Sept. 1896.] GENERAL AGRICULTURAL NOTES. 



183 



tioDal taxation for a period of ten years ; if such lands were 

 planted with olive or mulberry trees, the period of exemption 

 was 25 years. 



Uncultivated lands, situated on the banks of rivers or in an 

 irrigated district, planted with timber were to be exempt from 

 ail taxation for 25 years. If such lands were situated in a dry 

 plain, the period of exemption was 40 years ; and 50 years, if in 

 a mountainous district. 



From the above summary of the principal legislation relating 

 to the establishment of agricultural colonies in Spain it will be 

 gathered that the intention of the legislature was to induce 

 agricultural communities to settle in the uncultivated and 

 sparsely-populated districts of the interior. It would appear, 

 however, that the attempt has been an almost complete failure. 

 It is stated, in a despatch received by the Board from Her 

 Majesty's ambassador at Madrid, that the inducements offered 

 have net led industrious peasants to cultivate to any extent a 

 hitherto unproductive soil, but the manufacturers have not been 

 slow to avail themselves of the concessions held out to the agri- 

 cultural interest with regard to taxation and military service by 

 converting their industrial undertakings into agricultural colonies. 



The State thus suffered great loss without conferring any 

 compensating advantages on agriculture, until, finally, in the 

 budget law of 1892, a provision was made reforming the law of 

 the 3rd July 1868, and suspending the power conferred on the 

 Minister of Finance of granting exemption from duties and 

 taxation, with regard to the erection of villages and the extension 

 of municipalities, The Minister of finance is further authorised 

 to examine the cases in which concessions have been already 

 granted with the object of annulling them, if due regard has not 

 been paid to legal requirements. 



The French National Dairy School at Mamirolle. 



The mountainous region which extends from Belfort to the 

 Mediterranean is the seat of an important cheese industry, and 

 it was for this reason, as well as on account of the compe- 

 tition on the French market of simi'ar produce from the 

 adjacent countries, that a national dairy school was founded by 

 the French Government at Mamiiolle in the year 1888. This 

 institution offers instruction which is intended ior three diffe- 

 rent classes of learners. It is a dairy school, properly so called, 

 where young apprentices receive sound, "pra'jt • ca 1, and theoretical 

 instruction in dairying. It is also a " continuation school/' where, 

 under certain conditions, persons may complete their studies. 

 Finally, it comprises a school of research," where certain 

 experiments are made, and advice is given, regarding the 

 adaptability of new dairy methods and machinery, and such 



