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be sent to study the agricultural resources of foreign countries, and to 

 investigate special subjects, presenting a memoir of their investigations 

 to the administration. Internal or boarding pupils pay a charge for 

 tuition and board of 750 francs per annum ; external pupils and free 

 hearers are charged 200 francs per annum for tuition. The school at 

 Montpellier does not receive boarding pupils. 



The third grade embraces the primary or farm schools, of which there 

 are forty-three in operation in various localities. These are established 

 by decree of the minister of agriculture designating the name, location, 

 number, and age of pupils or " apprentices," the length and character of 

 the course of study, tlie 'personnel and salaries of the board of instruc- 

 tion, &:c. In the pastoral regions schools are allowed to receive one 

 apprentice for every four or five hectares (10 to 13 acres) in the cultiva- 

 ble domain attached ; in the regions where grain-culture is pursued thirty 

 pupils are allowed for each 100 hectares, (247 acres.) Each school must 

 accommodate at least twenty-five. Great care is exercised to make the 

 number of pupils proportionate to the work to be performed. The age of 

 admission varies from fifteen to thirty years. The government pays the 

 director 270 francs per annum for the board of each apprentice. Ap- 

 prentices perform the labor of cultivation, and receive regular wages. 

 They also pursue a prescribed course of study, and are at regular inter- 

 vals examined thereon. The director, who is either owner or tenant 

 holder of the domain, receives for his remuneration a salary of 2,400 

 francs per annum besides the profits of cultivation. 



The course of study, which generally lasts but two years, is of the 

 most practical character, though some schools enlarge their theoretical 

 and literary instruction. The board of instruction consists of the di- 

 rector, who is also professor of agriculture, horticulture, zootechny, &c.. 

 a superintendent of accounts, whose office is to supply the lack of pri- 

 mary instruction and to teach proper methods of keeping farm accounts, 

 &c. ; a gardener and nursery-keeper, whose duty is to teach practical 

 horticulture ; an overseer of laborers, and a veterinary surgeon. Some- 

 times a chaplaiu is attached to the staff"; but he takes upon him, in ad- 

 dition to his spiritual functions, some branches of secular instruction. 

 The directors are mostly graduates of farm-schools, though one or 

 two have received university degrees. Occasionally a prince, count, 

 baron, or retired army officer occupies the chair. The subordinate mem- 

 bers of the board of education receive salaries ranging from 500 to 

 1,500 francs per annum. Each school has a farm varying from 100 to 

 1,100 acres, generally well stocked with farm-animals, and furnished with 

 the most approved farm-implements. Every facility is offered for thorough 

 practical instruction in agriculture, horticulture, viticulture, stock rais- 

 ing and management, business management, &c. Each school aims to 

 suit its instruction and cultivation to the regions in which it is located. 

 A complete record of the operations of these schools would afford facili- 

 ties for a most satisfactory general study oif French agriculture. 



These schools are under the supervision of six inspectors-general of 

 agriculture, who parcel out the territory of the republic among them. 

 The French ministry of agriculture has commenced a series of annual 

 publications containing extracts and compilations from the reports of 

 the inspectors general. The first of this series, that of 1872, represents 

 these schools generally in a favorable condition, though all were more 

 or less injured hy the late war. In several instances the excessive re- 

 quirement of manual labor is sharply criticised as not only trenching 

 upon the hours that should be devoted tq study, but as also rei^ressing 



