As far as the number of hours is concerned, the above table does injustice to the French College. This Bureau has as yet failed to obtain the (manuscript) emploi de temps,' which of course varies from session to session, and the remarks which follow may not perhaps be strictly true of the French College whose course has been given, though true of one of its fellows or of the lycées of France, these lycées being the institutions which prepare for the bachelor's degree. The duration of a professional lesson (leçon) is one and one-half hours. The first one-half hour is given to questioning upon the matters which had been presented in the preceding lesson. The professor thus assures himself that those matters are understood. After the lesson of one hour experimental demonstrations are given, and in addition to this each student is questioned at least once a month by the répétiteur (coach or tutor, or, literally, one who demands back-in Latin, repetitor) attached to each branch of the curriculum. Of these under teachers or repetiteurs there are at Grand Jouan five, each of whom aids the professors in making the applications of his remarks and in the manipulations. In addition they complement his work by "conferences" and examine the students. The chief gardener and the chief of agricultural work also hold conferences and the military exercises are under a special instructor. Again, the instruction at Grignon is both scientific and practical. In addition to the lessons given in the amphitheaters (lecture rooms), and to the laboratory work, are the daily observations collected by contact with actual cultivation, the work in the botanic garden, in the arboretum, market garden, and fruit tree (dwarf) garden, and in the dairy, sheepfold, and stables. The students are charged with all the "services" of this exploitation for fifteen days (1st and 16th of each month), which services consist of the service of culture (gardening, plowing, etc.), of anima.s and the barnyard (cour), of engineering and operating machines, of the demonstration plots, and of the gardens, of the botanic school and the collections, and finally of meteorological observations and such other services as may be necessary. The different services are each confided to a student of the second year, as chief, and two students of the first year. Each day a surveillant posts the names of the students who are to perform the different kinds of "practical work," but the evening before the students who are to perforin it, knowing their turn perhaps, call upon the director to learn the part they are to perform upon the morrow, and they are required to note what they have observed during the course of the work in their scholastic notebook (cahier). The curriculum of the six courses of the Grand Jouan College has mainly occupied our attention in the foregoing, but it may be interesting to those unfamiliar with the order of procedure in a French agriculture course, properly so called, to examine the manner in which the course is developed in the Grignon College. translation of this course follows. 1 The time table of a French lycée is somewhat like this: [From report of A. Tolman Smith, specialist in this Bureau.] A SYLLABUS OF THE AGRICULTURAL COURSE PROPER, TWO AND ONE-HALF YEARS, WHICH IS ONE OF THE NINE COURSES IN THE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE OF GRIGNON, FRANCE. Agriculture, properly so called, its importance, and the variety of knowledge it requires because (1) of the character of the formation of the soil, (2) of the multitudinous influences which affect production, (3) of the variety of agricultural products. All these make it dependent upon the sciences of geology, mineralogy, chemistry, physics and meteorolgy, botany, mechanics, and rural engineering. The subject of agriculture will in this school be considered under (1) agrology, or the study of the surface of the earth as to its origin, composition, and physical and chemical properties, then (2) will be taken up the study of the means employed to modify the physical and chemical properties of the soil by application of matters to its surface or by cultivation, then (3) will be considered the different agricultural plants, and finally (4) the rotation of crops. I-AGROLOGY. [The compiler has allowed himself the liberty to run the bald statement of each fact into a connected account, and he must be held accountable for everything in the translation except the names of the things taught and their order.] The soil and subsoil-the vegetable stratum-origin of the soils. The component parts of the soil and the importance of studying them and (a) mineral elements which are furnished by the rocks, which are primitive, eruptive, sedimentary, or metaphoric. This leads us to examine more particularly (1) the elements which form the backbone, so to speak, of the soil (squellette du sol), to wit, sand, clay, lime, and (2) the less strongly represented elements, to wit, phosphoric acid, sulphuric acid, potash, magnesia, and oxides of iron. Having thus studied the mineral elements as just given under a, we now proceed to study (b) the organic elements-humus and its origin, composition, and rôle-nitrogen, and different states in which found in the soil as waste organic matter, ammonia, and nitrates. Then follows a study of the soil as a sort of sponge, bearing first upon its physical properties and then its chemical properties, to wit: The soil considered in respect to its weight and its volume, or density; then in respect to the implements of culture (tenacity, cohesion); then in its relations with water (permeability, capillarity, etc.); then in relation to solar heat and the causes which interfere with the action of heat upon the soil. We now pass to the chemical properties of soil-the fixation of gases and absorption of fertilizing matter. Thus, having gone over the organic elements of the soil and the physical and chemical properties which enable the soil to clutch the fertilizing matters coming in contact with it, we proceed to examine the relation of soil and climate, to wit: Necessity of completing the ideas relative to the properties of a soil by those relative to the environment; special necessity of studying climate in this respect as dependent upon geographic situation, height above the sea, shelter, distance from large masses of water, frequence of rains, influence of