DEPARTMENT REPORTS. 33 



iudepenclent and skilled investigators. Take another example. Dr. Seal recom- 

 mends, for good reasons, the trial of some of the not so well known grasses. Experi- 

 ence has shown that seeds true to name are only to be got when you have a 

 competent botanist to distinguish them. Now, professional botanists are few, but 

 we could here easily find graduates who, under proper instructions, could learn to 

 make an inspection of seeds. Would it not be better and more economical to have 

 such necessary inspection done here, with a botanist known to be competent, than 

 to set up an independent station under new officers? Here, too, the botanist and 

 the horticulturist, or the professor of agriculture, could act in unison. These are 

 illustrations. When our professor of agriculture experimented in ensilage, he 

 employed graduates to take immediate charge of feeding and weighing. When Dr. 

 Kedzie experimented with sorghum he had some of the work and some of the 

 analyses made by graduates. It might be necessary, in experimenting in fruit trees 

 and nurseries, to go a few miles away from the college for suitable sites; but in the 

 main we have both men and facilities, and only need the larger force and outlay to 

 make right here the experiment station which is desired." 



Commissioner Loring was freely consulted as to some plan for the establish- 

 ment of such stations, and his hearty sympathy and good sense were of essen- 

 tial service in making out a trial plan, such as is given above. 



Some such plan seems to be the best that has been devised to give some 

 unity and sufficient aid to the attempt to transform agriculture from an empiri- 

 cal art to a true science. 



T. C. ABBOT, 



President. 



REPORT OFJ THE PROFESSOR OF AGRICULTURE AND SUPERINTEN- 

 DENT OF THE FARM. 



2o the Preside7it of the College : 



I herewith submit my report of the work of the Farm Department, for the 

 College year, ending September 30, 1883 : 



INSTRUCTION. 



The Freshman class, in two divisions, met me daily during the spring term 

 for lectures on drainage, breeds of domesticated animals, their characteristics 

 and adaptation to particular purposes. The interest of the class in the sub- 

 jects discussed was a matter of encouragement to me. Not a single member 

 failed to pass a satisfactory examination at the close of the term. The class 

 room instruction was supplemented by visits to the barnyard, where our best 

 specimens of the different breeds were critically examined, their defects as 

 well as good points noted and each member of the class was required to mark 

 the animal according to the approved scale of points adopted by the leading 

 breeders. 



During the summer term I lectured daily to the Seniors on the Principles 

 of Stock Breeding, the Feeding of Animals, Rotation of Crops, Farm Build- 

 ings and Implements, Manures, Farm Economy, the Law and. the Literature 

 of the Farm. 



During the present term I am lecturing alternate days to the Sophomores. 

 This is a new arrangement, but one which I have desired ever since my con- 

 nection with the College. In my last report I said " the Sophomores are now 

 and have been for years assigned to the farm for labor the entire year; but as 

 Professsor of Agriculture I do not have a single opportunity to see them in class 



