no effect whatever on those who do. The great object is the prize, not a profound knowledge of the subject; and it is a common case with distinguished prize-takers, at the end of their curriculum, to sell their books, with the fixed determination of never paying any more attention to the subject. Within a month after the opening of a class, the superior attainments, and external advantages, or abilities, of a few members, make it evident to all the rest that competition will end only in defeat, and therefore they pay no regard whatever to prizes or honors which they cannot attain. : On the subject of discipline, we remark that much more severity is practised in Great Britain than in this country. The injunction of Solomon, not to spare the rod, is generally observed in the schools and academies and the fines, public reprimands, and expulsions, which are sure to follow any marked violations of the college rules, are such as would cause a loud outcry among the students of American colleges. The doctrine that moral suasion alone is in every case omnipotent, most British teachers, of every class, consider not only untrue, but ridiculous. In consequence, however, of the early discipline applied to the rising generation, they are generally less inclined to violate the rules when they enter college than pupils in the United States; and hence, rebellions, offering personal violence to teachers, playing practical jokes on fellow-students, &c., are much less common among them. In the lower seminaries the lash is applied not only for misconduct, but for negligent study. With respect to the price of tuition, and the facilities for obtaining an education, the advantage is decidedly, in favor of the United States. Free schools, so common in all the northern and middle states are almost unknown in Britain. It is true that there are several such schools both in England and in Scotland, but they are not open to the public generally. They rather resemble the military school at West Point, in respect to the terms of admission, which are mostly in the hands of a few individuals. These often show a preference which excludes the more deserving portion of the youth; and therefore these schools are frequently in a very languishing condition. As the wages of the working classes are lower than in the United States, while the necessaries of life are dearer, it is no wonder that illiterate parents should not care to send their children to school; and hence the gross ignorance of a large number of the poorer classes throughout England. In Scotland the public schools established in every parish are endowed, so that the charges for tuition are much lower than in England. Hence the number of . persons totally illiterate is comparatively small. The Sunday Schools have done much in England in teaching children to read. The number attending these schools in England and Wales in 1833, exceeded one million and a half. Still the number of illiterate persons in that country is very great. In 1840, one-third of all the men, and one-half of all the women married were unable to write. In Ireland, popular education is much more generally diffused. Until very recently England had no system of public education for the people at large; and the one recently started is very limited and unsatisfactory. By an estimate in the Year Book, of the number actually educated in England, it appears that in the provision for the instruction of the whole population between 5 and 12 years there is a deficiency of half a million. In the United States, provision is made for furnishing all the people with the means of educating their children at a cheap rate, and very frequently without any charge, while the price of labor, and the necessaries of life are such that almost all possess ample means of educating their children without any public aid. The condition of academic education in these respects is very *The teachers in these schools are almost all graduates of colleges, and besides the elementary branches, they teach the classics and mathematics. greatly in favor of the United States. The minimum expenses of a student at Oxford or Cambridge is about $400 a year, whereas in the colleges of the United States, board is furnished at so cheap a rate, and the tuition fees are so low, that the student might defray all necessary expenses with one-third of the sum. In Britain, again, the student obtains little or no assistance from educational societies; he is dependent on his own funds, and those of his relatives; whereas the associations just mentioned, frequently defray a great part of his expenses in the United States, and private benevolence is also exercised towards students in narrow circumstances to an extent unknown in Britain.. Hence the number of persons who receive a college education is comparatively much greater in the United States than in Britain. The standing of teachers in Britain is much higher than in this country, owing chiefly to the permanence of their situations, and their comparatively higher incomes. Amidst our rapidly increasing population, and equally rapid exchange of circumstances, institutions of learning do not possess, in America, that stability and fixedness of circumstances which generally characterize those of Britian : hence teachers in good situations here do not feel secure in the enjoyment of their present advantages, and therefore they are ready to adopt some other vocation. They are further