DEPARTMENT REPORTS. 39 



of apples, ji cherry orchard of 100 trees and 10 varieties, a pear orchard of 

 165 trees of o2 varieties, two vineyards of 800 vines and 77 varieties, besides 

 over 300 seedlings, gardens of small fruits, and a vegetable garden. The veg- 

 etable garden is to be removed to fields No. 1 and 'Z, just west of the apple 

 orchard, where it will find ample room and better soil. 



The Horticultural Department i)ossesses an Herbarium of dried plants, l)e- 

 ing the valuable collection of Dennis Cooley, M. D. This herbarium was the 

 life work, aside from his professional labors, of Dr. Cooley ; and has few equals 

 in value in the AYest. It was the noble gift of his widow, now Mrs. Clarissa 

 Babbitt, of Washington, Macomb Co. A sketch of the life of Dr. Cooley is 

 to be found in tlie lieport of the Board of Agriculture for 18G3. Tiie College 

 has also a Museum of Vegetable Products, including sections of woods, sam- 

 j)les of gums, grasses, seeds and grains, charts, and microscopic slides. There 

 are ten compound microscopes for the use of students in botany. 



The Botanical portion of Library, although far from extensive, contains most 

 of the American works and reprints on horticultural subjects. It has a full 

 set, bound, of the Gardener's Chronicle, weekly, from its first number, January, 

 1841 to tlie present time; a complete set, bound, of The Garden, an illustrated 

 weekly, from its first number in November, 1871. These are English papers 

 and are taken by the College and bound annually. The l^ibrary also contains 

 the Hovey's Horticulturist complete from its first number in 1835, to its close 

 in 1868. It possesses many volumes of other magazines of horticulture, and 

 many reports of societies. 



The students are kept informed of the various experiments in botany and 

 horticulture made by the Professor. This volume will contain a lecture of 

 Prof. Beal's, giving some account of the experiments conducted by him at the 

 College. Tlie experimenting, it is hoped, will make the graduates capable of 

 assisting in observations and experiments hereafter. 



The wants of the department are numerous. It needs a working laboratory, 

 a building distinct from others, as the chemical laboratory is. It has now no 

 class rooms of sufficient size to hold the classes, nor sufficiently light for micro- 

 scopic work. It has no room for the arrangement of its museum. The larger 

 part of the use of the specimens is lost if they have to be dug out of the bot- 

 tom of a box to be seen, and are accessible to students only in class room. 



Landscape Gardening receives a short course of lectures, — one-half term. 

 Prof. Beal takes charge of the class, giving instruction by lectures, the read- 

 ing of Kemp, Downing, Weidenmann, and other authors, and by practical illus- 

 tration and Avork in the Park. 



AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT. 



The agricultural department of the College receives the largest share of 

 attention. As I look upon it we have three professors of agriculture : The 

 professor of Ciiemistry, who gives courses of lectures on Agricultural Chem- 

 istry, the professor of Botany and Horticulture who teaches vegetable physiol- 

 ogy and the laws of growth, and the professor of Practical Agriculture who 

 teaches ajiproved methodt of managing farms ; but as these departments are 

 usually distinguished, I will give a brief account of the Parm De})artment 

 proper. 



A distinct professorship of Agriculture does not seem to have been thought 

 of in the first years of the College. The President of the College, Mr. Josepli 

 R. Williams, and a farmer as foreman, took charge of all the operations on the 



