REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR. 49 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



This useful agi'icultural institution was established a year ago, under the direction 

 of Prof. It. Patrick Wright. Prior to this it existed as a department of the Glasgow 

 Technical College, and there was a separate daiiy school at Kilmarnock. Now the 

 dairy school and a recently acquired experimental farm of 200 acres has been united 

 with the Agricultural College, which will supply the means for permanent experimental 

 work. The dairy school is carried on during the summer moiaths only. The building 

 where the teaching work is done is conveniently situated in a central part of the city 

 of Glasgow, and is provided with all the appliances necessary for effective teaching. 

 Practical agriculture, agricultural chemistry and botany are the leading branches 

 taught. 



In connection with this College an extensive system of experimental work has 

 been conducted for the past eight years on about fifty different farms, in the central 

 and southwest counties of Scotland. The experiments are very comprehensive in 

 their character, and are for the most part along the following lines : The. effects of 

 farm-yard and artificial manures on hay, grain, roots and potatoes. Investigations 

 regarding the mealing power of oats grown with different fertilizers, the effect of 

 fertilizers on the quality of the hay produced, their influence on the size and quality 

 of potato tubers. Rotation of crops has been the subject of many experiments, and 

 many varietal tests have been conducted with oats. Tests have also been carried on 

 in the feeding of sheep. The more prominent farmers in different parts of Scotland 

 have taken much interest in this work, and are free in oft'ering the use of such limited 

 portions of their land as may be required for carrying on these experiments. No pay- 

 ment is made to the experimenters, but the manures and seed are usually supplied. 

 Each farm where experiments are in prog"ess is visited by a member of the staff, at 

 least once during the season, when lectures are frequently given in the locality, and 

 the results are subsequently published in bulletin form. The College is affiliated with 

 Glasgow University, and students who attend the full course of three years in the 

 college and pass the examinations, obtain the degree of B. Sc. in the University. The 

 dairy sessions are for ten weeks, and include practical work on butter and cheese. 

 Students who succeed in passing the examinations receive certificates at the end of 

 the course. 



THE DALMENY EXPERIMENTAL GROUNDS. 



These were established and are maintained by Lord Rosebery, in connection with 

 his large -estate at Dalmeny, a few miles from Edinburgh. At the time of mj'- visit 

 I was so fortunate as to meet both Mr. Drysdale, Lord Rosebery's factor, and Mr. 

 John Hunter, who has charge of the scientific research work at Dalmeny. These 

 gentlemen courteously showed me through the experimental grounds, and explained 

 the objects in view in the various trials being made. Experiments were in progress 

 with wheat, barley and oats, and with different fertilizer^ on these crops, also tests 

 regarding the unexhausted value of manures, which had been applied to previous 

 crops for three or four years. On these plots crops were now being grown, and would 

 be grown for several years in succession without manures. 



In the experiments conducted at Dalmeny, lime has been found very useful to 

 all sorts of crops, in the form of an annual limited dressing of about 450 pounds per 

 acre. 



These experimental grounds, as explained by Mr. Drysdale, had been established 

 by Lord Rosebery for the purpose of finding out the best method of producing the 

 best possible crop, at the least possible cost, and the experience gained by the experi- 

 mental plots was made good use of on the larger fields on the farm. 



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