I 



48 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE 



REPORT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF BOTANY AND FORESTRY. 



To the President: 



Sir — I herewith submit my report for the year closing June 30, 1897. 



During the year students have received instruction in this department 

 as follows: 



Freshmen in structural botany, sixteen weeks daily 58 



Sophomores in systematic botany, fourteen weeks daily 30 



Sophomores in trees and shrubs, eleven weeks, three lessons per week 37 



Sophomores in systematic botany, an extra class, 4 weeks 6 



Sophomores in phj'siological botany, twelve weeks daily 36 



Juniors in weeds, grasses and farm crops, eleven weeks daily 36 



Seniors in parasitic fungi, fourteen weeks daily 7 



Seniors in preparing theses, three to sixteen weeks daily 7 



Students in special course in horticulture, six weeks 13 



Students in special course in dairying, six weeks 16 



Students in special course in live stock, six weeks * 13 



259 



THE HERBARIUM. 



An unusually small number of plants have been added to the herbarium 

 the past year, owing to the reduction of money allowed the department 

 for making purchases. 



MUSHROOMS AND TOADSTOOLS. 



The special feature of the year in this line has been the collection of 

 Saprophytic fungi, popularly known as mushrooms, toadstools, and the 

 like. This is of especial interest in an economic way, since many tons 

 of good food, as valuable as beefsteak, go to waste in this State, simply 

 from a lack of knowledge to enable the farmer and others to distinguish 

 the edible from the poisonous. By means of this collection, already con- 

 siderable interest is manifested in several portions of the State. Thrifty 

 societies of enthusiasts have been formed at Grand Rapids and Flint. At 

 the former place Professor Wheeler gave a lecture on such fungi, 

 and from Flint came a special messenger at two different times. Dr. J. N. 

 Buckham, to see and learn all he could of our collection and methods of 

 work. A considerable number of enterprising people of Lansing have 

 learned to collect and eat this excellent food. 



Instructor Longyear has paid a good deal of attention to this branch 

 of the work during the past year and a half, and Professor Wheeler also 

 has been able to devote some time to collecting and identifying. 



At Ann Arbor, before a meeting of the State Academy of Science, Mr. 

 Longyear presented a paper from which I quote liberally. "It was soon 

 found necessary to observe the color of the spores of the Agaricinese, and 



