AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS. 
397 
classes, looking to a stewardship over the estates of others. 
The requisites are the attainment of eighteen years of age, 
good moral character, proficiency in the preparatory branches, 
(equivalent to a common-school education in the United 
States,) and the payment, for lodging, instruction and inciden. 
tals, of $40 to $80 (foreigners pay twice as much as inlanders) 
per annum. There are accommodations for over one hundred 
pupils in the lodging apartments, and for an indefinite num¬ 
ber at the restaurant connected with the institution. But if 
pupils prefer to take their meals and lodgings elsewhere they 
are at liberty to do so. So, also, each pupil may exercise his 
own discretion as to the number and kind of lectures he will 
attend, though industry, regularity of attendance, and a faith¬ 
ful use of the opportunities offered are urged upon all. In 
these respects they are subject to as little restraint as the stu¬ 
dents of our own professional schools. 
The school of practical farming (ackerhauschule) is designed 
for the sons of peasants, between the ages of fourteen and 
eighteen, who have familiarity with the ordinary routine of 
farm-work, and desire simply to acquire a knowledge of the 
general principles of agriculture and the most practical 
methods. They spend but two or three hours daily in gaining 
theoretical and scientific knowledge, and the remainder in 
actual labor on the farm and in the other practical branches 
of the academy, under the direction of the practical foreman 
or immediate managers. 
Besides these three distinct branches or departments, there 
are several special courses or schools, designed to give instruc¬ 
tion in the principles and especially the practice of different 
branches of industry. These courses, as a rule, are only open 
to such as have already acquired, by some years of practice, 
familiarity with the particular branch of industry to be taught 
and illustrated in the course'to be pursued. They are, there¬ 
fore, necessarily young men of seventeen or eighteen years of 
age, with sufficient maturity and discipline to enable them to 
derive benefit from the brief courses of a few weeks furnished 
them at the royal academy. Then there are courses in 
