90 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



of subjects formerlr given in English ; second, certain courses given by 

 the department as one or two hour courses were combined, making three 

 or five hour courses. In hours of teaching little less work was done 

 by the department than during the preceding year. 



The average cost of instruction per student in the department dur 

 ing the year has been |14.13, or $6.58 more than during the year 1910- 

 1911. The head of the department, one assistant professor, and ten 

 instructors have done the work of the department during the year. Mr. 

 Milton Simpson and Mr. W. S. Bittner took the places made vacant a 

 vear ago bv the resignations of Messrs. Von Tungeln and Pvke. The 

 former of the two instructors who left practically doubled his salary 

 by going elsewhere: the latter went to Harvard to continue his graduate 

 work, with the intention of accepting a position offered him in one of 

 the Chinese universities. The average salary paid to the instructors 

 during the year has been $915 ; the average salary during the year 1910- 

 1911 was ?S2o. 



The work of the department has been made more practical and more 

 clearly related to the day's work than ever before. All freshman men 

 have been given a very thorough course in business letter writing. This 

 has interested them more than any other work done with the freshmen 

 since I have been here. The engineering freshmen have also given care- 

 ful study to a volume of engineering addresses recently put forth for 

 use in engineerinir colleges bv Waddell and Harrinjrton. a firm of con- 

 tracting engineers in Kansas City. The book has furnished an admir- 

 able number of selections for the practical study of exposition, and at 

 the same time has given the young engineers many practical suggestions 

 and much helpful information, as the addresses studied were all de- 

 livered by engineers. The courses in public speaking have aimed more 

 definitely than before at giving the young men power to prepare and 

 to deliver effective extemporaneous addresses. Their practice has been 

 along the line of addresses suitable to the work which they will under- 

 take upton the completion of their college course. The aim in the classes 

 of literature, more than before, has been to give students a power to 

 appreciate the good things in literature, in order that they may read 

 wisely and helpfully after their school years are finished. As I review 

 the work of the year. I feel that it has come nearer to the ideal which 

 I set when I undertook the work of the department than has been the 

 case during anv other vear. 



The course in agricultural journalism has been the most successful 

 the department has yet presented. Almost every student in the class 

 has sold at good prices to agricultural papers some of the work pre- 

 pared for the class room. In several instances papers of the highest 

 rank in the country have accepted and paid liberally for this work. For 

 the first time students were required to present in typewriting all work 

 prepared for this class. To enable students to do this two rebuilt type- 

 writers were purchased by the department during the year. Every stu- 

 dent felt that this feature of the work was exceptionally helpful, and 

 they all recommended that it be continued. Further, they felt that 

 to require all freshmen to hand in at least a part of their theme work 

 in typewriting would be a distinct advantage to the student body. I 

 concur with this belief mvself and recommend that additional rebuilt 



