34 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



room during this time. It seems to me this is a grave mistake." It was 

 somewhat difficult to arrange the programme of studies so as to effect this 

 cliange ; but after much effort and mutual concessions the plan has been 

 adopted. I feel confident that it will add to the efficiency of the department. 

 We are completing our studies of the different breeds of domestic animals and 

 their cliaracteristics, at present. The new plan provides that the Sophomores 

 shall have lectures on Practical Agriculture alternate days of the summer and 

 autumn terms. 



The whole number of students who have received instruction in Practical 

 Agriculture in the classes named was one hundred and fourteen. Their dili- 

 gence and deportment has made the work of instruction a pleasant task. 



I have taken my regular assignment of the Wednesday afternoon lectures. 

 My topics have been "Farm Economy" and "The Ontario Agricultural Col- 

 lege." I attended the Farmers' Institutes to which I was assigned by the 

 Board of Agriculture in Barry and Muskegon counties, and also at the request 

 of Prof. Carpenter, filled his appointment at the Farmiugton Institute. I 

 have attended local Institutes at Mason and Eaton Rapids by invitation and 

 lectured at both places. The interest in these farmers' meetings is increasing 

 and they are contributing in no small degree to arouse increased attention to 

 the best methods of modern agriculture. We meet the most intelligent, the 

 best farmers at these Institutes and in mutual association, and the discussion of 

 topics in which we have a common interest, we are mutually benefited. As 

 teachers we come to have a keener, more practical appreciation of the needs 

 of agriculture. Our theories of agricultural science are possibly exploded or 

 greatly modified by the criticisms of intelligent farmers, who are not slow to 

 find the holes in our skimmers. On the other hand prejudices against the 

 College, against agricultural education and agricultural teachers are often 

 found to be the result of a misapprehension of facts, which this personal asso- 

 ciation serves to dissipate. That the Institutes have been a most efficient 

 means of popularizing the College with the farmers cannot be questioned. 



TEACHERS OF AGRICULTURE. 



By the favor of the Board of Agriculture I was permitted to attend the 

 annual meeting of the Teachers of Agriculture at Columbus, Ohio, July 4th 

 and 5th. Representatives from the Eastern and Western Colleges were pres- 

 ent. The meeting was quite informal. We were very cordially entertained 

 by the Faculty of the Ohio State University, who gave us the best facilities 

 for inspecting the laboratories, the farm in charge of Prof. Townsend and the 

 Experimental Station, with Prof.Lazenby at its head. The association meets 

 next year at Cornell University. 



At the September meeting the Board of Agriculture authorized Hon. Frank- 

 lin Wells and n)yself to attend the Provincial show held at Guelph, Ontario, 

 September 24 to 29, and to also visit the Ontario Agricultural College, with 

 the view of learning what we could of its methods of work and practical man- 

 agement. Mr. Wells was unavoidably detained at home, to my regret, and j 

 made the trip alone. My visit was a very enjoyable and profitable one — made 

 doubly so by the kind attention and hospitality of President Mills and Prof. 

 Brown of the College. My impressions of the College and the Fair were 

 embodied in the lecture to the students referred to elsewhere and in a report 

 to the Board of Agriculture at their November meeting. The College, under 

 its present efficient management, is doing capital work for Canadian Agricult- 



