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AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION IN FRANCE. 



The information available concerning agricultural education 

 in France has formed the subject of several official reports in 

 this country, of which the more important are those by Mr 

 Jenkins to the Royal Commission on Technical Instruction in 

 1882, by Major P. G. Craigie in 1888 and 1891, by M. Tisserand 

 to the Royal Commission on Agriculture in 1893, and lastly 

 by Mr. Austin Lee [Foreign Office Report, M iscellaneous Series, 

 No. 505, June 1899). 



Agricultural education, as it exists in France, may, apart 

 from the instruction given in primar) r and normal schools, be 

 divided into three grades, viz., elementary, secondary, and 

 higher. From the official point of view, it may further be 

 considered as consisting of two classes : National institutions. 

 i.e., supported wholly by the State, and institutions in receipt 

 of subsidies from the State. 



The direction of agricultural education in France is 

 entrusted to a " Superior Council of Agricultural Education," 

 composed of thirty members, of whom half are Government 

 officials, and half are local notabilities (both agricultural and 

 scientific;, school teachers, and presidents of certain agri- 

 cultural societies. It is charged with the general supervision 

 of all the institutions affording agricultural instruction, and 

 receives reports from the directors and professors. It usually 

 meets only once a year and forwards a general report to the 

 Minister of Agriculture ; but it may be summoned at any 

 time to meet and consider urgent matters. 



This council was only created last year, by a decree of 27th 

 May, 1898, and was the outcome of an official report, prepared 

 by M. Meline when Minister of Agriculture. M. Meline's 

 report lays stress more particularly upon the class of pupils 

 attending the various institutions teaching agriculture. 



