40 DEPARTMENT REPORTS. 



The renovation of the apple orchard undertaken four years ago by Prof. 

 Bailey has been a complete success. In 1887 less than two hundred trees 

 produced three thousand bushels of fruit. Last year a small crop was 

 obtained and in spite of the drouth the trees made a fair growth. This 

 spring all the trees blossomed and have set a full crop. With a favorable 

 season many of the trees will produce from six to ten barrels of marketable 

 apples. 



Four years ago the orchard had a sickly appearance, the trees were full of 

 dead branches, the leaves were of an unhealthy yellow color, and the trunks 

 and branches were covered with moss. The foliage now is a dark, healthy 

 green, and the branches are clean and smooth — a transformation brought 

 about by good care and cultivation and without the use of manure or fertil- 

 izers. This spring the trees were sprayed soon after the blossoms dropped, 

 with a solution of one pound of London purple in two hundred gallons of 

 water, and no wormy apples have yet been noticed. 



The orchard is now over thirty years old, and with the exception of a low 

 spot in the center where tender varieties have been killed out, it will not 

 suffer by comparison with any orchard of its age in the State. 



My first year has passed with little or no friction, and profiting by the 

 season's experience, and with increased facilities for work, better results can 

 be hoped for in the future. 



With loyalty to yourself and the best interests of the College, this report 

 is respectfully submitted. 



Agricultural College, ) L. E. TAFT. 



June 30, 1889. j 



REPORT OF THE CHEMICAL DEPARTMENT. 



President Clute : 



Sir — I herewith present my report of the Chemical Department for the 

 College year. The year has been one of steady and satisfactory progress 

 The students have been faithful in their class work and have showed enthu- 

 siasm in their laboratory drill. The principle upon which the Chemical 

 Laboratory is conducted, viz., that each instrument or piece of apparatus in 

 the laboratory is for actual use, not only by the teacher but also by the 

 student when once he is fitted for its use and can be profited thereby, 

 naturally tends to awaken enthusiasm in any study thus pursued. To hear, 

 to see and to do is a threefold cord to bind one to study. Distant be the 

 day when there is anything at the Agricultural College too good for the 

 student's use, if he is prepared to properly handle it and it is necessary for 

 his best training. The instrument that is only fit to be kept under lock 

 and key has no place in an Agricultural College. This does not imply that 

 students are to have free range at all times of the College apparatus, irre- 

 spective of their preparation to use such material with profit. Tne great 

 body of new students are without this preparatory training and could not 

 use costly apparatus with benefit to themselves and without loss to the Col- 

 lege. They should receive the training and then be allowed the use of 

 instrumental aids in their work. 



