DEPARTMENT REPORTS. 47 



REPORT OF THE FARM CROPS DEPARTMENT. 



President F. S. Kedzie, 

 East Lansing, Michigan. 



Dear Sir : 



The preparation of the report of this department for the fiscal year ending 

 June 30th, 1921, is a matter of unusual pleasure and interest, since in my es- 

 timation the efforts of the members of the department to develop stronger 

 courses and fit our instructional work more closely to the needs of the State, 

 have met with considerable success. Particular effort has been made to 

 strengthen our required courses, which are foundational. 



The expansion of the area of land available for the Farm Crops section for 

 experimental ]:)urposes, has been accompanied by an increased strength along 

 instructional lines. The close proximity of our experimental fields has en- 

 abled us to make use of our full range of crop experiments in teaching work. 

 A very considerable proportion of the t lactation work of our fall and spring 

 courses consisted of carefully planned work in the field. It is my firm opin- 

 ion that in order to get the most benefit from lecture work, reference assign- 

 ments, and laboratory studies in Farm Crops, opportunity for the study of 

 crop production and crop experiments in the field must be offered. 



Briefly stated, the instructional work offered consisted of the following 

 courses: 



Farm Crops 1, Cereal Crops: — This is our foundational course in cereal 

 crops and is required of all students of the Agricultural division. Partic- 

 ular effort is made to present in a broad way the agronomic importance, 

 methods of cultivation, and other facts considered of importance relating to 

 cereal crop production. The lectures were given by mj^self and the labora- 

 tory work was conducted by Mr. C. E. Cormany. Substantial additions 

 were made to the laboratory exercises and equipment. 



One-hundred and seventy students were enrolled in this course. 



Farm Crops 2, Forage Crops: — The lectures in this course were given by 

 Assistant Professor C. R. Megee, and the newly established supporting lab- 

 oratory exercises were directed by him with assistance from Mr. C. E. Cor- 

 many, and senior students taking the course in Agricultural Education. 

 Numerous new lantern slide lectures on the use of crops material, specially 

 collected during the previous growing season, added greatly to the value of 

 this course. 



One-hundred and twenty-nine students were enrolled. 



Farm Crops 3, Advanced Cereals and Grain Judging: — This course was given 

 in the fall term, thereby making it possible to include many field trips of 

 value. The main object of the course was to familiarize students with char- 

 acteristics of good and bad seed, impurities found in the seed, the identifica- 

 tion of varieties, and best methods of cereal seed production. Assistant 

 Professor A. L. Bibbins was in charge of this course, assisted by Mr. C. E. 

 Cormany and Mr. J. R. Duncan. Students enrolled forty-two. 



Farm Crops 4, Advanced Forage Crops and Special Michigan Crops: — This 

 course was given during the spring, providing opportunity for the study in 

 the field of pasture, hay grasses, and other forage crops. The study of po- 



