8 AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES. 



tern, under the patronage of Fellenberg, with the labor of 

 Wehrli, was inaugurated at Hofwyl, near Berne; where, 

 in addition to a school for the poor, was also one for the 

 sons of gentlemen of wealth, who wished to study agricul- 

 tural science and practice ; and at a later period an addi- 

 tional department for the education of teachers was estab- 

 lished. After the death of Pestalozzi and Thaer the num- 

 ber of agricultural schools gradually increased in Europe, 

 till about the year 1840. The system of Pestalozzi (impro- 

 perly called the Wehrli system) was gradually introduced, 

 with various improvements and modifications for the benefit 

 of the poor, and that of Thaer for the more independent 

 classes, and in some institutions both were combined. 



RECENT PROGRESS OF AGRICULTURAL EDUCATIONAL INSTI- 

 TUTIONS. 



All these attempts at agricultural instruction were very 

 imperfect, owing to the very undeveloped state of agricul- 

 tural science. But the labors of De Sausure, Gay-Lussac, 

 Thenard, Lavoisier, Sennebier, Priestley, Ingenhauss, 

 Davy, and other scientific men, were preparing the way for 

 an agricultural science which in the length and breadth of 

 its domain, and the accuracy of its result, would afford am- 

 ple material for thorough mental training and a prolonged 

 college course. 



In 1840, Liebig, under the title of " Chemistry in rela- 

 tion to Agriculture and Physiology," published a work in 

 which was exhibited all his characteristic power of pre- 

 senting in clear and forcible language, all that his prede- 

 cessors had learned in regard to agricultural science, com- 

 bined with what his own investigations and reflections had 

 taught him. This work astounded the reading world; it 

 was soon translated into the different languages of all cul- 

 tivated people, and awakened the most active spirit of in- 

 quiry in the minds of all educated men. Hundreds of 

 scientific and practical men, in Europe and America, be- 

 took themselves to experimentation in the field and labo- 

 ratory, to test the correctness of Liebig's views. 



While in many cases of detail, these investigations led 

 to the modification of many of Liebig's opinions, in the 



