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STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



The call upon us for men to enter both practical and technical fields of 

 soils, crops, live stock and dairying, is such that we have not students 

 sufficient to supply the demand. 



The call and the need for a better knowledge in soils and crops were 

 never so great as now. The principles underlying the production of live 

 stock are appreciated and are being put into operation by a large and 

 continually increasing number of farmers. The principles underlying the 

 production of farm crops although equally important, are only slightly 

 known and less appreciated by the tillers of the soil. The yields in 

 Michigan for the ten years ending 1899 for four of our principal crops 

 are as follows: 



These figures are taken from the year book of the U. S. l>epartment of 



Agriculture in 1889. 

 m 



The yields should have been from fifty to one hundred per cent higher, 

 and doubtless would have been, had the producers a proper knowledge 

 and had made proper application of the principles of crop production. 

 The net profits would have been increased in greater ratio. 



According to Farm Statistics of Michigan, 1900-01, issued from the 

 office of the Secretary of State, the estimated value of nine of the princi- 

 pal crops grown in Michigan for that year, not including sugar beets, 

 was 177,150,000, while the estimated value for the total live stock of the 

 farms of the State, not including poultry, was only $56, 601,569. 



We have been none too lavish in our expenditures in the interests of 

 instruction in live stock, but the relative money value of the annual 

 product of crops as against the total value of live stock, which includes 

 the reserve supply, show at once that the larger interests have been 

 receiving by far the smaller support. 



A number of our sister colleges are taking up this work along more 

 intelligent lines. Some of them are at considerable expense in the mat- 

 ter of providing room, help and funds for the work, as indeed they must 

 be. The results, however, justify the outlay. We should be keeping 

 pace with these institutions. The time is ripe for it. The work should 

 Hot be delayed. For this we need more room, means to secure and 

 retain for unlimited time men whose special tastes and abilities run in 

 this direction, and funds for general and special expenses. 



The very excellent condition of the crops on the College Farm and the 

 favorable comment made upon them by visitors and members of the 

 College force who have traveled both east and west, are highly pleasing 

 to the department. It stands out, too, as an object lesson that there is 

 a better method of agriculture than that practiced by a great majority of 

 our farmers. 



The purchasing of a new team last October for which funds had been 



