DEPAETMENT KEPOETS. 99 



THE WHOLE NUMBEE 



of students in my classes for the year beginning September, 1880, was 171, 

 and for the year beginning in the fall of 1881 the whole number was 241, a 

 total of 413 during the two years. Some of these names were enrolled twice 

 or more in successive terms or classes. 



farmers' institutes. 



These are highly appreciated by the farmers. Some persons suppose that 

 attending a few institutes is the chief work of the professors during the long 

 winter vacation. In case of the Professor of Botany and Horticulture, at 

 least, this will be seen to be an error by observing the following outside work 

 done for the people : 



QUESTIONS ASKED. 



During all times of the year letters are sent in making inquiries about a 

 great variety of subjects. Letters have been sent from fifty (50) persons ask- 

 ing the names of as many dried plants. Some of the plants are grasses, some 

 are weeds, some are valuable for bees. To name some of these, especially 

 when the specimens were in poor condition, sometimes required from one to 

 two hours of hard study. Omitting the name and the State, the following 

 inquiries have been made: "The quality and value of Russian apples?" 

 "Give a select list of apples." "About upland cranberries." "The AVeaver 

 plum?" "Pears on foreign stock, how affected by blight?" "Tree swin- 

 dlers?" " Strawberries without runners?" "Will wheat turn to chess?" 

 "Plan and suggestions for a botanical laboratory." "About a programme 

 for an association of agricultural societies?" "Suggest topics to be discussed 

 by county agricultural societies." " Name 18 sorts of apples for a neighbor." 

 "Give your opinion about a new grape" (samples sent by two different men). 

 "Make suggestions for conducting a State experimental station" (two inqui- 

 ries from different sources). "Will red clover die because it headed out the 

 first year?" "Where can I see an incubator? Is the one figured in Ure's 

 Dictionary up to time?" "When, how, where, and who introduced the Can- 

 ada thistle, or is it a native?" "lieply to an article in a paper finding fault 

 with the Agricultural College." "A retn-ed teacher in Illinois is going to 

 farming and asks about grasses for western Iowa." "A college wants a man 

 to run a greenhouse." "Inquiries about White Globe onions" (three letters). 

 "What are the best trees for screens?" " List of best ornamental trees and 

 shrubs?" "'Advice about the nursery business." " Is Danthonia spicata a 

 good lawn grass?" "What are the best potatoes to raise in Montana?" 

 "What is tlie beetle which eats my apple tree limbs?" "Advice about seed 

 corn." '" Use of coal-tar for fence posts?" "How does the Worden grape 

 thrive with you?" "How to manage 40 acres of light laud? How will 

 onions do? The best fertilizer, ashes, plaster, or lime? How much? Keep- 

 ing poultry? The best breed?" "Your opinion about barbed wire fence?" 

 " Cost of attending college, terms, etc.?" (asked by an editor). "Who sell 

 Holstein cattle?" " How will honey locust do for a hedge?" "When to cut 

 maple timber to not be troubled with borers?" "How would alfalfa and 

 orchard grass thrive on Long Island, New York?" "How about fruit pros- 

 pects?" (asked by half-a-dozen editors). " What are your laws about insect 

 foes?" " What is smut in Indian corn, and a remedy?" "A good rule for 

 making grafting wax?" " What is this new cherry growing on my farm?" 



