46 STATE BOAKD OF AGRICULTURE. 



tlie officers, the professor of Agriculture, who ought to have no duties outside 

 his own wide tand im})ortiint department, has two classes to hear daily in studies 

 having no innnediate relations to agriculture. The faculty ask for the employ- 

 ment of a person who shall act as Librarian, and instructor in languages, for 

 the next two years. 



farmers' institutes. 



The third annual series of six Farmers' Institutes was held during the month 

 of January. They were held in Marshall, Paw Paw, Tecumseh, St. Johns, 

 Saginaw and Climax. They were well attended in the several localities, by the 

 farmers who contributed at least one-half the addresses on each occasion. The 

 duties connected with these institutes consume the larger part of the only vaca- 

 tion enjoyed by the ]n'ofessors of the College, two recesses of a week each, 

 excepted. But the advantages to tlie institution of these meetings with the 

 farmers are so great that the faculty would not have them given up. They 

 hope, with increased prosperity of the College, relief from the hard tasks that 

 press upon them through the entire year, in additional help and a greater 

 division of labor. 



A detailed account of the institutes has already been published in the Keport 

 of the Secretary of the State Board of Agriculture, for 18 ?7, the delay in pub- 

 lishing permitting such a report to appear in that volume. 



students' societies. 



The societies formed amongst the students have been active and prosperous. 



The Students' Government association has maintained such order in the halls 

 as has been satisfactory to the students in them. 



The College Cadets have had arms and accoutrements furnished by the State, 

 and have drilled regularly. 



The College Cadet Cornet Band has also practiced regularly, and to the 

 gratification of those who have listened to them. 



The Delta Tau Delta, Phi Delta Theta, and Union Literary Societies have 

 fitted up the rooms assigned them by the Board, and several other societies have 

 been formed for literary work, and most, if not all of them have worked in a 

 l^rescribed plan of study. 



The Christian Union has maintained its Sunday school and prayer meeting, 

 and has given one public entertainment. 



The Society of Natural History has been chartered during the year. Its 

 members are divided into five sections, — Botany, Chemistry, Geology, Zoology 

 and Scientific Methods. Many of tlie papers read before tlie Society are, in 

 our opinion, worthy of publication, and tiie faculty recommend that a selection 

 of them be printed in the Annual Reports of the Secretary of the Board. The 

 Society has a library of 13G volumes, and a museum of 1,350 specimens, exclu- 

 sive of entomological specimens in cases. It is very much in need of rooms. 



dormitories. 



The new dormitory for students was finished and accepted by the Board Feb- 

 ruary 7, 1878. It is called Wells' Hall, in lionor of the President of the Board, 

 lion. n. G. Wells, who has served on the Boardsince its establishment in 18G1. 

 Wells' Hall contains 09 students' rooms, all but eleven being large enough for 

 two students. The number of students it will accommodate is 127. 



The boarding hall, called Williams' Hall, in honor of the first President of 



