DEPARTMENT REPORTS. 35 



number in the history of tho dopartmout. Wc believe these young women 

 are as well equii-){)etl for life and its duties, as an}' in the land, and better 

 equipped than many of the women graduates of the year. The value of 

 practical training is becoming more and more ap])arent and we look for- 

 ward with hopeful anticipation to the establishment of courses in Home 

 Economics in all the higher institutions for women. 



Respectfullv submitted, 



MALDE GILCHRIST, 

 Dean of Women's Department. 

 Agricultural College, Mich., June 30, 1905. 



REPORT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF FORESTRY. 



To the President : 



I have the honor to submit herewith the third annual report of the De- 

 partment of Forestry for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1905. 



In August a visit was paid to Allegan county and as a result forestry 

 has been much encouraged in that county. A small company has been 

 formed for the purpose of growing timber. This is the first organization 

 of its kind in the state according to the best of my information. Forty 

 acres of land have been i)urchased for the purpose, one acre of which has 

 been planted and seed has l)een sown for growing more trees. 



Improvements in the College timljer land has been continued. In num- 

 ber 20 some thinning has been done to encourage the more valuable growth. 

 Several of the larger injured trees have been cut out and sold in cord wood. 

 In November four bushels each of black walnuts and butternuts were planted 

 in the more open places where trees had been removed. 



The timber on number 19 is all cull stuff and poor at that for the most 

 part. One acre of this timber on the east end was cut off last winter. The 

 yield was 98 j cords of 16-inch stove wood. Although this is an inferior 

 class of wood the net returns are 90 cents to a dollar per cord. For hard 

 wood the net value is $1.25 to $1.40. The acre has been stocked with white 

 ash from our own nursery. The trees are at this writing growing raj)idly. 



Experimental planting has been continued on the west end of numl^er 18. 



A row of trees following the course of the Red Cedar river and 25 feet 

 from its west and south bank has been i:)lanted from the bridge leading to 

 the athletic field to some distance beyond its intersection with the farm 

 lane along the north line of field number 7. It is expected in time to carry 

 out the plan of a drive from the bridge above mentioned through number 

 20, which is to be made into an arboretum, to the pinetum, a distance of 

 considerable over a mile, which will be the most pleasant drive in the neigh- 

 borhood of the capital of the state. 



The vacancies caused by failure in the rows of trees along the farm lane 

 have been supplied. The trees for both these purposes were volunteer 

 stock from the side of the highway south of number 19. Thus these valu- 

 able trees which would cost 25 to 50 cents each if purchased from the nur- 

 sery have been utilized and the roadside improved. 



White pine seed was secured from cones shipped from N. H. In this 



