Feb. 16.] THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 791

soil; how the capacity for moisture in the soil may be increased; the conservation of moisture, indications that land needs draining. Tillage—its effects on soil; methods and implements for tillage. The enrichment of the soil and the object of it; farm resources, their value and management. Classification, composition, properties, and management of manures; indications determining the selection of manures; soils and crops for which manures are best suited. The plant in its relation to soil, climate, animal life, and man; how the plant lives; the factors of growth; the food of plants, how and whence plants procure food; root-distribution. How plants are propagated; importance of a good seed-bed and of good seed; seed-testing; preparation and care of the seed-bed. How plants adapt themselves to, and are influenced by, their surroundings. The chief characters, management, and care of the principal crops; selection of suitable soils and situations; rotation of crops; objects of grafting and pruning; enemies of plants, preventives and remedies; intertillage of crops; eradication of weeds. Making new kinds of plants.

A candidate in General Agriculture will be required to forward to the Department, before the examination, a certificate on the prescribed form that he has gone through a sufficient course of practical work in the subject occupying at least eighty hours.

(30.) Dairy Science.—The constituents of milk; causes of variations and of defects in the composition of milk; the physical and chemical properties of milk; the coagulation of milk; the composition of skimmed milk, separated milk, buttermilk, and cream; the uses and value of separated milk, buttermilk, and whey; acidity and the estimation of acidity; sampling; influence of temperature on milk; pasteurizing and sterilizing milk; objections to the use of chemical preservatives; experimental proof that souring of milk is due to bacterial activity; sources of bacterial contamination; injurious bacteria of milk; milk as a medium for conveying disease. The examination will include also a knowledge of the construction, manipulation, and principles of working of the apparatus used for testing milk and its products. Methods of raising and separating cream; the ripening of cream; use of starters; the process of churning; the composition of butter; washing, working, and salting butter. Rennet—how prepared, its action on milk, and the determination of its strength; composition of whey; process of cheddar-cheese making; ripening of cheese, with the changes that occur and the agents at work. Chief breeds of dairy cows; anatomy and physiology of the cow in so far as bearing on nutrition and milk-production; principles involved in breeding dairy cattle. Care and management of dairy cows and of calves; food-crops; other animals as economic adjuncts to a dairy-farm; the commoner diseases of cows—parturient apoplexy (milk-fever), septic metritis, contagious mastitis, contagious abortion and sterility, tuberculosis, variola (cowpox); selecting and judging dairy cattle; improvement of the dairy herd; milk and butter-fat yields. General principles to be observed in the construction of buildings used in connection with dairying—farm-buildings, creameries, and butter-factories—with a knowledge of their equipment and its uses; care of milk; conveyance of milk. Dairy legislation in New Zealand; sale of milk; adulterations in milk and its products; defects in butter and cheese; an elementary knowledge of book-keeping for dairy-farms and factories.

The examination may include also practical work based on the foregoing syllabus.

A candidate in Dairy Science will be required to forward to the Department, before the examination, a certificate on the prescribed form that he has gone through a sufficient course of practical work in the subject occupying at least eighty hours.

(31.) Agricultural Chemistry.—The atmosphere, rain, dew, and their composition.