Other handicrafts have followed the example set by the shoemakers. The joiners, cabinet-makers, silk-weavers, jewellers, and even to umbrellas and parasols, each have their cheap and, in many cases, free-training schools. The knit goods of Switzerland, so largely imported to the United States, do not owe their introduction to cheap Swiss labor, but simply to their superior quality, the result of the excellent training all girls obtain at school; knitting being regarded as an indispensable acquirement. Drawing, industrial as distinguished from artistic, is taught in all Swiss schools; not as an accomplishment, but as of paramount utility. It is considered that “drawing” lies at the bottom of all industrial training, enabling one to delineate with precision that which he wishes to express better than he can do it with the language of the pen. In his “Proposed Hints for an Academy,” Benjamin Franklin classed “drawing” with the three “R’s” as subjects necessary for all. It ranks with them because it is the language of form in every branch of industry from the most simple to the complex. It makes the workman more exact, more efficient, and more careful; it is always convenient and often very useful. A trade which, either by law or immemorial usage, is assumed to require a more exacting apprenticeship is wood-carving; a Swiss product that enjoys world-wide reputation, and has long been a source of considerable revenue to the country. The schools for wood-carving have a fully organized faculty, and the word faculty is used advisedly, for the classes have an almost amusing resemblance to an academic course. There are lectures with manipulatory demonstrations in the use of the plane, saw, lathe, and all needed tools, and also on the distinctive characteristics of various woods. A school for ornamental work and design in wood-carving at Brienz is supported by the Canton; and at Interlaken the wood-workers enjoy, free of charge, the services of a “Master Modeller,” furnished by the Canton. There are separate schools for the study of wood-engraving, sculpture, and art cabinet-making. The agricultural and forestry departments of the Polytechnic, in its “technology,” as signifying science applied to industrial arts, has advanced these interests to positions that otherwise could never have been attained. Switzerland in physical respects is not a bountiful motherland, neither the climate nor soil is good for agriculture, yet it is surprising what good results are obtained through the general diffusion among the agricultural class of much technical information, susceptible of easy apprehension and ready application. Swiss agriculture, to make any return, cannot be a mechanical routine, but must be intelligent if not scientific.