lobe of the ear, as will be seen in Fig. 4. It should be exactly of this length, as some of the most valuable movements can not be executed with a shorter one. With this FIG. 4. wand nearly all of the sin may be executed by the stu in pairs, as in Fig. 5. Any hard, well-seasoned swer for a wand. The b white ash. Though metallic balls a wands may be dispensed wi be for children, they add precision and effectiveness o These balls differ in size They should not generally than three pounds each fo The size better adapted to poses than any other, is o half in diameter, with a ho center of the ball of five-eig in diameter, in which the of the wand is inserted wedged. The best balls are cast o should be japanned, at leas and well baked. Some of the wand moven dered more difficult by seiz near the ends, and others b hands in so that they are bu from the center. FIG. 6. 41 they appear to be; at the next, a pair of Indian clubs, gymnastic rings, parallel bars, a wand, a foil-in short, the entire using a single bell for this purpose, both arms should be employed to the same extent, to avoid a one-sided development. Dumbbells, weighing from 3 to 5 pounds, properly used, are sufficiently heavy for the strongest man. Be one's time never so much limited, they should not weigh more than 25 pounds to the pair. apparatus of the gymnasium, though occupying but little space either at rest or in motion. The dumb-bell is available at all seasons and in all places, affording the most pleasing, varied, and concentrated of all the athletic exercises, both for single and combined movements, individuals, and classes. Cast-iron dumb-bells, of proper form and weight, are deservedly popular among the best gymnasts. Heavy bells, however, are almost useless for exercise, affording only a few movements that serve as a test of strength. When The best and most approved dumb-bell at the present time is made of wood. The timber, before it is turned, should be sawed into scantlings or plank, and well seasoned. Maple, beech, birch, oak, and hickory, make very good bells for family and school use. cust is the best domestic wood Lo for this purpose, rosewood is still better, lignumvitæ is best of all. The bell illustrated by fig. 8, affording, as it does, an opportunity both for the handle (fig. 7) and the ball grasp (fig. 6), is regarded as greatly superior to all others. There are four sizes. No. 1 is intended for men. is eleven and three-quarters inches; length of handle, including the shoulders, four and a quarter inches; diameter of each ball, three and threequarters inches. FIG. 9. No. 2 is intended for wome Its length is ten and three-qua diameter of each ball, three eighths inches; length of the Its length and three-quarters inches. 1.] The Agricultural College of Pennsylvania. he entire length of No. 3 is nine and half inches; diameter of each ball, and seven-eighths inches; full length he handle to the balls, three and threeths inches. The entire length of No. 4 is eight and -half inches; diameter of each ball, o and one-half inches; full length of dles to the balls, three and one-half hes. Nos. 3 and 4 are intended for boys and -ls from six to twelve years of age; 43 though No. 3 answers equally well for women and youth, when made of heavy wood. In executing the movements, the student usually employs a pair of bells, as in Figs. 7 and 8, though some of the very best exercises are taken with a single bell, as in Fig. 10. Many of the most beautiful, pleasing, and effective combined movements are executed by the students arranged in pairs, as in Figs. 9 and 11. (To be concluded in the next Number.) P THE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE OF PENNSYLVANIA. ENNSYLVANIA appears to have beaten her sister States in the erecon of a farm college. Almost every one f the free States has projected such an cademy, but this one was the first to open, and is, we believe, the only one open at his time. LOCATION. The college is located about ten miles from Bellefonte, on a tolerably high tableland. From the summit of the building is a magnificent view, which alone is worth the journey thither. A mountain spur lies just opposite in front, and curves somewhat abruptly to an end some miles away, as may be gathered from the local name of this immediate district, which is called "End-of-the-Mountain." This range separates two rich and beautiful valleys, the Nitany and Penn's Valley, and you look far into these vales on miles of fair acres and comfortable farm-houses. THE BUILDING. The establishment has been laid out on a scale so large that this may embarrass it for some time. The building is an immense pile, put up with little attempt at architectural grace or effect. The builder was evidently a utilitarian; he has not given a thought to ornamentation; and while one might forgive this, no one will ever forgive him for belittling the whole structure by a mean entrance, in