190/.] Agricultural Schools in Germany. 



693 



both economically and scientifically. So:iie of the schools are 

 miTQ advanced than others, but the majority presuppose only 

 a good elem2ntary school education, with one or two years' 

 practical work on a farm. Most of the institutions have small 

 experimental fields, orchards, and gardens for demonstration 

 purposes. 



Only occasionally do the schools take resident pupils, the 

 scholars usually living in lodgings in the town or village. The 

 total cost for board and lodging varies from £g to £20, while 

 the fees for tuition average 30s. for the first session, and less for 

 the second. The schools are supported by grants from the 

 State, Provincial, and local bodies and Chambers of Agriculture. 

 The Principals of the schools are generally employed as migra- 

 tory teachers in summer, while the other teachers who attend to 

 give lectures usually have some other employment. There were, 

 in 1904, 968 teachers m 131 schools in Prussia with 5,366 

 scholars, or 7 teachers and 41 scholars per school. In Bavaria 

 37 institutions had 408 teachers and 1,385 scholars. In the 

 whole of Germany there are probably 230 winter schools. 



A very similar form of agricultural instruction is found in 

 the farm schools (^AckerbduscJiuJen), which do not differ very 

 materially from the winter schools except in the fact that they 

 are open for the whole year. Originally this class of school 

 was almost entirely practical, and the pupils received wages 

 for their labour. Gradually, however, the practical instruction 

 has been abandoned in favour of the theoretical, and, at the 

 present time, most of these schools are of the latter kind, 

 practical teaching only being given in fruit cultivation and 

 similar branches. The fees for resident students are ^30 to 

 £\o per annum. The number of these institutions is decreasing 

 the winter schools, which are intended for the same class of 

 pupils, having, practically, taken their place by supplying similar 

 instruction at a lower cost and leaving the summer free for work 

 on the farm. There are 19 of these schools in Prussia with 149 

 teachers and 1,224 pupils, and 5 schools in Bavaria with 63 

 teachers and 239 pupils. 



