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BELGIAN DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The Belgian Department of Agriculture has recently issued, 

 in connection with the International Exhibition of St. Louis, 

 a publication containing some interesting particulars respecting 

 the Organisation of the Department, together with some account 

 of the Staff of State Agriculturists in Belgium. 



The Department of Agriculture, of Industry and Public 

 Works was instituted by a Royal Decree in 1884, by which all 

 matters relative to agriculture, industry, bridges, roads, &c> 

 were detached from the Department of the Interior and trans- 

 ferred to the new Department. Subsequent Decrees have 

 somewhat modified the matters which it controls, and at the 

 present time the Department is divided into three sections in 

 addition to the Secretariat. The first division has charge of all 

 necessary measures relating to the improvement of domestic 

 animals, the veterinary service, sanitary police laws, &c. ; the 

 second division deals with agricultural instruction, the State 

 Botanic Garden, and the Service of State Agriculturists ; 

 while the third division embraces matters relating to Agri- 

 cultural Associations, Agricultural Statistics, the Chemical and 

 Bacteriological Institute and the Analytical Laboratories. It 

 also has charge of the work connected with the Agricultural 

 Insignia, and publishes the Bulletin de V Agriculture, which is 

 the official journal of the Department. 



The administration of forestry is dealt with by a bureau 

 having a central administration in Brussels and provincial 

 branches. It is charged with the preservation and management 

 of the forests belonging to the State, Communes and public 

 establishments, and arranges for prosecutions in cases of injury, 

 to forests. The improvement of waste lands, which are still 

 extensive in Belgium, is also carried out by the Bureau of 

 forestry. It also superintends fishing in the canals and rivers, 

 the services of inland and sea fisheries and the execution of 

 measures destined to favour the increase of fresh and salt water 



