S Report op the President. 



I. The department of agronomy, in its investigations under the 

 Federal appropriation, has confined its energies almost entirely to 

 the solution of problems connected with the live stock interests of 

 the State, a total of 1,385 plats out of more than 1,500 under experi- 

 ment having been devoted to forage crops. The cooperative ex- 

 periments in agronomy (State extension work) have as their objects 

 (1) to gain information in regard to the soil and crops vmder experi- 

 ment, (2) to extend the educational influence of experiments to the 

 farmers who are doing the work and to their neighbors who observe 

 them, and (3) to promote a closer relationship and better under- 

 standing between the farmers of the State and the College of Agri- 

 culture. These experiments are carried on very largely by the 

 farmers themselves on their o^\ti farms, but under the supervision 

 and direction of the College of Agriculture, and there are now in 

 progress under this head 498 experiments, distributed through 44 

 coimties of the State and requiring the use of about 1,000 separate 

 plats. The subjects imder investigation include alfalfa, oats, fer- 

 tilizers, potatoes, soy beans, field beans, buckwheat, vetch, etc. 



II. The Federal Experiment Station work in animal husbandry 

 has been continued along the same lines as formerl}^, namely, experi- 

 ments in meat production with cattle, sheep, and swine. The work 

 in the breeding and development of dairy cattle has also progressed 

 satisfactorily. The State extension work in this department has 

 been almost wholly devoted to the supervision of records of thorough- 

 bred cattle, including 700 Holstein cows belonging to 85 different 

 owners throughout the State, and about 10 different herds of Guern- 

 sey breeders. 



In the sub-department of poultry husbandry (maintained by 

 special State appropriations) the work has consisted of instruction 

 in the winter poultry-course, which, though offered for the first time 

 this year, enrolled 17 students; the preparation of lessons for the 

 Farmers' Reading-Courses, and of articles for the Junior Natural- 

 ist Mon My; and, finally, the investigation of a number of the more 

 important problems of interest to poultrymen, including a study of 

 the comparative advantages for egg' production and health of fowls, of 

 different styles of pens and different kinds of food, and the best 

 methods of destroying certain external poultry parasites. Of the 

 students pursuing the winter-course in poultry, all who desired posi- 

 tions have secured them at an, advanced salary and the professor in 

 charge reports that the demand for skilled poultryn^en of this sort 

 is greater than the College can supply. 



