1G2
Agricultuke on the ruine.
exertion of intelligence. Their countrymen would be glad
to take what they had to give, and they might fix their
own conditions. In Germany, on the contrary, every
addition to the population increases the poverty of the
mass of the people, and diminishes the prospect of gain
for those who depend on market for remuneration. Hence
every year renders the farmer’s task more and more dif-
ficult, and he is spurred to study his soil and his manures
that he may keep his ground under such difficult circum-
stances. In good farms, therefore, such as the estates of
the noblemen we have named, as well as on others that
might be added, and some of whom we shall notice in
going along, the management and economy observed
surpasses that found on the generality of farms in England.
The manager has no point given to start from in a pre-
scribed crop. IIe must himself at the same time choose
his system of cultivation and hunt out his market. But
for every facility afforded him in his task he is well pre-
pared, and will turn it to advantage. He courts competi-
tion. Would that English farmers were not afraid of it!
In passing Bonn we noticed shortly the agricultural
college of Popplesdorf, that has recently been established
there. Near Wiesbaden the traveller will find another,
which has, perhaps, had a more direct influence on the
country surrounding it. The manager, M. Albrecht, is
a gentleman highly respected for his scientific acquire-
ments, and indefatigable in discharging the duties he has
undertaken. A walk up to the Geisberg will well repay
the visitor to that fashionable watering-place, especially
in the summer and autumn, when he will find in the ex-
perimental farm the most interesting varieties of cultiva-
tion collected together from numerous districts. The
AGRICULTURE ON THE RHINE.
163
origin of the farm is no less interesting than the results
obtained by the comparatively small means at its command.
The chief fund consists in the subscriptions of the mem-
bers of the Agricultural Society of the Duchy of Nassau,
the contributions to which are rated so low as not to debar
almost the poorest from joining. Five shillings per
annum, collected from about 1500 members, with some
other sources of revenue, suffice to pay the interest on
the purchase-money of the farm, to keep it at work, and to
publish a weekly journal containing useful agricultural
intelligence. The other sources of revenue consist in the
sale of the produce of the farm, which is not of much
moment, as the experiments are of course not all suited
to the wants of the neighbourhood. Attached to the
farm is a seminary in which lectures are held that have a
bearing on agriculture. Natural history, mineralogy,
botany, zoology, the theory of agriculture, and tech-
nology ; besides veterinary surgery and agricultural book-
keeping ; form a course that is completed by students
easily in three winter half years. The summer they are
recommended to spend on some farms where they can
learn the practice of husbandry. Natives of the Duchy
have free instruction at this college, in consideration of a
yearly addition to its revenues, granted by the state.
Strangers pay 44 florins (about 4Z.) for the half-year’s
instruction, which is conducted by highly qualified pro-
fessors. The grounds are divided into portions on which
the agricultural systems of England and Flanders, Meck-
lenburg, IIolstein, and the improved ordinary village
course arc followed, and the results thus made intelligible
to the scholars. Irrigated meadows form one part, and
a garden and nursery another part, of the grounds. A