different agricultural interests have been organized under many different forms, and many of these are now in a flourishing condition. Many of the States have important agricultural societies, the published reports of which contain much valuable information. There are also national, State, and local associations for the live stock interests (including the breeding of cattle, horses, sheep, swine, and poultry), dairying, horticulture, forestry, irrigation, good roads, bee-keeping, etc. Lists of the more important agi'icultural organizations in the United States are given in the year Book of the United States Department of Agriculture.
Among the general associations which have exerted the most widespread influence in the United States are the Farmers' Alliance and the Patrons of Husbandry (otherwise known as the Grange). See the separate articles on F.4.rmers' Alliance, and Grange.
Germany. The first agricultural society in Germany is said to have been established in 1764. Now there are several thousand societies in the German Empire. The most important of these is the German Agricultural Society, with headquarters at Berlin, which has a membership of some 10,000. It holds a great annual meeting and fair, at which numerous prizes are given, a winter meeting, and meetings of sections on fertilizers, plant culture, seeds, implements, and agricultural technology' and engineering; gives prizes for essays based on scientific investiga- tions, tests agricultural materials, carries on a large amount of experimental inquiry through cooperation with agricultural experiment sta- tions, publishes a year-book, and a journal ap- pearing two or three times a month, and main- tains a bureau of information. It also aids its members in the cooperative purchase of ferti- lizers, seeds, and feeding stuffs.
France. The Society of Agriculturists of France has more than 11.000 members, maintains a library and chemical laboratory, holds meetings, at which lectures are given by eminent agricul- tural experts, gives annual prizes, and patronizes the agricultural shows given under the ministry of agriculture in different parts of France. The National Society of Agriculture of France and the National Society for the Promotion of Agri- culture are also very ini])i:irtant French societies. The Royal Danish Agricultural Society, the Central Society of Agriculture of Belgium, the Society of Italian Agiiculture, the Imperial Ag- ricultural Society at Vienna, the Agi'icultural Association of Hungary, and the Imperial Eco- nomic Association at St. Petersburg are among the most active and influential agricultural or- ganizations in Europe.
Agricultural Syndicates. In recent years cooperative unions (see Cooperation) have been formed in large numbers in most of the countries of Europe, and have exerted an increasing influ- ence in the promotion of agricultural advance- ment. These have reached their most complete development, as directly related to agriculture, in France, where they are known as agricultural syndicates. The syndicates are national, re- gional, or local in their organization and opera- tions. Their number has reached about 2.500 and their membership about 800.000. including all classes interested in agriculture. They do an extensive business in the purchase of fertilizers, feeding stuffs, seeds, plants, implements, and live stock (especially animals for common use in breeding), and in the sale of agricultural prod- ucts. They have also established cooperative dairies, and factories for fruit pulp, olive oil, etc., and have developed numerous forms of co- operative insurance. They have also dissemi- nated nmch information through meetings and the agiicultural press, and have exerted impor- tant political influence on legislation affecting agricultural interests. Some syndicates have re- ceived financial aid from the Government, and others have been aided by private endowments. Otherwise they are supported by fees and broker- age. The organization and spread of the syndi- cates have been greatly promoted by the assist- ance of the tigricultural societies throughout France.
AGRICULTURAL CHEM'ISTRY. See Chemistry, Agricultural.
AGRICULTURAL ED'UCA'TION. The modern system of agricultural education in its most complete form includes ( 1 ) university courses of instruction and research (experiment stations); (2) general college courses; (3) college courses or schools in special subjects, e.g.,
dairying, animal husbandry, aviculture, or vet-
erinary science; ( 4 1 secondary courses or schools
(agricultural high schools); (5) elementary in-
struction in common schools; (0) university
extension, through farmers' institutes, corre-
spondence courses, etc. The term agriculture,
as related to education, may be used broadly
with reference to an institution or course of
instruction in which agricultural subjects are
taught along with other branches of knowledge.
It is in this sense, for example, that we speak
of a college of agriculture or a college course
in agriculture. Or the term may be restricted
to that portion of a course of instruction in
which agricultural subjects only are taught, as
when we say: "Agriculture is taught in that
college." Committees of the .Vssociation of
American Agricultural Colleges and Experiment
Stations have recently recommended that the fol-
lowing subjects be included in a four-year col-
lege course in agriculture: Algebra, geometry,
trigonometry, drawing, English, other modern
languages, psychology, ethics or logic, political
economy, general history, constitutional law,
physics, chemistry (general and agricultural),
meteorology, geology, botany (including, vegeta-
ble physiology and pathology), zoology (includ-
ing entomology), physiologj', veterinary science,
horticulture, forestry, and agriculture (in the
narrow, technical sense). The conunittee on
methods of teaching agriculture of the same asso-
ciation has divided technical agriculture into
(1) agronomy (plant production); (2) zodtech-
ny (animal industry); (3) agrotechny (agri-
cultural technology); (4) rural engineering
(farm mechanics): and (5) rural economics
( farm management ) .
In the syllabus for the course in agriculture formulated by this committee, agronomy is defined as the theory and practice of the production of farm crops," and is made to include what is to be taught regarding the structure, composition, and physiology of farm crops and their environment, i.e., climate, soil, fertilizers, etc., and regai'ding the culture, Iiarvesting, preservation, and uses of individual kinds of crops, as well as the obstructions to their growth from, weeds, fungi, bacteria, insects, birds, and other animals. Zoijtechny is "the theory and practice