incited to this course by the smallness of their incomes, which arises, in a greater measure, from the comparatively small number in attendance; and this is chiefly owing to the thinnes of the population, and the consequent multiplication of seminaries. It therefore generally happens that persons who take up teaching, are those who either cannot do anything else, or who expect to relinquish it as soon as they can enter upon some more lucrative pursuit. Much has recently been said and written about elevating the teacher. The whole may be expressed in two words-permanence and rfi. Until these be secured to teachers, all other attempts to elevate them will come to naught : when these are secured, they will, ipso facto, take a higher standing in the community. The British teacher stands higher simply because his situation is more permanent and more lucrative. Compared with the earnings of other classes of the community, his remuneration is fully fifty per cent. higher than in this country. For these reasons, it is more common there for persons who assume the office of teacher, to follow it for life; and it is comparatively a rare thing to see a teacher in any of the high seminaries, resigning his situation, while it is well known that in this country the case is far otherwise. The frequent change of teachers among us renders education much less thorough and efficient than if the teacher was induced to devote all his energies and confine his future expectations to his present duties, and his pupils enjoyed the advantage of an uniform and consistent course of instruction. The above remarks, so far as they regard the higher branches of education, apply particularly to male students. Advanced female education demands a brief special notice. That of American females is distinguished as embracing a much wider range of studies, and including many branches which in Britain are studied only by persons of the other sex. We never saw in Britain a class of young ladies studying logic, or psychology, nor did we ever hear or read of such a thing in that country, and a similar observation might be made regarding several other studies, whereas it is well known that in American academies we not unfrequently find more female than male students studying such branches. Until lately, British girls of the lower and middle classes studied little except the elementary branches of education, those of the upper classes were taught, in addition, music, painting, embroidery, with one or two modern languages, and nothing more. Recently they have introduced physiology, botany, and a little natural philosophy and history into the Scottish seminaries, which generally precede those of England in the work of improvement. Still, the course of female education is much less extensive than in the United States, where less time is devoted to music, needle-work, and modern languages, * We mean of course, college expenses-fees for study, books, board and fuel-exending apparel, travelling expenses, and such books as are not necessary for a student. The price of text books in this country is little more than one half of what they cost in Britain. † Although it is very convenient to have the means of college education brought near to the various sections of this widely extended country, there can be little doubt that the rapid increase in the number of colleges, with ut a corresponding increase in the means of efficient support, has been very detrimental to the cause of liberal education in this country. Colleges have been too often established to languish, and exist as colleges only in name, since they are in fact nothing more than high schools or academies. and much more to be solid branches of education. Hence, although we cannot suppose that female education in this country is unsusceptible of farther improvement, it may be said with truth that American ladies are more intelligent, as a class, than those of any other country. Female education in other parts of Europe is still more defective than in Britain, and intelligent and thoroughly educated ladies met with ina y part of Europe are mostly selftaught, or are indebted for their attainments to parental or private instruction. TEACHERS' INSTITUTES IN UPPER CANADA. As it is designed to hold Teachers' Institutes in each County Town of Upper Canada this Summer, and as curiosity may be awakened to learn something of their history and design, we beg to direct the attention of our readers to the 202nd, 207th, and 217th pages of the first volume of this Journal, and to the 99th page of the second volume, for valuable information on the subject. The following remarks on the Teachers' Institutes of the State of Massachusetts, we take from the Boston Common School Journal: "It is said, that several of these useful meetings are to be held this Spring, under the direction, of the new Secretary of the Board of Education. We hope teachers will not lose the opportunity which will thus be presented of acquiring instruction, encouragement, and a spirit of virtuous emulation. Indeed, such meetings rarely fail to benefit the community where they are holden, as much as the teachers, by exciting attention to schools, and by enlightening the people as to the excellencies and defects of our System of Free Schools and showing them what is their duty in regard to it.We hope that, wherever they may be holden, the people will attend the exercises and lectures; and we pray the Trustees to be liberal towards the teachers, encouraging them to attend, and allowing them ample time to do so. If the Trustees should go farther, and actually pay the expenses of their teachers while at the Institutes, we believe the money so expended would yield a larger return than any other money they may be called on to expend. No town in Massachusetts has yet been liberal enough to set an example in this matter. 