snow, climatic divisions of France. Classifications of soils by Varro, Thaër, etc., and classification adopted by this college, which is based (1) on what mineralogy teaches us about its chemical composition, (2) the size of the particles which compose it, which is the most important factor of the physical properties of the soil. By these considerations we are thus led to establish the following division: Sandy (rocky, stony, gravelly, coarse, fine, clay sand, calcareous sand, and calcareous clay sand, or "terre franche "1); 1 The terre franche is the perfect soil. It is permeable, thanks to its sand. The clay restrains evaporation and anchors the sand, while the lime acts advantageously upon the clay, or, in the old couplet, "Clay on sand manures the land; sand on clay is thrown away;" in other words, heavy clay needs lime or drainage. volcanic soils; lime soils (rocky, etc., fine powder, chalky, soft limestone, as in Kentucky, and marl); clay soils (lime clays, sand clays); schistous soils; humus soils (peaty, marshy, etc.); oxide (or silicate) of iron soils, i. e., ferruginous soils (ferruginous sand, clay, or lime soils); magnesian soils (dolourite sands, calcareous magnesian lands, magnesian clays). Finally are taken up the importance of the depth of soils and the influence of the subsoil. II. STUDY OF THE MEANS EMPLOYED TO MODIFY THE PHYSICAL PROPERTIES AND THE CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF SOILS. In the foregoing we have familiarized ourselves with a knowledge of what nature has placed at our disposal and the way in which she has arranged it in different localities, and the influences which she brings to bear upon it. This study in France is called agrology, though it might as well be called agricultural or soil physics, the formation of the agricultural soil being due to the action of atmospheric phenomena upon the rocks. We have now to consider the utilization of the nature of the soil, which from an ideal standpoint should possess: (1) The proper physical properties, (2) a good mineral composition, and (3) organic matter. New soils rarely unite in themselves these three conditions, and the farmer endeavors to create them by introducing one of the three backbone mineral elements or a fertilizing material either of a mineral or organic nature, to wit: (1) By dumping sand, clay, or lime in some form upon it; (2) by manuring it with vegetable matter, turning under green crops of various kinds, seaweeds, rushes, skins and pulp of grapes and other fruits which have been through the press, etc.; (3) by animal fertilizing material-blood, flesh, waste from fisheries, hair, feathers, horns, leather, guano, fecal matters, urine, etc.; (4) by mixed fertilizersbarnyard manure, city scavage (boues des villes), composts, street or road sweepings, deposits in stagnant water (vases), and sewage; (4) chemical and mineral manures-bones, natural phosphates, superphosphates, chloride of potassium and sodium, sulphate of ammonia, chlorhydrate of ammonia, etc.; and, finally, (5) by cultivation, such as paring and burning, i. e., scobuage, meaning, however, not the burning of the clay crust, but of a fibrous one, colmatage, i. e., the manner of elevating the surface of a soil by letting the muddy water of a stream flow in upon it, drainage, breaking up, the kinds of cultivation by various instruments, spade, plow, harrow, etc., in regard to depth, form, whether in round ridges (billons), flat ridges (planches), or flat; cultivating and weeding and hilling up (buttage). III. STUDY OF THE DIFFERENT AGRICULTURAL PLANTS. Having studied the soil in its scientific aspect-that is, as to its formation and the opportunities it offers to man, and then the method that experience has shown to be the best for man to follow in availing himself of the work that nature has done for him, or holds out hopes of doing for him-it now follows in course to study the vegetable which is (by leave of the new-discovered agricultural or nitrogenous microbe) the living organism which converts the minerals or gases held in suspension in water into a structure which, as forage or fruit, fodder or seed, is the food of animals. First, then, plants mainly cultivated for their seed, such as wheat, rye, wheat and rye sown together (meteil), oats, barley, maize, millet, and sorghum. Then follows the care and preservation of these cereals before and after thrashing, in mills, granaries, and silos, and the manner of such preparation. After the cereals, or gramineae, come buckwheat, to represent the polygonacea; then the various kinds of beans and pease, to represent the leguminosa. The study of forage plants is introduced by a consideration of natural pastures, and then (a) the characteristics of artificial pastures put down to grass for mowing, etc., preparation of the soil, choice of seed, sod, regeneration, irrigation, care, returns, curing, breaking up; (b) pastures [permanent?], their proper situation, care, and exploitation; (c) meadows [herbages?], proper soil and climate. The foregoing are (probably) permanent, whether created by nature or man. We now come to the consideration of temporary pastures, their importance, composition in regard to plant life, etc.; then follow plants cultivated for their roots or tubers, and the preservation thereof; then plants cultivated for their stalks and foliage, and the curing thereof, either by drying or siloing; trees whose leaves answer the purpose of fodder; industrial plants, and, finally, plants of "grande culture," as pumpkins and cabbage. IV. THE ROTATION OF CROPS. The last subject is the order in which the soil should be cropped. Definition of the term "assolement" (sole being the feminine form of sol, soil, but is used to designate a field or other division of the farm): Relations which should exist between the rotation and the agricultural, economic, and climatic conditions; periods of rotation and examination, and discussion of the principal types. NOTE. The professor, accompanied by a repetiteur and a chief of agricultural practice, makes the excursions which are necessary for the topographic study of the surrounding country. The school is so favorably situated that one finds within a radius of 12 miles-a distance not exceeding a day's walk-every variety of soil from chalk to peat, while the clay plateaux permit a study of very varied climates and special soil