they are taken from the specimen circular of Mr. Ross, the proprietor of an extensive depot of improved School furniture in Boston and New York. Similar articles can be manufactured by any cabinet-maker, or skillful carpenter, in California. : No. 1 represents a seat and desk for two pupils, constructed together. This may be made at very small cost. The absence of front supports to the desks, gives the advantage of not interfering with the free movement of the pupils' legs. The cross-piece connecting the legs of the seat must, of course, be firmly screwed, or clamped to the floor, or, better still, only the front legs of the seat may be fastened securely by a hinge, thus permitting the whole to be turned back when sweeping under, or beneath. The desk is of course hollow, and open in front, with two compartments, one for the books, slate, etc. of each pupil. No 2 represents Ross' Primary School single Desk and Chair. The standard of the chair is of iron, screwed to the floor, or it may be made of the hardest wood obtainable. The objection to the ordinary chair, with legs, is that it can be moved out of place so easily. Even it, however, especially if means are adopted to fix the legs immovably to the floor, is preferable to the hard, old-fashioned bench. The desk represented in the cut, is also intended to be screwed to the floor. No. 3 represents Ross' Primary School double Desk and Chairs. No. 4 represents Ross' Intermediate or Grammar School double Desk and Chairs. No. 5 represents another form of same. N: 6 No. 6 represents Ross' Intermediate or Grammar School single Desk and Chair. No. 7 represents Ross' Intermediate or Grammar School double Desk and Chairs, adopted in the National School of New York. No. 8 represents a handsome pattern for an Intermediate or Grammar School single Desk and Chair. All the standards represented as ornamented, as in figures 7 and 8, are of iron, and are firmly clamped to the floor. Some hard wood, capable of a fine finish, may be substituted for iron. Every desk, should have on top, a place let in for an inkstand or well. This will prevent the annoyance, arising from the constant upsetting of the movable inkstand. There should also be a concave receptacle, in the rear of the top, for pens, pencils, etc. A convenient variation upon the ordinary form of desk, is a perpendicular slit, the width of and parallel to the back of the desk, in which to slide the slate when not in use. It need be but a trifle broader than the frame of the slate. BLACK-BOARDS.—No School Room is complete without the black-board. It is impossible for a Teacher to impart his knowledge to advantage without it, and the greater its extent the better. It ought to be put up all around the room, but at least, across the end of the room behind the Teacher's platform. It should commence about two feet from the floor, and extend about five feet up. It is usually constructed of smoothly shaven plank, painted black; but many improvements have been made. on this. A paper surface for a black-board, may be cheaply prepared, by pasting strong wall-paper smoothly on the wall, then sizing it, so as to prevent the paint from sinking into the paper, and afterward giving it a couple of coats of black oil paint, with a small mixture of emery to give it a grit or hold on the crayon, and enough varnish to cause it to dry rapidly. In the preceding remarks, the State Superintendent has adopted many of the suggestions, and otherwise made free use of the excellent work of Mr. Burrowes on School Architecture—a work which every Board of Trustees should by all means consult, before they undertake to build or furnish a School House. TEXT-BOOKS TO BE USED IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. The State Superintendent addressed a circular to all the Teachers and a number of intelligent gentlemen otherwise interested in the cause of education throughout the State, requesting them to furnish the titles of such text-books, as, in their judgment, were best adapted to facilitate the acquisition of useful knowledge by the children of the State. In reply, he received a large number of communications. The recommendations were almost as numerous and as varied as the text-books themselves. Upon the excellence of certain works, however, a majority seemed to concur. The result shows a most lamentable want of uniformity in the books used in our Public Schools, and proves, moreover, that many Teachers are wasting their time in endeavoring to impart knowledge from books, either obsolete or entirely behind the age. Some of the Teachers would seem to favor certain text-books, because they themselves had studied them, ten, fifteen or twenty years ago. They have, apparently, had no opportunity to examine the vast improvements that have been made within the last five years. These improvements have wrought as great a change in the labor of teaching, as the cotton gin, or the spinning jenny, in manufactures; and it would be about as wise, for the modern Teacher to disregard or reject the former, as for the planter to return to hand picking, or the manufacturer to the primitive spinning-wheel. The State Superintendent has collated the recommendations he has received-has examined and compared all |