'Pinch a servant, and he will pinch you,' says the proverb; enlarge him, and he will magnify you."" RELIGION AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF GREATNESS. It will be difficult to find any thing in the English language exceeding in truthful eloquence the following passage from Daniel Webster's Eulogy, upon the death of the Hon. Jeremiah Mason, distinguished member of the Bar in Massachusetts :— "But, sir, political eminence and professional fame fade away and die with all things earthly. Nothing of this character is really personal worth. They remain. Whatever of excellence is wrought into the soul itself, belongs to both worlds. Real goodness does not attach itself merely to this life, it points to another world. Political or professional fame cannot last forever, but a conscience void of offence before God and man, is an inheritance for eternity. Religion, therefore, is a necessary and indispensible element in any great human character. There is no living without it. Religion is the tie that connects man with his Creator, and binds him to his throne. If that tie be all sundered, all broken, he floats away, a worthless atom in the universe, its proper attractions all gone, its destiny thwarted, and its whole future, nothing but darkness, desolation and death." THE BRITISH COLONIAL EMPIRE. According to Martin, in his account of the British Colonies, twenty-five written, and various unwritten languages, are spoken throughout this great empire of colonies. There are about 5,000000 Christians, 50,000,000 Hindoos, 20,000,000 Mohammedans, 10,000,000 Budhists, and millions of other idolaters of various descriptions, in the British foreign possessions. The whole population is estimated at 130,000,000. Of these, not more than 26,000,000 eat flesh abundantly; about 10,000,000 sparingly; 24,000,000 occasionally and 70,000,000 live principally on vegetables and fish. About 34,000,000 make wheat, oats and barley their principal graminivoro is food; 16,000,000, potatoes, pulse, and other vegetables; and 80,000,000. rice, maize, millet, &c. About 10,000,000 drink wine frequently; 25,000,000 distilled liquors; and 60,000,000, are water drinkers. PROGRAMME OF THE SEMI-ANNUAL EXAMINATION OF THE NORMAL AND MODEL SCHOOLS FOR UPPER CANADA, AT THE CLOSE OF THE WINTER SESSION, 1849-50. -- SATURDAY, TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY, 13th, 16th, 17th AND 18th, APRIL, 1850. NORMAL SCHOOL. SATURDAY (PRIVATE.)-Examination for His Excellency the GovERNOR GENERAL's Prizes in Agricultural Chemistry, &c. Tuesday. Mr. ROBERTSON, 10-11-Philosophy of Grammar. Mr. HIND; 11-12-Science and Practice of Arithmetic, with the use of Logarithms-Mensuration. Intermission-Mr. ROBERTSON, 2-3-Geography-Mathematical, Physical and Political. Mr. HIND, 3-4-Algebra-Geometry--Algebraic formulæ, applied to Mensuration and Surveying. Mr. MCCALLUM, 4-44-Book-keeping. Wednesday.-Mr. HIND, 10-11-General Principles of Mechanics and Hydrostatics-Steam Engine, Locomotive-the Natural Sciences. Mr. ROBERTSON, 11-12- General Rules of Orthography and Composition of Words and prefixes and affixes-Rudiments of Logic. Intermission-Mr. HIND, 1-21--Agricultural Chemistry-Physiology. Mr. ROBERTSON, 21-31-General History-Synchronetic Table. Mr. TOWNSEND, 34-4-Hullah's System of Vocal Music. 4-Distribution of the Prizes given by the Governor General, by His Excellency in person. MODEL SCHOOL. . Mr. Thursday-SCHOOL ROOM.-Mr. SANGSTER, 9-94-Mechanics. -Mr. MCCALLUM, 9-10-Book-keeping and Grammar.-Mr. SANGSTER, 10-11-Geography,-(Senior Division.)-Mr. McCALLUM, 11-12-History.. GALLERY.-Mr. SANGSTER-Arithmetic(Junior Division.)-Mr. McCALLUM Object Lessons. SANGSTER-Object Lessons-Geography-(Senior. Division.)Intermission-Mr. SANGSTER, 2-3-Arithmetic-(Senior Division) -Algebra, mental and practical, and Geometry.-Mr. McCALLUM, 2-3-Grammar and Geography―(Junior Division) TOWNSEND, 3-34-Hullah's System of Vocal Music. NORMAL SCHOOL EXAMINATION. NOTICES OF THE TORONTO PRESS. Condensed from the British Colonist. Mr. The Public examination at this valuable Institution, took place last week, at the close of the winter session. The teachers in training acquitted themselves admirably. The examinations lasted the whole of two days-Tuesday and Wednesday-and were conducted by the repective Masters, in the order set down in the programme. The examinations were witnessed by many of our fellow citizens, and not a few of those occupying prominent stations on the Bench, at the Bar, in the Pulpit, and at the Executive Council Board. All appeared to be very much gratified with what they witnessed; and there were those who, on former occasions, seemed to doubt the utility of the institution, but who now bear willing testimony to its efficacy and usefulness. In order to form a correct estimate of the system pursued in the Normal School and the nature of the instruction imparted, it is necessary to attend all the examinations. A casual visit will not suffice. Those who only witnessed the examinations of the