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particular part of the g-rounds which he wished to speak a])ovit, and 

 would then explain the experiments in progress and call attention to 

 special points of importance. The next and following weeks a stop 

 would be made at the same plats to note the development of the crop 

 under the different conditions, differentiation of varieties or of crops 

 under different systems of fertilization, etc. The continuity of the 

 demonstrations gave these talks increased value, the eyes of the students 

 became trained to detect minute differences in the color or luxuriance 

 of plants, and they could follow the gradual differentiations in plants 

 from week to week due to different conditions of fertilization or other 

 influences. The effects of a scarcity or an excess of moisture; effects 

 of hail on different crops, and how they gradually recover, or fail 

 to recover, from these effects; estimation of the damage done by hail, 

 weeds, attacks of insect, or fungus diseases; identification of these, 

 their methods of attack and distribution, and how to com1)at them; 

 estimations of yields of different crops, etc., are some of the almost 

 iiununerable subjects wdiich furnish a well-informed teacher material 

 for lectures in the held. The lectures were informal talks, often 

 interrupted t)y questioning of the students as to their opinions of 

 matters observed or to be obsei-\i'd. The students would jot down in 

 their note books, although not as frequently as desirable, facts or 

 suoo-estions brouoht out. Aside from the fact that the demonstra- 

 tions served as a convenient method of gathering a large amount ot 

 direct practical information on farm topics, they were of great value 

 to the students in teaching them to use their eyes and to apply knowl- 

 edo-e obtained in other disciplines, and last, but not least, served to 



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create or maintain an interest and enthusiasm tor farm matters which 

 perhaps no other method of instruction would l)e likely to equal. 



It mio-ht be thought that there could hardlv be anything new or 

 interesting to note on grounds but little over 15 acres m area when 

 the demonstrations came as often as once every week, but with the 

 rich material available, which included dozens of different plat experi- 

 ments with all kinds of farm crops, rotation experiments, fertilizer 

 tests, pot experiments, etc.. this was not the case; on the contrary, 

 the hour proved invariably too short to go over only the portion of 

 the grounds planned each time. The arrangement of the German 

 university year is most favorable for observing the larger share of the 

 round of farm operations. The summer semester covers the time 

 from the end of April to the beginning of August, and the winter 

 semester the time from the end of October to the beginning of March, 

 In these two periods nearly the whole growing periods of most farm 

 crops fall, and most of the important farm work, like preparation of 

 the land in the spring; seeding of spring grains; planting of peas, 

 beans, root crops, and potatoes, and cultivation of the same; cutting 

 and curing of hay; cutting, stacking, and harvesting of small grains, 



