REPORT OF THE PROFESSOR OF HORTIOULTURE. 71 



Mr. Wiu. Brown luis remlertHl efficient service as herdsman, in this respon- 

 sible position his tidelity, constant service, and pleasant Avays, deserve cor(iial 

 coujnu'iulalion. 



To those named, as well as to all employes of the Department, I am under 

 obligations for cheerful acquiesence in my plans. Whatever of success we 

 have achieved is largely due to their generous support. 



Respectfully submitted, 



'SAM'L JOHNSON, 

 Frof. of AfjrictUture and Siipt. of the Farm. 



REPORT OF THE PROFESSOR OF HORTICULTURE AND LANDSCAPE GAR- 

 DENING. 



To the President of the College : 



With this report is concluded the third year of the Department of Horticult- 

 ure and Landscape Gardening as a separate feature in college management and 

 instruction. Horticulture and landscape gardening have a longer history than 

 that embraced within these three years, however. Hitherto these subjects had 

 been associated with botany under the management of Dr. Beal, and through 

 his work, both here and among the fruit growers of the State, arose the demand 

 for an enlargement of instruction in horticultural matters. The work of the 

 Department itself was initiated and outlined- by my immediate predecessor, 

 Prof. Satterlee. It is now highly proper, therefore since the Department has 

 been created and its usefulness is in a measure assured, to present a brief out- 

 line of the work it aims to accomplish. 



It is the puipose of the Department to Avork with the horticulturists of the 

 State and so far as possible to meet their demands in experiment and instruc- 

 tion Its work naturally falls under two heads, so far as instruction is con- 

 cerned: out-door illustration and practice, and class-room instruction. In most 

 directions the means of out-door illustration are comprehensive. It is to be re- 

 gretted that our climate is too rigorous to allow of the cultivation of peaches, 

 sweet cherries and some other fruits. I apprehend, however, that some of the 

 mischief which has been attributed to hard winters has been due to insufficient 

 drainage or other causes. 



The most notable new feature of the department is a fruit garden which has 

 been set apart this year for the double purpose of testing new varieties of small 

 fruits and of furnishing illustrative labor to students. It comprises four acres 

 of variable soil. It has been enclosed in a double windbreak composed of a 

 row of maples alternating with a row of spruces. It is expected that tlie maples 

 shall be removed when the spruce? become large enough to afford protection. 

 A thorough system of tile drainage is being placed under the garden. Most of 

 the fruits which are growing in the fruit garden were set last spring, or early 

 this fall in the case of strawberries. A catalogue of these and other fruits is 

 published in Bulletin No. ?, which has just been issued. There are forty-seven 

 varieties of strawberries, representing three or four distinct species, fifteen 

 varieties of raspberries, ten of blackberries, ten of currants, five of gooseberries, 

 two of quinces, and a number of the newer grapes, pears and cherries. There 



