94 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



EEPOIJT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF BOTANY. 



Presideut F. S. Kedzie, College, 



Dear Presideut Kedzie: Herewith I present you my report for the 

 fiscal year just closed. 



The staff of tlie Botanical department remained essentially the same 

 as for the j)rocedin<>- fiscal year, except that Mr. C. W. Bennett was i)ro- 

 moted to full time instructor and Mr. L. ]*]. Tisdalc was appointed half- 

 time graduate assistant in Mr. Bennett's place. It was impossible to 

 fill the other half-time graduate assistantship assigned to this depart- 

 ment, owing to the small number of men in this country entering grad- 

 uate work in botany. 



The enrollment of students in this department continued to show the 

 effect of war conditions, particularly for the courses offered to upper 

 classmen. As a consequence it was not considered advisable to attempt 

 to bring the teaching force back to the number employed before the out- 

 break of the war. The number of students in undergraduate courses 

 ranged between 250 and a little over 300. 



Majoring in botany, there were five graduate students, one of whom 

 received his M. S. degree last month, another similar degree being 

 granted to a student who liad completed his work, with the exception of 

 finishing his thesis, last summer. 



The department has been represented at various scientific conferences 

 and ;it the meetings of variou.N scientific societies during the year, among 

 these being the meetings of tlie A. A. A. S. and aifiliated societies at St. 

 Louis, Missouri, and the Michigan Academy of Science at Ann Arbor 

 Avliere ]>r. Hibbard Avas Chairman of tlie Section of Botany. 



During the montli of August, 11)11), in cooperation with the Michigan 

 Geological and Biological Survey, Professor Darlington and I botanized 

 intensively in Gogebic county, a portion of the State that has been prac- 

 tically untouched by botanists. Many plants new to tlie State were dis- 

 covered, while the known range within the Sta+e of many other plants 

 was gi'eatly extended. Some fungi were discovered that were new to 

 science. In June of this year. Professor Darlington spent two weeks in 

 the vicinity of Ironwood and the Lake Superior shore north of that 

 city and a short tinie in Biiraga county, attempting to get the spring 

 flora of these regions. The collections i-esulting from this cooperative 

 Avork are deposited in the herbarium of this College and have greatly in- 

 creased the value of this already very valuable collection. It is the in- 

 tention of Prol'essoi- Darlington and myself to prci)are for publication 

 by the College, a Florn of Michigan, somewhat comparable in purpose to 

 Professor Barrows' book on birds. 



In the attempt to further the botanical interest of students, the de- 

 partment has cooperated closely a\ ith the Botanical Seminar. Under the 

 auspices of the lattei', I>r. Henry Kraemcr, Dean of the College of Phar- 

 macy of the University of Michigan, A\-as invited to the College and gave a 

 public address entitled ''The Growing of MedU'iual Plants." The Botan- 



