DEPARTMENT REPORTS. 27 



winter, principally for the following reasons: It was held that practical 

 agriculture could be taught to much better advantage during the sum- 

 mer months — that students could by work on the College farm during the 

 summer defray to a large extent their expenses for board ; that during the 

 long winter vacation they could teach district schools and thereby earn 

 enough together with their income from work on the farm to pay all their 

 expenses. This plan worked well for many years, and was without doubt 

 the best course to pursue at the time the College was founded and for 

 manv vears thereafter. 



But in time the farm became cleared, drained and fenced, and work 

 could not be provided for a large body of students during the summer. 

 The practical agriculture which could be taught during the harvest time 

 was usually such as most students had learned, or could easily learn at 

 home. The work of our country schools has so changed that very few 

 good schools now have short winter terms, such as a student could teach 

 during a winter vacation of three months. 



It has been the policy of the College to endeavor to educate farmer 

 boys for the farm; to give them such knowledge and inspiration along 

 the various lines of agricultural work as would induce them to follow 

 this calling after leaving College. The old system of having students 

 teach during the winter was not conducive to this end. The young man 

 after entering College was home only a few days at a time until he grad- 

 uated. His experience in teaching usually made it easy for him to enter 

 that profession after graduation. 



Within the last few years the Mechanical and Women's Courses have 

 been added. For the students of these two courses it is preferable to 

 have the long vacation occur in the summer. Special short courses could 

 be sucessful only if held in the winter, when busy men could leave home 

 to attend them. 



These and other reasons induced the Board to make the change. The 

 results of the change have been very gratifying both to the Faculty and to 

 the students. Practical agriculture is taught during the spring and 

 fall. Students of agriculture who have not learned the ordinary opera- 

 tions of farm work before coming to College will be required to spend 

 one long vacation on the College farm. It is believed that young men 

 who spend their summers at home on the farm will be much more likely 

 to return to the farm after graduation. 



• 



SPECIAL COUESES. 



The change of the long vacation from winter to summer made it pos- 

 sible for the Board to carry out the plan of offering special courses in 

 practical agriculture to those energetic farmers who could not find time 

 to take a long College course. During the winter term of '96-'97 the 

 College offered special six-weeks courses in the following: (1) Home dairy- 

 ing, (2) live stock husbandry, (3) fruit culture, (4) floriculture and winter 

 vegetable growing. The classes had the following attendance: The first 

 18, the second 15, the third 10, and the fourth 2. 



During the winter of '97-'98, in addition to the courses given the pre- 

 vious year, there were given also a four-weeks course in cheese makingand 

 a course of six weeks in dairy management and butter making. The 

 course in cheese making was limited to a class of twentv members. It 



