180
? Middle and lower Professional Schools.
stitution. The pupils are full boarders. In return for this and for
the teaching they have to pay boarding and school fees. Many
of the farming schools admit pupils without, or with half, payment.
The instruction is both practical and theoretical, prefer-
ably the former in summer, the latter in winter. The practical
teaching extends to all kinds of agricultural labour, which every pupil
must learn to perform by continued personal application.
The theoretical teaching is given in the elementary sub-
jects, in rural economy, in natural science, a subject of special
importance to agriculture, in horticulture and fruit-growing,
In veterinary science, frequently also in select sections of national
economy and agricultural law. The complete course lasts two
vears. Admittance is conditional on previous elementary education,
and knowledge of simple agri@ultural practice.
In Prussia there are at present 21 farming schools.
3. The Agricultural Winter Schools, like the farming schools,
are intended for young farmers of the age of 15 to 20, but the teaching
is a purely theoretical one. The complete course in them lasts two
winters; in summer the pupils work on their fathers’ or on other
estates, and thus earn their own living. With respect to the subjects
and to the manner of teaching, the winter schools are likewise verv
similar to the farming schools. The number of daily hours of teaching
is naturally a larger one, as there is no practical occupation. Hence,
in two winters the same amount of theoretical work can be overtaken
as in two years in the farming schools.
The winter schools are found mostly in a small town. The
pupils live with the citizens, with whom they are also boarded at
moderate rates. The school fees for one winter are on an average
20 to 30 M.; in a few institutions thev are also a little higher or a
little lower.
The winter school is conducted by a director who has passed
the final examination of an agricultural High School or the State
examination. Frequently he is assisted by a second teacher of agri-
culture. In such a case the winter school is usually divided into two
separate classes, one of which forms the 1st. the other the 2nd
vear’s course.
The number of winter schools in Prussia amounted, in the
vear 1903, to 128.
In summer, when no teaching takes place, the directors and
reachers of the winter schools are occupied as visitino lecturers.