78 



baudiy — breeding-, rearing, and feeding of horses, cattle, sheep, 

 swine, and poultry; veterinary science: agrricultural physics^drain- 

 age, irrigation, surveying, agricultural machiner}' and apparatus, farm 

 buildings; farm management and farm bookkeeping. In addition to 

 these professional studies the following fundamental sciences are 

 recpiired: Chemistry (general, industrial, agricultural), physics, bot- 

 any (general, systematic, physiological), ])acteria and yeasts, zoology, 

 geology and mineralogy, meteorology, political economy, and rural 

 law. The instruction is imparted by means of lectures, laboratory 

 work, demonstrations, excursions, and seminars. 



Owing to the fact that many of the agricultural students have a lim- 

 ited previous training, the lectures offered in the agricultural institute 

 at Gottingen, as in other German institutions of this class, are, as a gen- 

 eral rule, quite elementai-y. It is well for American students intending 

 to study in Europe to bear this in mind, as it will save them from dis- 

 appointment later on. The information conveyed in a course of lec- 

 tures which may not cover more than two or three hours a week for a 

 brief German universitv semester— sixteen to seventeen weeks in win- 

 ter and twelve to thirteen weeks in summer — must necessaril}^ be gen- 

 eral and can present only the main facts of the subject treated. And 

 after all, the knowledge thus conveyed is but a small part of the bene- 

 fit derived from attending such a course of lectures; of far higher 

 value to the young student must be counted the opportunity of becom- 

 ing acquainted with a thinker, to note his methods of treatment and 

 presentation, and to catch something of the enthusiasm of a scholar. 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTIOX. 



The lectures delivered are, whenever possible, illustrated l\v charts, 

 maps, nmseum specimens, or simple experiments. In the lectures 

 on "plant nutrition, for example, the whole lecture table is generally 

 covered with specimens of minerals, soils, soil constituents, or fertili- 

 zers, according to the sul)ject to be treated in the lecture. A synopsis 

 of each lecture, or manifold copies of tables of figures and the like, to 

 which reference will be made in the lecture, are also furnished b}^ 

 some professors. The literature on the subject treated is also gener- 

 ally shown, either at the beginning of the course or as a special topic 

 is reached, and usually sent around the class for inspection, in the 

 same way as the specimens referred to in the lectures. Electric or 

 other kinds of stereopticons are used at times for exhibiting pictures, 

 charts, etc., on a screen, but not to such an extent as in our better- 

 equij^ped institutions, nor as successfully, so far as my experience 

 goes. 