the style of the usual. pity that so much money as the building cost-over one hundred thousand dollars -should not have been employed with better taste. As it now stands, it will serve excellently on the outside at least-as a model to show students precisely what a school-house of any kind should not look like. In the interior, too, use is regarded to the exclusion of ornament; and effect is lost by too great and irregular subdivision of the space. But the ends for which the building was designed have been closely kept in view, and there is no lack of room, or of material either, for instruction in the various branches of science which are and will be taught. Nor has the important matter of ventilation been forgotten in the numerous dormitories, halls, and study rooms. It may give but little notion of the size of the building to say that it has two hundred and thirty-four feet of front, and that the centre is one hundred and thirty feet deep. A more definite notion of its size is gained from the fact that it is intended to accommodate five hundred students, all of whom will live entirely in the building; and that it has, besides the proper number of dormitories, all the requisite halls, lecture and recitation rooms, museums, laboratories, etc. THE COLLEGE FARM. The college buildings stand in the midst lying land as was ever spread out beneath the sun. In all these broad fields there is probably not an acre of waste. Two hundred acres were given to the State for the college by General James Irvin, now dead, whose family still live near. And two hundred more were purchased. On this land the students will acquire a practical knowledge of farm operations. By the rules, every scholar must labor three hours every day out of doors; and it is found that this work does not disturb them from their studies. The students are arranged in gangs or details, each detail taking three hours in turn. Besides this, sub-details milk the cows, attend to and feed the cattle. and horses, and perform such other duties of the farm as can not be made part of the regular day's work. There is a large and fine vegetable garden and a nursery, besides large stables, barns, and other outhouses needed on a model farm of four hundred acres. The land is kept in perfect order, and the returns so far have been very satisfactory. Last year the one hundred students in attendance raised more than enough wheat to supply the bread of the establishment, and no doubt the sleek kine furnish a liberal share of the milk and butter required. In time there will be hothouses and other helps to a knowledge of gardening. The machinery of the college is scarcely yet in working order. The great building has just been completed; the rubbish of the builders is not yet cleared away from the vicinage, and the carpenters still have possession of many of the lower rooms. THE COURSE OF STUDIES, ETC. The course is laid out for four years. Pupils who have mastered the commonschool studies can enter the lower class. It is intended that those who have graduated shall possess a good knowledge of English literature and of mathematics and chemistry, in their application to the farmer's life and duties, together with such special studies as botany, geology, animal and vegetable physiology, surveying and engineering. Boys are not admitted till sixteen years of age. The year has but one term, and the vacation is of two months, and in the winter, when farm operations are impossible. The entire ex pense, for the term of ten and clothing excepted, is or lars. The students rise at fast at half past six, all the THE STUDENT Almost every free State on the muster-roll of st grumblers complain that not patronize the college to but that a considerable I pupils are sons of mercha sional men in the larger cit not be true, but we hope it no castes in this country; a good reason why the so should become farmers, or t yers lawyers. On the country will be greatly ben siderable proportion of the y in cities take to country life Every farmer complains, on that his boys all want to g A little fresh blood will not ing community, especially i panied with capital. So chants and professional me vania may well be the best Agricultural College. THE SUNSETS. The past part of the country at least able for the beauty of its s were generally almost clou sunsets in Italy and in the an amber color or orange ing the whole sky, and s every nook and recess oper scarcely casting any shado but a faint and undefined on jects on which it falls. The ful sunsets in our climate-a ly beautiful they are-have those in which the clouds h most conspicuous accessori the declining sun with their p purple, crimson, orange, a their almost metallic brillian Lately, however, we have ha of sunsets often without a cloud in the sky, as if these been bidden to withdraw fo order to exhibit to our eye phenomena presented by the ful climates of the old world. |