32 DEPARTMENT- REPORTS. 



out and construction of farm drains, and breeds of cattle, their character- 

 istics and adaptation to practical purposes. 



Especial care was taken to give clear and definite instruction on these 

 topics, and to enforce the same by practical illustrations. 



The class studied good specimens of various breeds of cattle in the yard 

 and scaled them point by point, and then by comparing two specimens of 

 the same breeds were able to note for themselves how nearly they conformed 

 to the standard of excellence, and by comparing one breed with another to 

 note more clearly the differences between them. * * * * 



LECTUBES AND INSTITUTES. 



I have delivered two lectures in the regular assignment of the College 

 "Wednesday afternoon lecture course on "The Educated Farmer, his Duty 

 and Responsibility," and " The Manual Labor System of the Michigan 

 Agricultural College." 



I was assigned to the State institutes at Lake Odessa and Brooklyn. By 

 special invitation I presented a paper on " Drainage " at the Clinton county 

 Institute held at St. Johns, and at Bancroft, Shiawassee county, one on 

 "Feeding Steers of Different Breeds," and at the meeting of the Kalamazoo 

 Husbandman's Club held at Eichland I presented the same topic; also 

 before the Ingham County Grange. As President of the Michigan Short- 

 horn Breeders' Association I presented an address at the annual meeting 

 held in December. 



I also prepared and read a paper before the Michigan Swine Breeders' 

 Association and took part in the meetings of the Merino Sheep Breeders and 

 the Holstein Friesian Cattle Breeders. 



The annual meetings of the various breeding organizations, now held in 

 one week at the capital city, brings together a large number of our most 

 prominent farmers and stockmen for counsel, and it has been an increasing 

 pleasure to me, from year to year, to meet and cooperate with these gentle- 

 men in their enterprises so far as I could. Their utterances of sympathy 

 and confidence, in many cases of the warmest personal friendships, have 

 been most pronounced and helpful to me in my work. I beg to assure them 

 of my heartiest appreciation and that they will not be forgotten. 



At the annual meeting of the Michigan Dairymen's Association I made a 

 report for the committee appointed to visit the experiment stations (consist- 

 ing of Hon. Henry Chamberlain and myself as a substitute for Hon. Geo. 

 B. Horton, who could not go) on the dairy work of these stations, and also 

 took part in the discussions. 



By invitation of the committee and members of the Board of Agriculture 

 in charge I delivered two lectures at Washington, Pa., in February on 

 "Silos and Ensilage" and "The Feeding of Steers of Different Breeds." 



By invitation of the President and Secretary I read a paper on " The 

 Relation of Breed to Milk and Beef Production," before the annual meeting 

 of the Holstein Friesian Association of America held in New York city in 

 March last. 



I was pleasantly received at all of these points by large and intelligent 

 audiences of the best men and women interested in agricultural pursuits and 

 had abundant evidence that my discussions of live, practical farm topics 

 were not lacking in interest and profit to my hearers. * * * 



