32 LAND REFORM 



The object of these Ecoles pratiques d'Agriculture 

 (Practical Agricultural Schools), as officially described, 

 is the "practical elementary teaching of agriculture." 

 The whole of the teaching staff and the expenses of 

 all accessory work (such as experiments, etc., etc.) 

 are provided exclusively by the State. 



A farm is attached to each school, and the training* 

 is thoroughly practical — learning by doing. The ob- 

 ject, as stated in one of the reports, is *' to take the 

 child when he leaves the primary or superior primary 

 school, to give him two years' thorough practical and 

 theoretical learning, and then to send him back to the 

 agricultural family, which he will not again leave." 

 Such is the object of the Ecole pratique d'Agriculture ; 

 the School does not pretend to make finished agri- 

 culturists of its pupils, but it furnishes them with the 

 means of becoming so, by giving them a solid founda- 

 tion of essential aoricultural knowledofe. 



The promoters (Local Authorities or others) are 

 responsible only for the establishment and upkeep of 

 the schools, for which they receive the fees. These 

 fees are fixed by the Minister of Agriculture, who in 

 an official circular fixed them at from ^i6 to ^24 per 

 annum, which sums include board, lodging, and every 

 other expense. For day pupils the fees are very low, 

 generally merely nominal. But a very large number 

 of free scholarships is given by the State and by the 

 Local Authorities to assist — in the words of the cir- 

 cular — " those small cultivators who desire for their 

 children the training offered, but who cannot well 

 afford the expense." Practically no one is excluded 

 on the score of expense. 



Full particulars of these schools are given m a 

 report issued by the Minister of Agriculture (Rapport 



