52 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



15. What are the liabilities of the farmer for the acts of his dog? for 

 the damage done by other livestock? 



16. Who is liable for damage done by a team loaned the hired man 

 and used by him in his own business? 



17. What is meant by the term bailment, and what are the obligations 

 of a gratuitous bailee? 



STUDENT LABOK. 



The plan pursued last year in the management of student labor has been 

 continued during the year just closed. In the fall term the freshmen 

 devote these hours to the study of live stock. The sophomores aid in 

 carrying on the general farm work, studying the operations performed on 

 the farm at that season of the year. The list of topics studied is too 

 long for mention here. A good deal of attention was paid to the prepara- 

 tion of ground for wheat, the construction and filling of silos, various 

 methods of harvesting the corn crop, harvesting and testing sugar beets, 

 drainage, farm accounts, farm buildings, and preliminary stock feeding. 



There were fully ninety students taking the freshmen work, while the 

 sophomore class was not large. Prof. Mumford was assisted in the live 

 stock work by Dairy Instructor True, but notwithstanding the fact that 

 the class was divided into two sections, each of which was in turn divided 

 into two sub-sections, the groups of students were still too large to do 

 each man justice. We note the impossibility of teaching stock judging 

 acceptably in the open air or in cold weather. One of the needs of the 

 department is a large, well lighted room in which the work in stock judg- 

 ing may be given. The Grade Dairy Barn, referred to later, answers this 

 purpose but imperfectly. 



The department also needs representative animals of other breeds. 

 A description of the good and bad points of a breed of stock not repre- 

 sented in our own herd is of but little value to the boys. Lengthened 

 experience in the work warrants us in urging upon you the importance 

 of enlarging our herds and flocks in this direction. 



In the winter term the freshmen report to the mechanical department 

 for work in the wood shops and blacksmith shop. The sophomores are 

 given their training in dairy work two hours daily for the last half of the 

 term. The work was more satisfactory in some respects last winter than 

 heretofore because the class was relatively small. The equipment of 

 the dairy room is totally inadequate for handling a large class, and some 

 preparation should be made before another season to provide appliances 

 for the present large freshmen class. 



In the spring term the freshmen were given in the two hours of student 

 labor daily training in bee-keeping, poultry keeping and fence building, 

 besides keeping in touch with general farm work by weekly inspection 

 of all the growing crops on the farm and the seeding and cultivation 

 going on there. Lectures were given on the cereals, forage crops and spe- 

 cial crops adapted to Michigan soil and climate and on the history and 

 characteristics of the drift soils of the State. The class was divided into 

 sections and sub-sections in order that the groups of students reporting to 

 the various instructors might not be inordinately large. One of the chief 

 obstacles in the way of ideal success in this practical farm work is 

 the ignorance of a considerable portion of the class of the most ordinary 



