AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION IN BELGIUM. 443 



From 1890 to 1910 the extension supervisors have held 1,214 con- 

 ferences and given 2,248 written consultations, those of a general 

 interest being also published in the provincial agricultural journal. 

 Personal visits to individual farmers amount to four or five per 

 month for each supervisor, and each one likewise holds 100 days' 

 personal conferences at the markets each year, which method appears 

 to be the most popular and preferable way of personally reaching the 

 average farmer. 



Since 1890 there have been organized 108 demonstration and ex- 

 periment fields, not counting numerous smaller experiments not of 

 an official character yet organized according to the advice of the 

 supervisors. The demonstration and experiment fields are regarded 

 as the best professors of agriculture. They teach not only the farm- 

 ers, but also teach the supervisors, and it is here that the extension 

 supervisors keep themselves in direct contact with practical work, 

 make their own observations, and draw their own conclusions from 

 actual experience. 



The extension supervisors have held 358 courses for adults since 

 1890. consisting of 4,564 sessions, with an average attendance of 50. 

 Likewise, 9 courses, consisting of 75 sessions, have been held for 

 farmers' wives, the average attendance being 65. Courses in orchard 

 fruits have been given in 92 places, comprising a total of 1,134 ses- 

 sions, with an average attendance of 40. The course in vegetable gar- 

 dening organized in 1895 have numbered 44, comprising 404 sessions, 

 with 37 as an average attendance. Other courses for adults include 

 110 on apiculture, composed of 509 sessions; 5 courses in floriculture; 

 40 courses in aviculture, consisting of 153 sessions; courses on the 

 conformation of the horse and cow and the care of live stock. 



PROVmCE OF LUXEMBURG. 



Twenty-five years ago the agricultural land throughout this Prov- 

 ince was, as a whole, in a most unproductive condition, scarcely pro- 

 ducing enough to pay expenses, and in many places not producing 

 enough to pay for the labor of clearing it, and hence vast areas 

 remained uncultivated as waste land and not even as pasture. The 

 mass of farming people were, likewise, in a deplorable condition 

 and barely able to exist. To-day this whole condition of things is 

 so changed and imjoroved as to amount to a complete revolution. 

 This changed condition has all been brought about in the last 25 

 years by the farmers themselves as a result of having taken advan- 

 tage of the instructions and followed the scientific principles of agri- 

 cultural practice promulgated by the extension supervisors, especially 

 in regard to the use of commercial fertilizer, seed selection, improved 

 varieties of plants and li^'e stock, more rational feeding, and im- 

 proved machinery. The vast area of former uncultivated waste 



