DEPARTMENT REPORTS. 41 



tiou is no small advance over getting theories at one time, and working at 

 another time for an object wholly distinct from educational purposes. It has 

 been largely the history of science that discoveries and inventions are made 

 by those who were busy with thoir hands about the things wherein the im- 

 provements are made. The chemist uses his hands. Sir Isaac ISTewton 

 ground his own lenses. The steam engine grows to perfection under those 

 who manage it. 



The few graduates whose taste and means make them to do work of a 

 higher kind the College is glad to have remain as resident graduates, or to go 

 to other and better equipped institutions. 



I have given an account of the labor system report, 1879, pages 182 to 188. 



We have at times made good use of members of the Senior class for super- 

 vision (see Dr. Beal's report, 1876, p. 98), and I call the attention of the 

 Board to a plan presented by Professor Johnson, in his report in this volume. 



IS THE LABOR SYSTEM FAILING? 



At the last Board meeting* I mentioned incidentally a rumor that students 

 were excused from labor on slight grounds. It is due to the professor in 

 charge of the department to say that the labor books were immediately 

 brought to me for examination, and that there Avas no truth in the report. 

 Labor has never been put on a complete par with classes in the College. It is 

 difficult to get a majority vote of the faculty to suspend college exercises a day 

 for the fair of the Central Michigan Agricultural Society, but there would be 

 no opposition to granting the students an afternoo7i, that is, the work hours. 

 No officer would excuse a student from class to help repair the road to the 

 city — every one would approve of his being permitted to go in the afternoon. 

 But this is not neiu. It was always so. At the present time both farm and 

 garden report the students as doing excellent work — a foreman on the garden 

 is a late graduate, and he speaks in high terms of the faithfulness and effi- 

 ciency of the work. The reporting is as regular as it ever was in the history 

 of the College, and the work as faithfully performed. I reiterate what I have 

 heretofore said, that the students work as well as they study, and that they 

 study here as well as in other institutions. 



FARM INSTITUTES. 



Six of these institutes were held in January, 1881, and sis in 

 1882. There has been no change from the plan detailed in the report of 

 1875, page 72. The following is a complete list of the institutes, with the 

 names of the officers having lectures or papers. The charge of organization 

 on the part of college officers has been given to the various members of the 

 faculty, the President excepted, whose official correspondence and reports are 

 more than an equivalent for this duty. 



1870. 



Armada — Ingersoll, Baird, Garfield, Abbot. 

 Rochester — Same as at Armada. 

 Allecjan — Fairchild, Kedzie, Cook, Carpenter. 

 Decatur — Same as at Allegan. 



Adrian — Fairchild, Kedzie, Cook, Garfield, Abbot, Ingersoll. 

 Coldwater — Kedzie, Ingersoll, Baird, Abbot. 



Dr. Beal and Professor Gulley were excused from service in this year's 

 institutes. 