formations. Within the school the students are exercised in the grooming of draft animals and harnessing and driving them. They learn the make-up, the outline, and the handling of the various agricultural tools and machines. They sow by hand and machine, and are familiarized with the work of cultivation and harvesting. They are obliged to learn all the duties of the farm under its superintendent, and to perform work which is of a nature to make them habile and adroit in the management of machines, and thus cause them to acquire by a consciousness of ability to perform (par le savoir-faire) that authority which is indispensable to a director of a farm. V. THE POSSIBILITY OF IMPROVING AGRICULTURE. I- THE METHOD (IN TERMS OF HINDU AGRICULTURE), 1 On one point there can be no question, and that is, that the ideas generally entertained in England, and often given expression to even in India, to the effect that Hindu agriculture is as a whole primitive and backward and that little has been done to try and remedy it, are altogether erroneous; for the conviction is forced upon the investigator that, taking everything together, and more especially considering the conditions under which Indian crops are grown, they are wonderfully good. At his best the Indian "raiyat" or cultivator is quite as good as, and, in some respects, the superior of, the average British farmer, while at his worst it can only be said that this state is brought about largely by an absence of facilities for improvement, which is probably unequaled in any other country, and that the raiyat will struggle on patiently and uncomplainingly in the face of difficulties in a way that no one else would. The lacking facilities are water and manure, for nowhere can one find better instances of keeping land scrupulously clean from weeds, of ingenuity in device of water-raising appliances, of knowledge of soils and their capabilities, as well as the exact time to sow and reap, as one can in Indian agriculture; and this is not said of its best alone, but of its ordinary level. It is wonderful, too, how much is known of rotation, the system of "mixed crops," and of fallowing. Nevertheless, while some have condemned all attempts 1 Report on the Improvement of Indian Agriculture, by John A. Voelcker, Ph. D., etc., Consulting Chemist to the Royal Agricultural Society of England. Dr. Voelcker was sent by the British Government as a commissioner to examine and report upon the improvement of agriculture in India. at improvement, asserting that the raiyat knows his business best, others have equally erred by calling his agriculture primitive, and, forgetting that novelty is not necessarily improvement, have thought that all that was needed was a better plow, a reaper, a thrashing machine, or else artificial manures to make the land yield as English soil does. On one point, however, there can be but little doubt. The native, though he may be slow in taking up an improvement, will not hesitate to adopt it if he is convinced that it constitutes a better plan and one to his advantage. The first aim in any scheme of agricultural improvement should be to modify those differences which exist; first of all, by teaching in the more backward parts of India the better practices of the most advanced Indian agriculture; and secondly, by supplying, wherever it is possible, those facilities which exist in the best agricultural districts. It is in the existence of these differences that there is a warrant for the belief in the possibility of improving Indian agriculture, and it is in the modification of them that the great hope of improvement lies. These differences and the best way of modifying them appear to be-- 1. Differences inherent to the people themselves as cultivating classes; for instance, the fact that by hereditary practice certain castes and races are bad, others are good, cultivators. 2. Differences arising from purely external surroundings and not directly from any want of knowledge, to wit: (a) Physical causes, such as climate, soil, facilities for water, manure, wood, grazing, etc. (b) Economical or political conditions, such as are the relative ease or difficulty of living, paucity or pressure of population, etc. 3. Differences arising directly from want of knowledge; for instance, the existence of diversity of agricultural practice in different parts of the country. Having thus stated the differences, it is desirable to consider, in the next place, the means by which they may be removed, or, at least, modified: 1. The modification of existing differences in agricultural practice and methods must proceed from positive measures taken (a) By the people themselves. (b) By the Government. 2. So far as it is possible for Government or for agricultural departments to assist in the modification of these differences, it is their duty to do so. 3. It is the work of Government to test Western practice and the applications of modern science as also to introduce them when found suitable for India. It will be well now to illustrate the foregoing differences and indicate how their modifications may be carried out. 1. Differences inherent to the people themselves.—It is well known that certain castes and races have been prevented by religious prejudices or "historical causes from adopting the more skillful or laborious systems of cultivation in vogue among other castes or races. Thus the Rajputs, Brahmans, Kolis, and Kols may be mentioned as hereditarily inferior as cultivators to the Játs Kurmis, Lodhas, Káchhis, and others. Here it is not so much that the external surroundings are unequal, nor that agricultural knowledge is at fault, but the real cause is found in the inherent differences of the people themselves. Side by side in the same village one may, for instance, see both superior and inferior husbandry, the explanation being primarily in a reference to the respective caste of the cultivator in each case. In Behar, I (Dr. Voelcker), on seeing a quantity of dung lying about in heaps on a field, not spread out, but between the rain and the sun speedily losing its goodness, asked a neighboring cultivator why the owner did this. The reply was, "He is only a goatherd," meaning thereby that he did not belong to a good cultivating class. Here the people of this caste evidently required to be taught better methods of agriculture and how to manage properly the manure at |