INTRODUCTION. Xxi 



asked by farmers in attendance, which were promptly answered 

 by the students. Following this was an exercise by the Junior 

 and Senior classes, which consisted of the reading of several 

 essays, selected from about thirty papers, written by the students 

 to show the relations of science to the different branches of agri- 

 culture, and how farming may be aided by an intelligent applica- 

 tion of scientific principles: The following essays were read : 

 Value of Chemistry to Farmers, C. C. Chamberlain, Foxcroft ; Use 

 of Mechanics to Farmers, J. \V, Weeks, Castine ; On Under- 

 draining, I. E. Webster, Orono ; Book-keeping, G. E. Sturgis, 

 Riverside ; Value of a Knowledge of Entomology, F.' P Stone, 

 Livermore Falls ; Market Gardening, A. S. Elkins, Oldtown. 

 They were very creditable, and the exercises were satisfactory to 

 the large audience present. In the evening, at the request of a 

 large number of the citizens of Fryeburg, Dr. Allen repeated his 

 lecture on the Conditions of Successful Agriculture, given in a 

 previous volume of the Agriculture of Maine. 



The third day was largely devoted to the purely business mat- 

 ters of the Board, assignment of topics for the next session, &c.; 

 and to an excursion, by invitation of the citizens of Fryeburg, 

 along the beautiful intervals of the Saco river in that town. In 

 the evening a lecture was delivered by Prof. H. Carmichael of 

 Bowduiu College, one of the Members at Large, on What Science 

 may do for Farming. It was attentively listened to by a large 

 audience, was highly instructive, and I regret I have not been 

 favored with a copy for this report. 



The State College has closed a most successful year, and, I am 

 happy to know, is beginning to be better understood and appreci- 

 ated by our people than at any time in its history. Its classes 

 have been large, the instruction efficient and faithful, and when its 

 somewhat limited appropriations and the requirements of the 

 institution are compared with its actual work and results, it will 

 be found to present a satisfactory exhibit to the people of the 

 State. It is of course an easy matter to tell what should be done, 

 to point out wherein it is deficient, to say that certain improve- 

 ments or additions should be made to this or that department, — 

 but it is quite another matter, with the same means at hand, to do 

 any better. The Trustees have long seen the need of making 

 some of the instruction more completely practical, as in the de- 

 partment of mechanics ; and of giving greater prominence and 



