368 REPORT OP OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



methods of conserving soil moisture, exi>eriments to determine whether com- 

 pact soils will hold more water than loose soils, experiments to determine how 

 organic matter in the soil affects its water-holding power. 



Second Yeab. 



Horticulture. — The plant; propagation of plants — by means of seeds, by 

 •cuttings, by layering, by grafting, by budding, by bulbs, rootstalks, stolons, 

 and corms. 



Pruning of common fruit, shade, and ornamental trees of different ages; 

 grafting of apple, peach, pear, etc.; budding peach seedlings. Note how 

 fruits fertilize. The proiier way to plant a tree and its subsequent care. 

 Identification of neighborhood trees and shrubs. The most troublesome insect 

 and fungus enemies of fruit and ornamental trees and their destruction by 

 spraying and otherwise. Special work in making and the application of spray- 

 ing mixtures. 



The fruit garden, the vegetable garden, the school garden. 



Study of roots, stems, and leaves. The preparation and use of hotbeds, 

 coldframes, and pits. 



Fruit groicing. — The apple, peach, pear, strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, 

 -currant, and gooseberry. Define the terms seedlings, stock, scion, standards, 

 dwarfs, free-stone, etc. 



Soil ■fertility. — Improvement by drainage, tillage, manures, fertilizers, lime, 

 humus, green manuring, legumes, and rotation of crops. 



Root tubercles and inoculation, sources of nitrogen, sources of phosphorus, 

 sources of potassium, practical methods of maintaining fertility. 



Testing soils for acid conditions, pot experiments in growth of plants by 

 adding the dift'erent elements of plant food, also the same on field plats. 



Comparisons made of crops grown on fields of different degrees of fertility, 

 also comparative yields of the neighborhood. 



Pi-oblems based upon the amount of plant food taken out of the soil each 

 year by the different crops given. These problems should also show when to 

 grow shallow or deep rooted crops. 



Third Year. 



Animal husbandry. — Cattle — beef breeds, dual-purpose breeds, and dairy 

 breeds. 



2Iilk. — Composition and characteristics, bacteria, how milk becomes impure 

 and methods of prevention, use of the Babcock test, cream separators — care 

 and management, management and delivery of cream, butter making, cheese 

 making, renovated or process butter and how to distinguish same from genuine 

 butter. 



Testing of individual cows. — Study feeding practices of the neighborhood. 

 Different cuts of meats — their location in the carcass and value for food. 



Horses. — Breeds valuable for speed, draft horses, carriage and coach breeds, 

 ponies, mules. 



Sheep. — Short-wooled breeds, middle-wooled breeds, long-wooled breeds. 



Swine. — Large breeds, middle breeds, small breeds. 



Poultry. — General-purpose breeds, meat or table breeds, egg breeds, orna- 

 mental breeds, turkeys, ducks, and geese, guinea fowl, squab raising. 



Breeds and characteristics of farm animals to be carried through the year. 

 Identification of breeds, judging market types of live stock, studies of local live- 



