122 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



time (July 1, 1878) managed the shop with a view of doing the work of the 

 College as cheaply as may be, while at the same time he employs as many stu- 

 dents as possible, instructing them in the proper care and use of tools, and 

 other matters pertaining to mechanism. The aim has been to charge for the 

 repairs and work that goes from the shop only enough to balance the shop 

 account, so that the shop may not be the loser. 



The plan so far has worked better than was anticipated, and I would recom- 

 mend that the present arrangement continue. 



EXPERIMENTS. 



Considerable time has been spent on the experiments this year, and as the 

 results and observations are somewhat incomplete, I will make a report upon 

 them in in a supplement to be published hereafter, but in tlie same volume. 



FARM DEPARTMENT REPORT. 



The Farm Department would respectfully snbmit the following report, 

 covering a period of eleven months, viz. : from Oct. 1, 1877, to Aug. 31, 1878 : 



I Avould first call your attention to the reduction of Inventory noticed in the 

 rei)ort of the Secretary. This will explain the poor showing that the farm 

 makes during the period covered by this report. For notwithstanding the 

 reduction in amount of money value we have more stock upon tlie farm and 

 more bushels of grain, &c., tlian when the Inventory was taken last year. The 

 tools and lumber in the shop have been transferred by Inventory to the 

 Mechanical Department, to the amount of §93.28. 



The crops in the fields have been placed upon the Inventory at about their 

 cost at the time of invoice. Heretofore, on September 30, the yield was 

 estimated, which was not a very satisfactory way of getting at the amounts^ 

 and the record of the crop the ensuing year gave the true result. 



A large amount of work has been expended on permanent improvements, 

 such as drains, ditches, logging, stumping, and picking stone. Considerable 

 new fence has been constructed during the year. These improvements are 

 beginning to show, especially on fields No. 12, 13, 14, and 15. 



During the autumn term of 1877 the entire Freshman class was assigned to 

 the farm for labor. This was done in order to give a smaller force to the 

 Horticultural Department, soon to be in charge of Mr. \Y. C. Latta, a senior, 

 working under the direction of Su])erintendent A. B. Gulley. This gave a 

 working force of 03 students for the farm ; the working forces of the two 

 departments being quite largely out of p.ioportion. 



STUDENT LABOR. 



Tho student labor upon the farm has been 31283 hours, for which has been 

 paid 83100.08. Of this labor 859S| hours was outside the department. 

 The account is : 



8, 598f hours outside department, @ 10c 8859 88 



22,G90i " iu " @ 09.8750 + c 2,240 80 



31,289 Total ?3,]U0 08. 



