300 STATE BOAED OF AGKICULTURE. 



student gets experience in applying the teachings of the various sciences to the 

 affairs of every day. In chemistry lie must analyze upwards of one hundred 

 substances in accordance with the previous teachings. In stock breeding he 

 must estimate the valuable i^oints of stock till he can do so knowingly. In 

 entomology he becomes acquainted with tlie beneflcial and injurious insects by 

 observation and analysis. In apiculture he takes care of bees. In surveying 

 or leveling he gets actual practice in the field. In short, all the lessons taught 

 indoors are illustrated by actual practice outdoors. 



Second, To prosecute experiments for the benefit of the farmer. The art of 

 agriculture is to be improved by experiment, and here every facility is afforded 

 so til at they may be conducted from year to year with as little error as possible. 

 The student here gains an insight into the art of experimenting which must 

 ever be the great source of improvement. 



Hear what Joseph Harris, author of Walks and Talks, says: "As a rule, the 

 experiments at our agricultural colleges have been of little interest or value. 

 But the Michigan Agricultural College is a bright exception to this dark pic- 

 ture. It has made some most important experiments. They have been planned 

 with great thought and after patient investigation. They are not haphazard 

 experiments, they are made with a definite object. They bear marks of scru- 

 pulous accuracy. Nothing is covered up, nothing omitted. They are not pen 

 and ink experiments. No one doubts their entire trustworthiness. They are 

 not common experiments such as any of us can and ought to make on our own 

 farms, they are scientific experiments." 



Third, Here a young man with but a small purse can get for himself a col- 

 lege education. At most colleges a four years' course costs from 11,500 to 

 $3,500, but here the average cost to students is about $700. Here many a 

 student, with money enough to pay the first years expenses, from $50 to $75, 

 if he is industrious and saving, can complete the full course with what he can 

 earn. There is a compulsory labor system connected with the college by which 

 each student is obliged to work three hours per day, except Saturdays, for 

 which he receives seven and one-half cents per hour, if lie is faithful ; he also 

 has the privilege of working extra time certain afternoons and Saturdays, for 

 which he receives twelve and one-half cents per hour. The board and Avashing 

 are furnished the students at cost. The past year the board was furnished for 

 $2.27 per week. The college terms are so arranged that the long vacation 

 comes in the winter, when most of the students devote their time to teaching 

 district schools, thus replenishing their purse to pay the coming year's expense. 



Fourth, A student also gets that general training, from other studies and 

 from his contact with professors and students, which gives him culture, making 

 of him an intelligent and useful citizen. The student here gains a love for the 

 beautiful in agriculture ; he goes home enabled to see more of the bright side 

 of life. 



Fifth, A system of manual labor is connected with the college and has many 

 advantages. As I before said, it is compulsory; three hours' work is required 

 on all days except Saturdays. Students are paid for their labor according 

 as it is faithful. This labor system encourages the student to respect labor, and 

 not to look upon it as degrading. He here forms habits of industry which he 

 will carry through life It gives him that exercise which is essential to the 

 maintenance of good health. Tiie labor is planned in as much as is possible 

 to illustrate the principles taught in the class. Students are not kept at that 

 work which they can do the most of, bat are constantly changed so as to give 



