82 



a numl)ei' of improved strains of small grains, especiall}- wheat and oats, 

 is a progressive farmer and an excellent instructor, makes the excur- 

 sions to Weende of the highest value to the agricultural students. 

 The Weende estate has a total area of 6T2 acres, of which about 480 

 acres of fields and meadows lie in the alluvial or diluvial soil of the 

 Leine Valley, and the rest is keuper (poecilitic) soil. To the Weende 

 estate belongs also the Deppoldshausen branch farm, situated on the 

 Gottingen forest plateau, about 1,000 feet high, and 3 miles distant 

 from Weende. This farm lies in the shell-lime formation, and has 

 a thin clay soil calling for methods of farming entirely different from 

 those of the vallc}' farms; it includes an area of 360 acres of cultivated 

 land and 77 acres of pastures. The system of farming followed on 

 estates in the vicinity of Gottingen is mostly grain raising and sugar- 

 beet culture, but there are also a number of large dairj^ farms that are 

 visited at intervals. 



Semmar. — The fifth branch of the instruction in plant production 

 in Gottingen is the agricultural seminar. This is held in conjunction 

 with the agricultural excursions, and meets once a week from 8 to 9.30 

 in the evening (0 to 7.30 in the winter), the professor of agronomy 

 conducting the seminar. One of the students, acting as reporter on 

 the agricultural excursion, prepares a paper on the estate visited, 

 which is read at the seminar. In this a full account is given of what 

 has been seen or learned about the place visited, and criticisms are 

 offered as to farming methods, etc. The discussion following the 

 paper brings out important points that were not considered in the 

 paper, and enlarges upon such not sufficiently elucidated. The business 

 side of the farm operations, the economy of systems of fertilization, 

 the statics of fertilizing ingredients in the soil, sj'stem of crop rota- 

 tion adopted, and special conditions of soil or markets under which 

 the farmer works are among the sul)jects likely to come up for discus- 

 sion each time. The regular attendance of the students at the seminar, 

 and the lively discussions which general!}' arise as to methods of farm 

 practice or principles underh'ing these, testify to the interest which 

 the students take in this work and the benefit which they derive from 

 taking part in the seminar. 



FACILITIES FOR INSTRUCTION. 



The facilities for work in the various departments are in general up 

 to the requirements of modern educational institutions, even according 

 to the standards common in this countr}', where, as a rule, buildings 

 and equipment have been provided for the special purpose in view, 

 and are not, as is often the case abroad, the adapted inheritance of 

 earlier times. An American student will most likeh' be surprised, 

 however, to note the small scale on which the equipment is arranged 

 at Gottingen, as at nearly all other German agricultural colleges. 



