1883.] THE STORES AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL. 23 



be made of it. The chemistry of fodders and feeding-stuffs was 

 taken up, and the training in chemistry which they had received 

 in the junior year made this an easy task. They have learned 

 something of the composition and digestibility of the common feed- 

 ing stuffs, and how they are affected by soil, manuring, stage of 

 growth of the plants, manner of curing or preserving, mode of 

 preparation, quantity and combination on which they are fed, etc. 

 They have learned what rations are and how they are compounded, 

 and what rations experience has shown to be best adapted to par- 

 ticular objects of feeding. 



Within a short time they have begun the study of Stock Breed- 

 ing and will continue it next term, taking up the laws of heredity 

 and variation in their application to this subject. 



In zoology proper they have studied chiefly Insects, particularly 

 those useful or injurious to vegetation. Much of the work has 

 been laboratory work, and for this a generous friend of the school 

 has recently supplied us with two excellent compound microscopes. 



Structural Botany and Vegetable Physiology have also received 

 some attention, Prof. Johnson's "How Crops Grow" being\used 

 as the text-book. A daily exercise in Boole-Keeping has also made 

 part of the course of study. 



During the remaining two terms of this year the Senior class 

 will continue the study of Zoology, giving more attention to the 

 microscopic organisms, such as yeasts, moulds, fungi, etc., which 

 play such an important part in many common operations, and 

 some of which are the cause of deadly and widely-prevalent 

 diseases of man and animals. They will take up the chemistry 

 and physics of air, water, and soil as related to vegetable growth, 

 and to the action of manures, and will learn something concerning 

 the composition, properties, and uses of the ordinary manures and 

 fertilizers. 



Thus far I have been giving you an outline of the course of 

 study pursued in-doors. We do not, however, confine our in- 

 struction to the school-room, but aim to utilize the farm also as a 

 means of instruction. All students, unless specially excused, are 

 required to engage in work on the farm at specified hours — the 

 Senior class in the forenoon and the Junior class in the afternoon. 

 Nearly all of our students thus far have been farmers' sons, 

 measurably familiar with the common operations of the farm; but 

 to any who are not we aim to teach these operations, while all, by 



