SECRETARY'S REPORT. 171 



wide range of observation, especially for students in the manage- 

 ment of forests. 



The agricultural institute originated, in a measure, from the 

 establishment of the agricultural society of Wiirtemberg, in 1817, 

 when the necessity of a model farm and an institute of instruc- 

 tion and experiment became strikingly apparent, as a means of 

 the development and the elevation of agriculture in the estima- 

 tion of the people. 



The success and popularity of the school, founded in 1806 

 by the illustrious Thaer, at Moglin, in Prussia, had no doubt 

 contributed largely to this feeling among the agriculturists of 

 Wiirtemberg. Thaer's enterprise was undertaken at first on 

 his own private account, and so continued till the year 1819, 

 thirteen years after its commencement. It so happened that 

 the introduction and spread of fine-wooUed or Merino sheep 

 into Northern Europe, and especially upon the farm at Mog- 

 lin, near Berlin, concurred to attract to this private effort a 

 large share of public attention, while the reputation of Thaer 

 rapidly grew at home and abroad, not only as a consequence of 

 the success of his school, but likewise from his valuable publi- 

 cations. His school was therefore taken under the patronage 

 of the government, as a royal academy, but the management of 

 the estate still remained at the risk and expense of the owners, 

 the instruction only being paid by the government. This led 

 to a mixed arrangement, the evils of which very soon began to 

 develop themselves, and in time to be avoided at Hohenheim, 

 where the whole establishment was taken under the control of 

 the government, and located upon a royal domain. 



A part of this domain happening, at that time, to be under 

 lease, it was necessary to begin the instruction on the small 

 adjoining estate of Carlshof, consisting of only 255 acres. A 

 small beginning was therefore a matter of necessity, and this 

 was to continue till the year 1822, when the broad estates of 

 Hohenheim would be at the service of the institute, at the head 

 of which stood Schwertz, who was placed, by the confidence of 

 the king, in full control of the property, with only the assistance 

 of a farm inspector and two of his pupils. He personally 

 arranged everything, and even managed the finances of the 

 school, which, for the first two years, remained on tliis simple 

 foundation, as a purely agricultural institute. But in the year 



