370 On Public Institutions for the 



the practice of all branches of rural economy, the pupils are ex- 

 pected to undergo an examination from the professors collectively, 

 and, if this be satisfactorily gone through, are then presented with 

 a diploma, certifying to their capacity for fulfilling the functions 

 of what may be styled an " Agricultural Engineer." 



One useful regulation in this establishment deserves to be briefly 

 noticed, namely, that a daily register is kept of the amount of the 

 manure obtained from the cattle of every kind which are main- 

 tained upon the farm, the whole mass being conveyed to a com- 

 mon receptacle, where it becomes mixed together, and brought 

 into a condition suitable for putting upon the land. This practice 

 is a great step towards obtaining such an exact estimate of the 

 comparative amount of what is put on and taken off the land in 

 the course of culture, as is requisite for testing satisfactorily the 

 merits and defects of the system of husbandry pursued. 



Few trials appear to have here been made of those several manures 

 which have excited so much attention of late in England ; but in 

 fact the principles upon which the establishment is conducted 

 almost preclude the superintendent from undertaking any novel 

 experiments ; and he moreover expressed to me his belief, that 

 the greater dryness of the climate rendered saline substances less 

 beneficial there than they are found to be to the soil of Great 

 Britain. 



On the Agricultural Establishments of Germany, ^'C. 



If we proceed into Germany, it will be found that few of the 

 leading states of which this vast confederacy is made up have 

 neglected to provide, at the public expense, some institution or 

 other designed for the improvement of agriculture. 



In Prussia, the late king founded one on a large scale at Moge- 

 lin, in the duchy of Brandenberg, forty miles from Berlin, which, 

 when visited by Mr. Jacob in the year 1820, had for its director 

 the celebrated writer on rural economy. Von Thaer. It com- 

 prised at once a model-farm of 1200 acres, and a college for the 

 instruction of youth. The education was partly of a theoretical, 

 and partly of a practical description. The former was provided 

 for by three professors, who lived upon the premises : one for 

 mathematics, chemistry, and geology ; one for the veterinary art ; 

 and the third for botany, and the use of the various vegetable pro- 

 ductions in the materia medica, as well as for entomology. 



The practical instruction was communicated by an experienced 

 agriculturist, who undertook to point out to the pupils the method 

 of applying the principles of the several sciences to the daily 

 routine of husbandry. The course commenced in September : dur- 

 ing the winter months the time of the pupils was occupied in the 

 study of mathematics, and the six books of Euclid were mastered 



