FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 223 



students, forestry and agriculture count as two. Five universities 

 and numerous special schools furnisli aid to agricultural education. 



The little kingdoms of Belgium and Holland are following hard 

 upon the tracks of their powerful neighbors. In Belgium may 

 be found superior institutions of agriculture, horticulture, veteri- 

 nary science, and forestry at Gembloux, Vilvorde, Cureghem, and 

 Bouillon respectively. 



In Holland, whose people robbed the sea to obtain lands for 

 farms and homes, about £71,500 were expended by the state on 

 its agricultural department in 1897. Its first school, established 

 by a communal society at Haren in 1842, was discontinued. The 

 state in 1876 adopted the school of agriculture which has been 

 established at Wageningen as its own, and this institution can fairly 

 lay claim to equality w^ith any in Europe. Government also sup- 

 ports the State Veterinary College at Utrecht, and subsidizes a 

 school of forestry and several dairy schools. Agricultural teach- 

 ing in primary schools has not yet proved a success. 



Italy has not made such progress in agricultural education as 

 her northern neighbors, yet she is not indifferent to the require- 

 ments of the times. She has a most unique scheme for Govern- 

 ment superintendence of agricultural matters. All comes under 

 the purview of a general Director of Agriculture, assisted by a 

 Council for Agricultural Instruction, which latter was established 

 by royal decree in 1885, and reorganized in 1887. Four divisions 

 of the department exist — namely, (1) agriculture proper, (2) zoo- 

 techny, (3) forestry, and (4) agricultural hydraulics. Statistics are 

 not easily procured, but recent catalogues show that the two Royal 

 Superior Schools of Agriculture, located respectively at Milan and 

 Portici, are institutions of which any country might be proud. Of 

 the latter Mr. E, ISTeville Eolfe, British consul, wrote in 1897 that 

 it was originally a provincial establishment, but in 1885 it had been 

 established by royal charter and domiciled in the magnificent 

 grounds and buildings of a disused royal palace. Its study course 

 requires three years to complete, and graduates obtain the degree 

 of Laureato Agronomo. Up to 1896, two hundred and twenty- 

 eight students had obtained this degree, most of whom are instruc- 

 tors or Government employees of high rank. It is known also that 

 thirty-three special and practical agricultural schools exist in differ- 

 ent parts of the kingdom. 



Much can not be said in praise of agricultural education in 

 Spain. That country possesses the machinery for education of the 

 higher grades, but through her seven distinctly agricultural col- 

 leges, located at Madrid, Saragossa, Barcelona, Corunna, Valencia, 

 Caceres, and Jerez, she seems only to have obtained men for Gov- 



