126 HOLLAND 



self-help, each of which principles, indeed, has 

 since been most actively carried into effect. 



In regard to State aid, it was seen that one of 

 the most pressing requirements of the situation 

 was to secure an effective national system of 

 agricultural and horticultural education ; and the 

 necessary machinery for the organization of such 

 a system was duly provided by the creation of 

 a special Department of the Ministry of the 

 Interior for the administration of agricultural 

 affairs, such Department being assisted by a 

 Council of Agriculture, which not only acts in 

 an advisory capacity, but constitutes an Agricul- 

 tural Bureau of Statistics for the whole of the 

 country. The State Agricultural College, which 

 had already been in operation at Wageningen 

 since 1876, was now supplemented by a series of 

 local winter schools for the teaching of agricul- 

 ture or horticulture, and by a variety of other 

 educational institutions and arrangements. 



The nature of the winter schools may be 

 illustrated by those for horticulture and market- 

 gardening established at Boskoop, Naaldwyk, 

 Aalsmeer, and Tiel. The course of instruction 

 is arranged to suit the conditions of the par- 

 ticular locality, though the general principles of 

 market-gardening are taught at each. Boskoop, 

 in South Holland — a most interesting place to 



