u6 ITALY 



fessor of agriculture, whose function it was to 

 watch over the progress of agriculture in the 

 district, and especially to see that the persons 

 borrowing money from the local institutions to 

 which the bank was making advances got the 

 best and most practical advice in the laying out 

 of their money. 



To accomplish these purposes the professor 

 holds numerous conferences at which he delivers 

 addresses on a wide variety of agricultural 

 subjects, including the adoption of improved 

 methods, the employment of fertilizers, and the 

 advantages of organization ; he gives personal 

 consultations ; he carries on experimental or 

 demonstration fields, and even visits farms and 

 gives advice there in return for a very moderate 

 fee ; he holds gatherings of agricultural labourers 

 in the winter evenings ; he edits a monthly journal 

 which is a valuable auxiliary to the conferences 

 and public addresses ; and he encourages measures 

 for the improvement of stock, the organization of 

 co-operative dairies, the bettering of pastures by 

 the use of chemical manures, the taking of pre- 

 cautions against phylloxera, and so on. 



Then, too, he is the director of the local 

 agricultural syndicate, so that when a would-be 

 borrower seeks an advance from the Village 

 Bank the professor not only advises the members 



