21 



through which the direction lay, is largely devoted to the culture of hops. Now 

 two of the students were appointed to write out an account of the journey in 

 general, three to write on the culture of the hop, two on fruit culture, as seen 

 in the excursion, another on irrigation, another on garlic land, another on the 

 art of manuring, four others on cattle, two others on the visit to Lichtenhof Ag- 

 ricultural School, another on bees, two others on the wool market, &c. A full 

 report of the excursion is thus made, mostly written by the students themselves, 

 and printed in connexion with the annual report of the school." 



In our American industrial colleges these excursions would constitute a most 

 interesting and useful feature. The facility of travel by railroads would enable 

 ihe students to extend their excursions to cities of great manufacturing celebrity ; 

 and the numerous State fairs, with their great collections of so many industrial pro- 

 ducts, would present the most admirable opportunities for discussions and reports. 



3. Character of the soil for the experimental farm. One of the greatest evils 

 in our present agriculture is the exhaustion of the soil. To stay this by dis- 

 seminating such knowledge of manures and their application, in connexion with 

 deep ploughing and rotation of crops, must constitute a most important part of 

 the practical instruction on the experimental farm. Whenever possible, there- 

 fore, a soil of medium fertility, and of such variety of clays and sands as will 

 suffice for the largest class of experiments, should be selected, in preference to a 

 rich soil of a homogeneous character ; for this, although more productive in the 

 beginning, would fail in exhibiting the effects of different manures and systems 

 of cultivation and rotation. We agree, therefore, with Mr. Flint in what he says 

 on this point. Speaking of the school at Schleissheim, he remarks : 



" The estate consists of about six thousand five hundred acres, and, like many 

 other establishments of this kind, it possesses a fine old royal residence, or 

 chateau, the whole Tying in an immense, but not very fertile, valley. I have 

 seen it intimated that the lands were so decidedly inferior and unproductive, 

 that the intention of the government in giving it over to the school to be 

 managed by scientific men was to put the value of scientific principles in agri- 

 culture to the severest possible test. I believe, if such was the case, that there 

 has been little reason to exult in the triumph gained over such powerful natural 

 obstacles as a poor soil and an ungenial climate, and I think it may be taken to 

 be as great a mistake to select land for a model farm, or an agricultural farm, 

 that is much below the average of natural fertility, as it would be to select one 

 very much above it. In the first case, even scientific management can hardly 

 be charged with the responsibility of a failure to produce high crops, and in the 

 latter it would not get the credit of what it did produce. Neither would be a 

 fair test of the skill and science applied to it." 

 Again, of the lands of the institute at Grignon he says : 



"As to the farm, it was not necessary to show the merits of improved culture, 

 and the benefit it can render to the country, to select lands already rich and 

 productive. M. Bella, the first director, refused other places which were offered, 

 and chose Grignon, which was noted for its undesirable condition and the 

 poverty of its soil. Many things were in its favor, however. * * The 



lands were poor and much worn out, though various in natural quality. Now 

 the lands are worth six times as much as they were when the enterprise began." 



4. The number of students. We have noticed the fact of the small number 

 of students at the European agricultural schools. In this country, where the 

 usefulness and prosperity of collegiate institutions are judged of by the concourse 

 of students, these European schools would not be regarded as either useful or 

 prosperous. Mr. Flint has not discussed the causes of this limited attendance, 

 and we are, therefore, left to conjecture them from incidental observations made 

 by him. 



The causes seem to be three in number : 1st. From the fact that there are 

 too many agricultural schools in proportion to that part of the agricultural com. 



