152 Report on Agricultural Education. 
in the neighbourhood. They take the different kinds of farm 
work in rotation. Thus three are employed in the cattle-sheds 
for a month, others in preparing the cattle food, and so on. 
I am tempted to give, verbatim, part of a communication from 
the director of this school upon the general subject of this 
farm education. He says : " Notwithstanding all the advan- 
tages given by the Government to the young men who become 
apprentices at the farm schools, the sons of farmers cannot be 
induced to pass two or three years at one of them. For my 
part I find the greatest difficulty in obtaining ten new ap- 
prentices per annum. The rich farmers have too much pride 
to cause their sons to be educated gratuitously, besides which 
the practical schools of agriculture and the regional schools are 
expressly designed for this class of pupils." He then directs 
his remarks to the responsibilities of the director. " Instead 
of these having been chosen from the class of proprietors rich 
and honourable enough to content themselves with an insig- 
nificant profit, the selection has too frequently been made of 
farmers without means, who have traded upon the labour of their 
apprentices without occupying themselves much with their 
instruction. A man must be exceedingly conscientious to 
sacrifice his interests to those of his apprentices ; to suspend 
sowing, cultivating and harvesting ; to watch the rain fall upon 
his half-made hay ; to see his beet-roots becoming choked with 
weeds, and so forth, while the apprentices are tranquilly seated 
in the school-room receiving instruction in orthography. The 
worst feature of all is that nobody praises him for his dis- 
interestedness, and many even blame him under the pretext 
that a farm cultivated at a loss is a bad example f6r the 
pupils (!). At La Pilletiere I spend Is. 7c?. per day in the 
maintenance and instruction of each apprentice, and I receive 
exactly one half as a subvention. The work of the students 
thus costs one 9irf. per day each, which is double what it is 
worth. I lose at least 200Z. per annum through placing my 
animals and farm equipment in the hands of inexperienced 
lads of 16 years of age." It is curious that although M. de 
Villepin gives such a pessimist account as this, his replies to 
questions on the influence of the schools are encouraging. He 
says that many of the apprentices become either farmers them- 
selves, or bailiffs or foremen on large farms, while the best of 
them sometimes obtain the position of Departmental Professor 
of Agriculture. He moreover states that he has tripled his 
wheat-production in twenty years, and that the influence of his 
school upon the live-stock of the district has distinctly showed 
itself in the improvement of their character. 
Another director, M. du Miral, the manager of a farm-school 
