78 DEPARTMENT REPORTS. 



the propagation of plants, in iloriculture, forcing-iiouse and green-house prac- 

 tices, and in numerous vital particuhirs. 



During tlie whole year an especially gratifying feature has been the readiness 

 and in many cases the eagerness with wliich the students have entered into the 

 spirit of all labor which is illustrative. This fact is indication enough that vo 

 pains and elfort should be spared to render all features of illustrative labor 

 prominent. As yet we have no means for furnishing educational labor. 



Kespectfully submitted, 



L. TL BAILEY, Jk., 

 Profe.sxor nf Horticulture, and La7idscape Gardening. 

 Ottobbk, i<>S.). 



REPORT OF THE PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY. 



President Willits : 



The 3'ear just closing has been one of busy [)rus[)eriLy in the Chemical Depart- 

 ment. The attendance of students in t/neir classes has l)een pronipt, and their 

 work satisfactory. 



In the autumn term three classes daily received instruction in this Depart- 

 ment, namely: Seniors in chemical physics; Juniors in organic chemistry, 

 and the same class in blow-pipe analysis. In the spring term the Seniors had 

 daily lectures in meteorology, and the Juniors three hours daily in chemical 

 analysis. In the summer term, the Seniors had one hour daily in quantitative 

 chemical analysis, the Juniors a daily lecture in agricultural chemistry, the 

 Sophomores a daily lecture in elementary chemistry, and two hours a week in 

 chemical manipulation. 



This course iu lecturing and teaching would have been impossible but for 

 the efficieiit aid of my assistant in chemistry, who has done the work of a full 

 instructor, besides his assistance in the care of the lalioratory and the appar- 

 atus. 



OUTSIDE WORK. 



In December I attended the Sanitary Convention at East Saginaw, and gave 

 a public address on the water-supply for that city. 



In March I attended the meeting of the Sanitary Council of the Mississippi 

 Valley (of which I am a member,) at New Orleans, and presented a report on 

 the means to guard our people from a threatened incursion of cholera and 

 yellow fever. I'his journey involved a large expense and considerable per- 

 sonal sacrifice. 



The question may arise, "AVhy should a professor in an Agriculturjil Col- 

 lege interest himself iu these questions of public health?" I am sure that the 

 public health is a question of the first importance to agriculturalists because all 

 disturbances of production and distribution of public wealth reach the produc- 

 ing class in their final sweep, and leave their abiding impression there. The 

 march of yellow fever from New Orleans to Southern Ohio in 18 ?9 affected 

 the welfare of every farmer in Michigan as certainly as it did the citizens of 

 Memphis in Tennessee or Gallipolis iu Ohio. A second outbreak of yellow 

 fever on the banks of the Mississippi, or the sweep of cholera up the St. Law- 



