220 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



necessary for the accomplishment of its proposed office ; or 

 which had not been proved to contain within itself the elements 

 of success ; or, lastly, which did not promise to establish by its 

 results, that the cooperation of the government was designed 

 solely for the advantage of tlie country at large, and not to 

 promote the individual benefit of the company," 



Thus the government came in simply in aid of a private 

 speculation so far as to supply the means of a better kind of 

 instruction, at a less cost to students who should enter the 

 school of agriculture. The aid came in to enlarge the benefits 

 of the institution, and to increase the means of diffusing agri- 

 cultural knowledge. 



The wisdom of tlie early interference and aid of the goverji- 

 ment is sufficiently attested by the subsequent history of the 

 establishment. Carried on with the idea and expectation of 

 profit, no expensive experiments could be undertaken, of 

 course, and after the school had been some ten years in opera- 

 tion, the director excused himself, to a gentleman who called, 

 for not making experiments, by saying that the school was 

 supported by stockholders with whom it was an indispensable 

 condition, that the farm should pay a profit ; saying, at the 

 same time, that the German schools like Hohenheim, being 

 supported by government, ought to be expected to make 

 researches calculated to throw light on the principles of agri- 

 culture. 



The lands were poor and much run out, though various in 

 natural quality. Now the lands are worth six times as much 

 as they were when the enterprise began, while some hundreds 

 of young agriculturists have gone forth, competent for advice 

 and execution, to apply the principles of the improved culture 

 in various parts of the world. 



In 1848, the government took the instruction under its 

 charge, reduced the number of professors from eight to six, 

 transformed the royal institute into a regional school, and on 

 the 7th of December, 1852, this school received the title of 

 Imperial School of Agriculture. The management of the 

 estate remained in the hands of the society, a sort of board of 

 trustees, which bears the title of Agricultural Society of Grig- 

 non. The director is nominated by the council of the society 

 and confirmed by the Minister of Agriculture. 



