DEPARTMENT REPORTS. 47 



Funii C 'lops V, Crop I iiijuuveinent, Senior Course, Winter Tei'iii, 22 students, 



F. A. Spragg, 



Graduate Assistant Foster Rudolph. 

 Gradiinte Assistants 

 Fight and sixteen weeks Short Course (combined) 81 students, 



C. R. Megee, Assistant Professor of Farm Crops. 

 Sunrnier Session, 1910. 

 Farm Crops II, Forage Crops 8 students, 



C. R. Megee, Assistant Professor of Farm Crops. 

 Farm Crops III, Grain Judging, 10 students, 



J. F. Cox, Pi'ofessor of Farm Crops, 



Mr. J. R. Duncan. 

 Crops and Soils, first half 5 students 



C. R. Megee, Assistant Professor of Farm Crops. 

 Short Course for Ministers, 9 students 



J. F. Cox, Professor of Farm Crops. 



I take pleasure in reporting the hearty cooperation on the part of all 

 members of the department. 



Yours, truly, 



J. F. COX, 

 Professor of Farm Crops. 

 East Lansing, June 30, 1919. 



REPORT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF SOILS. 



President F. S. Kedzie: 



Again I am able to report progress in all lines we have under way. 

 Although the demands have been unusual and great and the duties 

 arduous, we consider the ensuing year to have been the most successful we 

 have experienced. It is doubtless true that there never has been greater in- 

 terest manifested in better soil management by the people as a whole than 

 in the recent past and at present. As a result of observations, cor- 

 respondence and interviews with farmers I am forced to conclude that 

 there is less known concerning the properties of and the fundamental 

 principles underlying good soil management than any other phase of 

 agriculture. Many agricultural workers in addition to the farmers as a 

 whole, have taken it for granted that this is a relatively simple matter and 

 gone on the assumption that we are dealing with an inert material or 

 simply "dirt'', if you please. Now as a matter of fact this is far from the 

 truth and we have to deal with substances that are most complex and the 

 sooner we come to look upon the soil as a whole, as being made up of 

 many individuals each having to a greater or less extent an individuality 

 of its own, and recognize the tremendous importance of permanent sys- 

 tems of soil fertility to this commonwealth and the nation, the less short 

 sighted we shall be. 



I look upon the state as a huge school. There are many who could well 

 be considered, so far as their knowledge of the subject is concerned, to be 

 in the lower grades, while others are more advanced. It will always 

 be thus. This means that the work will never be completed and thp 

 possibilities for constructive work unlimited. The university professor o 



