Romania -- Description and travel; Romania -- History
First as to the grounds. These are divided into sections, in which
experiments are proceeding in the growth of every tree or plant which
the Roumanian soil is capable, or is believed to be capable, of
supporting. Besides extensive plots for all kinds of cereals there are
small beds and plantations for named plants, flowers, and vegetables.
Considerable space is devoted to vine-culture, where, besides many other
kinds, we found Californian grapes flourishing; and in addition there
are numerous orchards and collections of fruit trees, the variety of
which testifies to the richness and productiveness of the soil. Apiaries
are not wanting, but no cattle is reared on the grounds.
In the building instruction is given to about 120 pupils living on the
premises, of whom one half devote their time to the study of practical
farming, and the other to the manufacture of implements, for which
there are workshops (_ateliers_) close at hand. There are ten teachers,
of whom six rank as professors. The pupils are nearly all peasants and
_bourgeois_; instruction is gratuitous, and the cost to the State is
about 450 francs per head annually. The admission is by competitive
examination, and for twenty vacancies in the agricultural section there
were last year sixty applicants, whilst in the mechanical school the
number of applications is still greater.
The arrangements for tuition in the interior of the building are quite
on a par with the external ones. There are collections of dried plants,
seeds, sections of wood, &c., and a smaller collection of geological and
zoological examples. In one place the history of the plough is
illustrated by means of models, beginning with the Egyptian, 2000 years
B.C., and going through a long succession; the Greek, 490
B.C., the Roman, the Gallic, the Chinese, the Siamese, the
primitive Roumanian (already noticed), with many others of ancient or
mediæval times, and ending with a great variety of improved modern
construction. Models of fruits, various products of hemp, and other
vegetable fibres and tissues, and many other objects of interest to tho
agriculturist, are to be found there. The laboratory is good, and the
instruction imparted is of a useful and practical kind. In the 'École
des Arts et Métiers,' the neighbouring workshops, everything is taught
that is requisite for conducting the mechanical part of farm labour.
Implements, wine and cheese presses, maize-separating machines, carts,
and even tables and chairs for the homestead are made by the students
with the aid of excellent machinery. Nor is theoretical training
neglected. Besides being instructed in chemistry, plans and elevations
of stables, granaries, cottages, &c., have to be drawn by the students,
and their work is very ably executed. In fact the parent institution and
its branches are exercising a most important influence on the
agriculture of the country, and no one who has visited the college of
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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