412 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



most thrown together as if done Ijy nature, there was au aquarium which was 

 Bupplied with water by a small stream which Hows from the drained lands 

 above. Here were water phmts in great variety, growing in and out of the 

 water and in wet soils. On a miniature island in a pool were the two ])oison- 

 ous phmts, the poison ivy and tiie i)oison sumac, KJiuti toxicodendron and Elms 

 venenata, so phiced that they could not easily be run against. Some small 

 fishes were floating around the island, while the steps of the visitors startled a 

 small white and brown chequered water-snake out of the bank and sent it 

 swimming for shelter among the herbage wliich grew close by. All this, it 

 will be noted, is a part of the living text-books of the institution in the bo- 

 tanical department. 



Crossing the ravine we passed, at a respectful distance, the apiary of Pro- 

 fessor Cook and heard the murmuring of the class, but we missed the chief 

 very much, and felt inclined to exclaim : "Ah ! where was llodrick then? One 

 blast upon his bugle horn were worth ten thousand" of these humming work- 

 ers by way of illustration of this department. Passing through the strawberry 

 grounds we noticed the long beds of the several kinds which were grown for 

 their fruit, and also the multitude of varieties which are under trial as samples 

 or as new sorts worthy of being tested. From thence the company were con- 

 ducted to the chapel and the library, where, after waiting a short time to get 

 cooled, we were called to dinner by the steward. Here we entered a large hall 

 in the basement, where everything was as neat and clean as possible, and 

 showed not a sign that about an hour and a half before the table had been set 

 for 150 students. 



Dinner being over. Professor IngersoU took the party in charge and we passed 

 over to the barns and the office of the farm department. In the barn the teams 

 and some of the students were occupied in drawing in hay, and at the same 

 time, for the purpose of illustrating how steam was used for the running of the 

 machinery in the cutting and grinding of feed, the professor had set it at work, 

 and the corn-sheller and grinder were busy grinding the mixed feed for the 

 stock as it is used here. The steam engine is a small power situated about 

 twenty rods east of the barn, under shelter of a small house by itself, just large 

 enough for the engine and the fuel. From this runs a wire rope to the pulley 

 and shafting in the barn, and this sets the whole or any part of the machinery 

 at Avork, without the least danger from fire or from any accident of a danger- 

 ous nature occurring to the buildings. 



Our next visit was to the cattle yard, where there were some good piles of 

 manure, but we missed the great piles of compost which were the favorite works 

 of Mr. Gulley, and which he regarded as a necessity for all that portion of the 

 farm on the north side of the Cedar river, and all of which, except the river 

 bottom, is sandy, and some of it a hungry gravel, the clay cropping out pretty 

 strong on the knolls where the professors' houses are located. Here the first 

 animal shown was a very handsome Ayrshire bull, which Mr. Webber (who is 

 the oldest and most experienced grower of Ayrshires in Michigan) pronounced 

 one of the best he had ever seen. His back is remarkably straight from end 

 to end and strongly muscled. His ribs are tliose of the Ayrshire, not s^iring- 

 ing out like those of the Short-horn or Hereford, but full. His head was 

 smooth, fine, broad between the eyes, and tapering to the muzzle. He was the 

 best tempered Ayrshire bull we ever handled. His color was spotted red and 

 white, the red prevailing. All seemed pleased witli him. The Jersey bull was 

 next led out and made a decidedly favorable impression. His color was a dark- 

 ish brown, shading off on head and limbs into fawn color. His head is a picture, 



