Chapter 480 Agronomist

Austria is a major agricultural country, but it does not have an agricultural college, which puzzled Franz. However, after some investigation, he finally understood that at this time, the Western world did not generally regard agriculture as a science.

The ancient Greeks believed that agriculture was a science, but the inheritance of civilization had long been interrupted. Franz had a group of "agriculturists" who were studying agricultural topics, as well as a large number of farmers and gardeners with excellent skills.

Moreover, agriculture will have a profound impact on Austria's homeland and colonies for a long time in the future, so it is imperative to establish an agricultural college.

With experts and technicians, they can conduct innovative research, but they also need people to organize records and learn from the excellent experience of other countries.

Franz plans to hire a group of people to specialize in compiling and translating agricultural books, but this huge and important project is obviously not something that ordinary people can do.

So Franz once again set his sights on those college students and job seekers who were doing nothing in Vienna.

That's right, people with a university diploma can study at the Agricultural College for free. Not only is it free to study, but it is also free to eat. If you perform well, you can choose to become a faculty member and receive a salary, and even have the opportunity to become an official.

The conditions offered by Franz were naturally very attractive, but few people signed up. In fact, agriculture was not well-received at that time, and even farmers were derogatory terms.

Only 58 students were recruited in the first phase, and more than half of them came for food. In fact, there was a surplus of college students in Vienna at that time. The government did not have so many positions to accommodate these guys, and they looked down on most of the jobs in the world.

So every year, a large number of college students waited for employment in Vienna. Over time, a special group was formed. They drank coffee mixed with sawdust, but they talked about national affairs all the time, and they even cared more about the country than Ferdinand I.

These people are unstable factors for the country, but they are also precious resources. After all, college students in this era are still a rare species.

However, there are not many people who are willing to put down their status and go to the Agricultural College for retraining. They are more willing to wait for the official quota issued by the state.

In fact, in addition to the Agricultural College, Franz also thought of many ways to consume these unemployed young people, such as journalists, teachers, colonial affairs officers, and low-level clerical jobs in enterprises.

Of course, the mainstream of this era is either to be an official, or to do business, and being an employee is still too low for college students.

But the problem is that Austria has an official granting system. Given the physical condition of Ferdinand I, it is good to hold an official granting ceremony once a week.

Although there are 80,000 civil servants in Austria, in fact 80% of the positions are fixed and inherited, and even if they are replaced, they will be selected from one or several families.

In addition, the so-called civil servant grading system makes it extremely difficult for ordinary people to climb up, and the class of each official is almost fixed from the beginning.

It's not that Franz doesn't want to move, but if he moves, he will be an enemy of those 80%. At this time, he doesn't have that strength, and the time is not yet ripe.

And in Franz's view, some non-public positions are as important as officials, and there is no distinction between upper and lower.

Historically, North Germany and France started formal agricultural education much earlier than Austrians.

In 1803, the Principality of Holstein under Danish control founded the first agricultural college. In 1818, the Hohenheim College was established. In the same year, the Bavarian Agricultural Club was established. In 1819, the Lowell Agricultural College in France was established. In 1836, the Alsace Agricultural College was established.

However, because Franz won over the top talents of this era, such as Liebig, and developed a batch of agricultural machinery himself, Austria's agricultural technology is still far ahead in Europe.

But if the agricultural college is not established, this advantage will sooner or later be wiped out with the passage of time. If you want to maintain your advantage for a long time, you still need to cultivate professional talents and conduct continuous research.

Of course, Franz still has some knowledge of later generations. With the status of the royal grand duke, he can get good things that many people can't get.

For example, the Luhua chicken and Jiujinhuang of the Qing Dynasty, the former is the best egg-laying chicken breed in the world at this time. Although there is still a gap with the artificially cultivated egg-laying chickens in later generations, it is already 1.33 times the production of common egg-laying chickens in Europe at this time, with an annual egg production of 200+.

The latter is a very good broiler breed. As the name suggests, Jiujinhuang can grow to 9 jin, while the common broilers in the East and the West weigh only 4-5 jin at this time. Even the monster white-feathered chickens artificially cultivated in later generations are only about half of Jiujinhuang.

However, Jiujinhuang has a long growth cycle, which takes 200-230 days, and the meat-to-feed ratio is slightly higher, but this does not prevent it from beating the broiler breeds in Europe at this time.

In addition, Franz had to say that the native chicken breeds in Europe at this time were really terrible! There are basically two characteristics, one is that they eat a lot, and the other is that they grow slowly.

The several popular chicken breeds in Europe at this time are all typical slow-finished products in later generations, such as Bresse chicken. The reason why this thing has not been artificially eliminated like other breeds is that someone has linked it with France.

However, this kind of chicken is a famous aristocratic ingredient, which can be called the "tyrant" among chickens. One meal can make people go bankrupt.

Another one is the famous Golden Chicken. This thing is small and lays few eggs, but it is hardy, almost does not need special feed, and is less susceptible to diseases.

Another feature is its superior fighting power. It often pecks dogs and can even fight back and forth with peregrine falcons. It is a famous "fighting chicken". Of course, if it encounters a golden eagle, it will be killed instantly like other chickens.

Franz can introduce new breeds of chickens and cross them with local chickens to try to create the most suitable breed. Of course, he also got some all-round players.

For example, the three-yellow chicken, which produces less meat than the nine-jin yellow chicken, and less eggs than the reed chicken, or even the local chickens in Europe, but has the advantage that the strength of all parties is very balanced, and it is relatively easy to feed with fewer patients.

After all, modern agriculture at this time has just started, and most farmers probably only raise them in the wild. In addition, Franz had previously deeply experienced what it means to "have a million, but the hairy and winged ones don't count."

The first modern chicken farm in Austria that he established on the outskirts of Vienna, which was also the largest chicken farm on the European continent at that time, broke out with chicken plague.

Franz had to dispose of broilers and laying hens worth millions of florins. In fact, he was lucky at first, thinking that the problem could be solved by disposing of some of them, but the situation was much more serious than he imagined.

Finally, the chicken plague spread throughout the chicken farm, and even some breeders began to have fever and coma. Franz ordered all the chickens to be disposed of, and comprehensive disinfection (including chicken houses, personnel, and utensils) ended this tragic experience.

However, it was soon reported that other chicken houses and farmers' free-range chickens did not have chicken plague, and only Franz's hybrid chickens were affected.

He realized that this virus was targeted at Asian chickens, so local European chickens did not react.

It was indeed too tiring to rely on Franz alone, and an agricultural power must transform into an agricultural power, so it is imperative to establish an agricultural college.

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