EDUCATION. 117 



of possession of a property in view, or as intending to serve 

 for some time as Verwalter — " imder-manager," as Mr. 

 Middleton has called it. The curriculum is in both cases 

 the same, and there are numbers of well-to-do young men 

 who prefer going for some years as " Verwalter," before 

 acquiring a property of their own, or renting one, in order 

 to run less risk of mistakes, and to accumulate more learning 

 and experience, not at their own expense. The young man 

 will certainly go for two years as " farm pupil," generally 

 remaining on the same property. There he is put through 

 the whole course of practical learning, not as a matter for 

 his own benefit only, but chiefly in his teacher's service, 

 looking after the men and women at work, so as to keep 

 them up to the mark, while being himself made to lend an 

 occasional hand in the work done. There is nothing done 

 on a farm in which he is not expected to take part. After 

 that he may go straight to a University Department or a 

 College, where he will probably spend another two years 

 passing through the conventional studies, analysing in 

 the chemical laboratory and so on. In any case, whether 

 he go to the College at once or later, he will devote several 

 years more to learning as " volunteer," pa3dng his way, 

 but not expected to take a hand at work more than he 

 pleases, or else as " Verwalter," working for a salary under 

 a skilled employer. In doing this, in whichever of the 

 two capacities our man be engaged, he will try to shift his 

 ground as much as possible, in order to cover a wide field 

 of knowledge and avoid remaining one-sided. Apart 

 from the difference in farming distinctive of various districts, 

 varying as soil, cUmate and habits suggest, there are in 

 Germany many special branches of applied Agriculture or 

 agricultural industries to be learnt, such as potato distillery, 

 sugar making, the management of fish ponds, forestry and 

 the like. Our man is supposed to graduate in all or most 

 of these. Such variety of studies undoubtedly serves to 

 open the mind and helps to make our man think — to which 

 must be added that there is a great deal of agricultural 

 and cognate literature produced and also attentively studied 

 in Germany — where agriculturists are great readers — so 



