18 BULLETIN" 83, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



and adaptation for the position of a professor of agriculture is determined by a jury, of 

 whom three are practical farmers. In case of a vacancy in an agricultural directorship 

 a competitive examination is announced, but the post is filled by a professor of 

 agriculture who has already filled this office at least five years. These provisions do 

 not, of course, apply to functionaries already in office. 



The State is responsible for the salaries of both classes. The salary of director of 

 agriculture ranges in four grades, from $900 to $1,200. That of professor of agriculture 

 from $560 to $800. Advancement to the next higher grade occurs after at least three, at 

 most five, years. Both classes are subordinate to the Minister of Agriculture, who 

 exercises supervision through general inspectors and inspectors in administrative 

 matters through the governors of Departments. 



The Department must assume the office and traveling expenses of the director of 

 agriculture and the professor of agriculture assigned to him. The Department or 

 commune must defray the expenses of the other professors of agriculture. At least 

 $240 annually for the traveling expenses must be included in the Department's budget. 



It is hoped by taking this course with regard to the position and salary of directors 

 and professors of agriculture to exert a still more beneficial influence for the advance- 

 ment of agriculture. As a matter of fact, the union of itinerant instruction with certain 

 public functions and with the instructorship in elementary schools and normal 

 institutions seems to be a measure worthy of imitation. 



Prussia.- — An editorial in the Journal of the Board of Agriculture (England), April, 

 1913, number, discusses quite fully the system of agricultural education in Prussia. 

 Attention is called by the writer to the fact that more and more theoretical instruction 

 in agriculture is given in the schools and less of the practical. This is attributed to 

 the tendency of the practical man who becomes a teacher to stereotype his subjects 

 and gradually lose sight of the practical features of the work. 



This tendency is to some extent overcome by the practice of withdrawing these 

 teachers from their schools during the summer and starting them out on itinerant 

 work, thus bringing them for a considerable portion of each year in contact with the 

 actual operations of agriculture. It is claimed that this contact with the farmer is 

 not only of great advantage to the teacher and the farmer, but to the scholars in the 

 schools to which the teacher returns in winter. There seems to be no doubt in the 

 mind of the writer that much of the efficiency and popularity of the winter schools 

 are due to the freshening influence and practical experience that the instructor has 

 gained through contact during the itinerant period with farming people. 



Peripatetic work in Prussia is carried on by two distinct classes of persons: First, 

 the teaching staffs of the winter schools, who devote only part of their time to peri- 

 patetic service, and, second, a class who devote their entire time to this kind of work. 

 The last class is employed for the most part by the Chamber of Agriculture while the 

 necessary funds are supplied by the State. Their activities are not limited to the 

 delivery of lectures, but they are required also to see that new ideas and inventions 

 are brought to the attention of agricultural people in their respective districts. The 

 effort on the part of the chambers of agriculture is to employ for this continuous service 

 men who, in addition to possessing all-round knowledge of agriculture, have also 

 special knowledge of some particular branch of the subject. 



In addition to the more informal methods practiced in giving instruction a large 

 number of special courses on various subjects are conducted for the benefit of agri- 

 culturists in all parts of Prussia. The majority of these are short, practical series of 

 lectures on subjects such as bookkeeping, manures, pig breeding, etc. There are also 

 courses of instruction for country women and girls in domestic economy and similar 

 subjects. There is also a large amount of continuation school work carried on, also 

 a system of colleges for training agricultural teachers to supply the necessary pedagogic 

 skill to peripatetic teachers who possess theoretical and practical knowledge but have 

 no teaching experience. 