second day, may be impressed with a belief, that the instructions are superficial and better adapted for shew than for practical usefulness; but had they been present at the commencement, and been regular in their attendance to the close they would have seen that the teachers-in-training have been thoroughly drilled in all the important branches of study, to which their attention had been directed during the session. We are much pleased on this account to see the members of the Executive Council present, during the Examinations on Tuesday forenoon. Those who attended were the Honourable Messrs. Baldwin, Leslie, Hincks and Price. They were enabled to form a proper estimate of the elementary insturuction imparted in the Normal School, and to ascertain that it is by no means of that superficial character which it has been sometimes represented to be by parties who had not a fair opportunity of judging correctly. The Honourable gentlemen appeared to be very much gratified with what they witnessed, and at the close entered into conversation with Dr. Ryerson and Messrs. Robertson and Hind. They are, on doubt, quite alive to the important influence which the Normal School has already exercised, and must continue to exercise, on the common schools of the country, and the youths who attend them; and the appearance of intelligence and respectibility which the teachers-in-training represented, must have impressed them with a still higher estimate of its value and importance. An annual supply of from 100 to 200 teachers, male and female, sent out from this valuable Institution, is one of the greatest boons which can be conferred on the community; and under the able and efficient instruction of Messrs. Robertson and Hind, there can be no doubt that each succeeding session will witness an improvement, by which the province will be proportionably benefited.Without giving a minute description of the examinations, we may mention that the Governor General's prizes in Agricultural Chemistry were competed for on Saturday. The examinations for these prizes were private, under the direction of competent judges, appointed by the Board of Education, viz: Professor Croft, Mr. Buckland, and E. W. Thompson, Esq., with whom were associated the Masters of the Normal School. The several competitors had to give in written answers to a series of printed questions which had been previously prepared by the examiners. The first prize was adjudged to Mr. Weston Herriman, of Whitby. The successful competitors for the second, were Mrs. Dorcas Clark, Pickering, and Mr. Finlay MacNab, North Elmsley, County of Lanark. The subject of Agricultural Instruction, is one which now occupies a very extended and well deserved attention. No one who listened to the examinations of the teachers-in-training, could fail to foresce, in some measure, the benefits which must shortly result to our farmers, by having a number of young men, competent to teach the fundamental principles of their art, spread among them. Agricultural Instruction is much needed throughout the province, and it must be rapidly and extensively disseminated, to meet the require ments of a vast farming community; and in the present circumstances of the province, any more elaborate and extensive system of instruction does not seem necessary, than that which may be acquired and taught by the teachers of our common schools. As the term of attendance at the Normal School, will in future be nine months, ample time and opportunity will then be afforded, to young men of talent and energy, to acquire as much knowledge of Agricultural Chemistry, as will enable them not only to communicate a knowledge of its elementary principles, to the sons of farmers, but also in the form of experimental lectures to farmers themselves. We call the attention of farmers to its circumstances, who in their occasional capacity of School Trustees, have opportunity of demanding and obtaining instruction, if they seek, as teachers, those who are distinguished at the Normal School, by their endeavour to make themselves competent to convey information on husbandry, in all its branches. On Wednesday afternoon the Governor General visited the Normal School, to distribute the prizes. His Excellency was accompanied by the Hon. Colonel Bruce and one of his A. D. C. When the Governor arrived, the class was engaged in singing, under the direction of Mr. Townsend, in Hullah's system of Vocal Music. Upon His Excellency entering the Hall, the class up-standing, sang "God save the Queen," in excellent style. His Excellency having taken his place on the platform, the Rev. Dr. Ryerson Chief Superintendent of Schools, observed (smiling) that although the removal of the Seat of Government may have proved advantageous to the city generally, the Normal School had not participated in those advantages. [This remark, had reference to the removal of the School from the Government House and the temporary occupancy of the Temperance Hall, which affords inadequate accommodation.] Dr. Ryerson referred with satisfaction to the prosperous condition of the Normal School, under its able masters, Messrs. Robertson and Hind. He stated that the present session there are 137 students admitted, of whom 43 were females. There were 25 rejected. During the Session, 36 had left, either from ill health or incompetency to take charge of Schools, including 3 cases of final suspension. At present, the class consisted of |