248 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



Especial attention is given to those plant and animal products 

 which are used as foods. 



Agricultural Chemistry — This course includes a study of the 

 origin and composition of soils, the source and composition of 

 fertilizing materials, the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen, and 

 the chemistry of milk and other dairy products. Students desir- 

 ing to become agricultural chemists receive instruction in the 

 chemical analysis of fodders, fertilizers, milk, butter, and other 

 dairy products. 



Geology — While geology may be taught as a cultural subject, 

 its applications to daily life are so many and varied that it is 

 scarcely necessary to point them out. Agriculture owes much 

 to this science, since it not only teaches the source and origin 

 of the soil, and those soil constituents necessary to plant growth, 

 but it also guides the geologist in his search for the stores of 

 mineral fertilizers, nitrates, phosphates, and potash salts, upon 

 which agriculture has come to rely. 



The occurrence and treatment of alkali lands, the location of 

 artesian wells, the possibilities of drainage and irrigation, and 

 the discovery of peats, marls, and deposits of land plaster, 

 clearly illustrate the importance of this study to the agricultural 

 student. 



Biology — Since agriculture consists in the production of such 

 plants and animals as are useful to man, it follows that the 

 study of life in its various phases is essential in an agricultural 

 curriculum. A general course in this study deals with the fun- 

 damental principles of the science and forms the basis for 

 further work in either zoology or botany. Types of vertebrate 

 animals are studied, dissections are made, and the microscopic 

 structure of the higher animals studied. Courses are also given 

 in animal physiology, embryology, and advanced zoology. The 

 study of the plant includes plant histology and physiology, 

 while an advanced course in botany is given, consisting of labor- 

 atory and field work. A course in pharmaceutical histology is 

 given with exercises in the detection of the common adulterants 

 of familiar drugs, h study is made of the diseases of plants 

 and the methods of combatting them. The student receives 

 instruction in the trees and shrubs of the eastern states, especial 

 attention being given to the forest trees of commercial value 

 and their geographical distribution, 



