DEPARTMENT EEPORTS. 23 



A query having arisen as to whether the annual reports were to be discon- 

 tinued under the new hiw, the matter was referred by the Board of Agricult- 

 ure to the Attorney General. la his reply of Jane 7th he states that the 

 reports required of tlie board and faculty are (not mentioning the manuscript 

 report to tlie Superintendent of Public Instruction) 1st, a biennial report as 

 required in act '20G, laws 1881; and 2d, a report to be made to the president 

 of the college (act No. 221, 1875) by each of superintendents, curators, and 

 professors, annually. 



UNITED STATES LAW REGARDING REPORTS. 



I hardly see how the present law regarding our reports fulfills the duty of 

 the State to the United States. The grant of lands out of which the college 

 endowment comes was made by Congress in an act approved July 3d, 1862, 

 from the fifth section of which the following is an extract: 



'' A7id be it further efiacted, that the grant of lands and land scrip hereby 

 authorized shall be made on the following conditions, to which, as well as to 

 the conditions hereinbefore contained, the previous assent of the several 

 states shall be signified by legislative act: 



"Fourth, An annual report shall be made regarding the progress of each 

 college, recording any improvements and experiments made, with their cost 

 and lesults, and such other matters, including state industrial and economical 

 statistics, as may be supposed useful, one copy of which shall be transmitted 

 by mail free to all the colleges which may be endowed under provisions of this 

 act, and also one copy to the Secretary of the Interior." 



How can this promise of the State to the general government be fulfilled 

 unless an annual report is published? 



LEGISLATON. 



The message of the retiring Governor, Mr. Croswell, and the inaugural mes- 

 sage of Governor Jerome, recommended a generous policy towards the Col- 

 lege, and it was carried out. 



The appropriations made were: — 



Eor current expenses for 1881 '... $7,249 00 



For current expenses for 1882 7,249 00 



For library and museum building, 1881 25,000 00 



For enlargement of chemical laboratory, 1881 6,000 00 



For farm buildings, 1881 2,750 00 



For horticultural department building, 1881 25 00 



For special purpoges as follows, one-half to be drawn in 1881 and one-half 

 in 1882:— 



Farmers' institutes $600 00» 



Library _ 3,000 00 



Department of mathematics and civil engineering (apparatus for 



instruction, $925, steam works, drainage, etc., $1,095) 2,020 OO' 



Zoology 1,000 00 



C hem istry 3, 000 00 



Botany and horticulture 3,175 00 



Mechanical department 300 00 



Repairs 1,576 00 



A further sum was appropriated for conducting experiments with ensilage. 



