REPORT OF CHEMICAL DEPARTMENT. 35 



One hundred and seventy-five students have received instruction in the 

 laboratory during the year. The instruction has been both theoretical and 

 practical. The plan of having the students perform the experiments for 

 themselves, under the supervision of the teacher, to impress indelibly upon 

 the mind the principles of a science by demonstrating the facts by personal 

 experiment, and thus become familiar with the manipulation of apparatus, 

 has been more fully carried out in the instruction in this department than in 

 any former year. While this adds largely to the labors of the teacher it 

 awakens enthusiasm in the student. 



The details of class-room instruction and laboratory work need not be 

 stated here. By frequent visits to lectures and class work in the laboratory 

 you have kept yourself well informed of the kind and quality of instruction. 



OUTSIDE WORK. 



During the year a number of analyses of soils from the sandy plains of our 

 northern counties have been made preparatory to an investigation of the 

 agricultural capabilities of the pine barrens. Many specimens of molds, mucks, 

 mineral specimens, etc., have been sent here for analysis for the information 

 of the pioneers of our newly settled counties. Settlers asking for advice and 

 information have come from all parts of the State. While making t-erious 

 demands upon the time of the teacher, such interc()urse keeps the college and 

 the industrial classes in sympathy with each other. The number of hours a 

 teacher spends in the class-room is an inadequate measure of the real amount 

 of work he performs or of his usefulness to the public. 



farmers' institutes. 



It is now twelve years since the college management inaugurated Farmers' 

 Institutes, sustained by the joint labors of the farmers and teachers, to be 

 held at favorable points in the State. These Farmers' Institutes have spread 

 into many other states. In some of these states the number of institutes has 

 been increased to sixty or more, and we seem to be eclipsed while still 

 adhering to our original half dozen. Bat our institutes have from the first 

 been planted among the farmers, have owed their success to the hearty 

 co-operation of the farmers an I their addresses and essays, and have taken 

 root among the farmers themselves. In almost every place where a Farmers' 

 Institute has been held a local institute has been formed and similar meet- 

 ings have been sustained year by year in such communities. The institutes 

 in our State have been seed-sowing rather than harvest, and the harvest home 

 of this seed-sowing comes in bettering farming, better feeling and happier 

 homes as the years roll 'round. The test for our institutes is not '"how 

 many?" but "how fruitful? " Judged by this standard, Michigan can still 

 hold up her head. 



I attended the institutes at Grayling and Fremont. The meeting at Gray- 

 ling was one of peculiar interest, the principal topic for discussion being the 

 subject of "farming on jack pine lands." It was a live topic and handled 

 with rare ability by the hardy farmers present. The subject is one of great 

 importance to our State. 



INSPECTION TOUR. 



In the short vacation in May I visited several Agricultural Colleges and 



