TECHNICAL PEOGEESS IN GEEMANY 19 



subsidies on accourrt of agricultural education. 

 Seventeen permanent agricultural schools are main- 

 tained, and a large number of winter courses in agri- 

 culture are given, a feature of the latter being that 

 during the following summer the teachers visit their 

 pupils and give them technical advice on their own 

 farms. Many other courses also are given in subjects 

 related to agriculture. The German policy was to 

 concentrate first on research and higher education, 

 and this policy has been very successful. It is also 

 worth noting that it is usual for the sons of the larger 

 land-owners to receive a technical education in agri- 

 culture, and that it is largely from their well-managed 

 estates that improvements have spread amongst the 

 peasant cultivators of the country. 



Technical Progress on Scientific Lines. — It is 

 claimed by the Germans, and with much truth, that 

 the progress in agriculture achieved in Germany 

 during the past quarter of a century is the result of 

 the union of practice with science. The chief techni- 

 cal improvements may be summed up as follows : 

 the soil has been better cultivated, crops have been 

 more skilfully manured, plants and animals have 

 been improved in type, the use of oilcakes and other 

 feeding stuffs has increased, and sanitary laws have 

 led to a great improvement in the health of live stock. 

 It would be out of place here to enlarge on the details 

 of this progress, but it may be mentioned that be- 

 tween 1890 and 1910 the use of artificial fertilisers 

 in Germany increased fourfold. 



