XXXli STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



REPORT OF CHEMICAL DEPARTMENT. 



President Willits: — I herewith present my report of the chemical depart- 

 ment for the College year just closed. The year has been full of busy cares and 

 pleasant work in this department ; the st.idents attentive to their studies and.. 

 enthusiastic in their work. The ample opportunities for origimil and inde- 

 pendent work in the chemical laboratory have been appreciated and improved 

 by the students in the higher classes. I am convinced that the best education 

 is secured by encouraging the student to launch out for himself and to do his 

 own work under the supervision of his teacher rather than by seeing any 

 number of illustrations and any amount of demonstrations by another. It is 

 in this sense that this large laboratory finds its proper use and justifies its name 

 when it becomes the ivorking-place of teachers and students. 



The large additions recently made to the apparatus in the way of analytical 

 and assay balances by Becker & Sons, of assay furnaces, gold and silver fur- 

 nace of Orr & Hess, additional combustion furnace for organic analysis — these 

 in addition to apparatus and appliances formerly on hand, have made the 

 chemical laboratory the prized working place for earnest students. During 

 the past year more than one hundred and fifty students have received instruc- 

 tion within its walls. 



COMMEECIAL* FERTILIZEES. 



The last Legislature passed an act (No. 2G) to provide for the inspection of 

 commercial fertilizers offered for sale in this State, the retail price of which ex-» 

 ceeds ten dollars a ton. The act provides that the analysis of such fertilizer shall 

 be made under the direction of the State Board of Agriculture. The Board 

 having appointed me to conduct such analysis, I gathered fifteen specimens 

 of such fertilizers, analyzed them according to law and published the results 

 in the form of a Bulletin. 



SOURCES OF NITROGEN OF PLANTS. 



The experimental work which I have been carrying on for four years in 

 regard to the sources of nitrogen of plants, I have this year brought to a close. 

 The results of this investigation were given in a paper read before the Society 

 for the Promotion of Agricultural Science at its meeting in Buffalo, in Au- 

 gust. The paper drew out an animated discussion and was received with 

 favor. I also attended the meeting of the American Association for the 

 Advancement of Science at the same place. 



" THE PLAINS. " 



A number of communications have been addressed to the College oflicers 

 asking information about the soil of the "plains" of the northern part of our 

 peninsula, its nature, treatment and agricultural capabilities. I have given 

 much attention to this subject in former years, examining the country and its 

 productions along our western border, collecting and analyzing specimens of 

 the soil, etc. At your suggestion I have made a similar tour of inspection ia 

 the central and eastern parts of this region, examining the laud and its produc- 



