450 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



DEPAETMENT OF E:NrGLISH AND THE 

 MODERN LAT^GUAGES. 



President James C. Greenough. 



Sir : — I have the honor to submit the following report 

 of the dei^artment of modern languages and English liter- 

 ature. 



The course as now established does not differ materially 

 from that of preceding years. Its most essential feature is 

 the making optional the study of French and German. The 

 change in the time of commencing these studies, making 

 them coincide with the opening of the college year, cannot 

 fail to be of practical advantage to the student, allowing him 

 three consecutive terms of work without the intervening of 

 the long summer vacation. The method of instruction pur- 

 sued has been the same in both languages, the object being 

 to secure fluency and ease in translation rather than to make 

 finished scholars. To this end the first term has been de- 

 voted to mastering the general principles of grammar, the 

 rules for pronunciation, and the reading of some light, easy 

 work. In the second term, more advanced translation has 

 been attempted, usually from some standard author in fiction 

 or history ; while in the third, the selection has been made 

 of a scientific work, which should combine practice in trans- 

 lation with information in some one of the various depart- 

 ments of agriculture. In this way have been read, among 

 other books : Puys — Plants under Glass ; Marion — Won- 

 ders of Vegetation ; Vaulx — What Constitutes a Dairy ; 

 Schleiden — Plant-Life ; Prosch — Breeding and Care of 

 Cattle; Peschel — Physical Geography. 



The instruction in English literature has been partly oral 



