AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 439 



a large number of patients. Any sick animals may be sent to 

 the establishment, and their board is to be paid at a fixed rate of 

 charges ; twelve sous or cents, or sixpence, per day for a dog : 

 and fifty sous or cents, or twenty-five pence, for a horse, includ 

 ing medicine, advice, and attendance. In cases of epidemics 

 or murrain prevailing in any of the districts of France, the 

 best attendance and advice are sent from these schools to assist 

 in the cure, and especially to watch the symptoms and progress 

 of the malady. In countries where large standing armies are 

 maintained, and where of course there are large bodies of cav 

 alry and artillery to be attended upon, as well as wagon-horses 

 for carrying the supplies, the importance of veterinary surgery is 

 vastly increased ; but in countries where no standing armies 

 exist, the number of horses kept for use or pleasure, and of other 

 domestic animals, bears a much larger proportion to the number 

 of human beings than we should be likely to infer without in 

 quiry ; and renders the profession highly important. 



A large and select library belongs to the establishment, and a 

 garden for the cultivation of medicinal plants, and likewise of the 

 grasses employed in agriculture. A farm is likewise attached to 

 the place, on which instruction is given in practical agriculture, 

 and numbers of various kinds of animals are kept for the pur 

 pose of breeding the best, and illustrating the effects of crossing. 

 Some selected animals of domestic and of the best foreign 

 breeds, horses, bulls, cows, and sheep, are kept for this special 

 object. On one occasion, when I visited the institution, there 

 was a public sale of bulls of the improved short-horns, which 

 had been raised upon the place ; and of some bucks of the best 

 breeds of England, the Leicester, the South-down, and others 

 from a cross of the Leicester with a large-sized Merino. I saw at 

 Grignon the cross also of the South-down with the Merino. These 

 crosses presented examples of improved form, of large size, and of 

 a great quantity of wool of a good, but not of a very fine, quality. 

 These were the result of a first cross ; how far it may be suc 

 cessfully continued is not determined. Attempts of this kind 

 to intermix breeds of a decidedly different constitutional charac 

 ter, as far as my inquiries have been extended, have not been 

 satisfactory after a first cross. These animals belonged to the 

 government, and were sold, not with a view to profit, but to the 

 general improvement of the breeds of France. In this excellent 



