DEPARTMENT REPORTS. 115 



of essays and declamations, and in every case were higlily creditable to tlio 

 class. These exercises increased my work very much as the labor of correcting 

 essays occupied a great many hours each week. 



LECTURES. 



I prepared and delivered two lectures before the Farmers' Institutes held at 

 Saginaw and at Climax ; tiie subject of tliat delivered at Saginaw was Farm 

 Drainage, at Climax, Use of Steam in Agriculture. Both of these lectures 

 are printed in full in the Report for 187?. 



I have also prepared and delivered two lectures before the students, one on 

 the subject of tlie Planet Mars, the other in regard to the Improvement of the 

 Mouth of the Mississippi River. 



ENGINEERIKG WORK OUTSIDE OF CLASS ROOM. 



Brick Oven. 



At the request of Hon. II. G. Wells, President of the State Board of Agri- 

 culture, I took charge of the construction of the brick oven, which was author- 

 ized by the Board at their meeting iu the spring of 1878, and was built in 

 August. The oven is directly south aud adjoins the kitchen iu the College 

 'boarding hall. Externally it is twelve feet square and seven feet two inches 

 high. It stands on a foundation of concrete a little larger than the oven, and 

 about twelve inches in depth. Directly on the foundation and 2.^ feet high, is 

 a stone wall eighteen inches thick, stone for this wall being obtained from the 

 ruins of the hall burned iu 187(5. 



On this wall is built a 16-incli brick wall which constitutes the sides and ends 

 of the oven. One and one half feet above the stone work is the floor of the 

 oven. The space enclosed by the walls and below the floor is filled with sand, 

 broken brick, aud other indestructible rubbish obtained from the ruins of the 

 burned hall ; this is thoroughly rammed and supports the floor of the oven. 

 The oven arch was turned on a sand center and is composed of two layers of 

 bricks, "grouted iu," in order to expose as little mortar to the action of the 

 fire as possible. 



The oven flue is connected with a chimney of the boarding hall, and is 

 regulated by a heavy turning damper, it being impossible to put iu a sliding 

 damper on account of the peculiar shape of the chimney. The interior 

 dimensions of the oven are 9^ feet by 10^ feet, its hight at the center is twen- 

 ty-two inches, and at the springing of the arch six iuches. The arch is held 

 firmly in place by eight iron rods, four of which pass above the crown and four 

 below the floor of the oven. The ends of these rods pass through horizontal 

 l^lank and vertical posts outside of the oven, and are held in place by burrs. 



The arch and floor being constructed of ordinary brick cannot reasonably 

 be expected to stand more than three or four years, but the oven is so con- 

 structed that they can be replaced with little expense when burned out, by which 

 time it is hoped that a fire-brick arch and floor can be afforded. 



The total cost of the oven to the College was $74.54. 



Pipe Dies. 



In accordance with a resolution of the Board I procured two pipe dies aud 

 one pair of pipe tongs for the steam works in the hall at a cost of $10.34. 



