Report of the President. 13 



XII. Department of Poultry Husbandry. — This department gave in- 

 struction to 167 registered students during the year. For the first 

 time investigational work was segregated from the work of instruc- 

 tion and was greatly strengthened thereby, two members of the staff 

 giving practically their whole time to the eighteen investigational 

 projects under way. Two bulletins were prepared for publication, one 

 on the " molting of fowls " and the other on " use of grit," and 

 under the head of extension work over 8,000 letters were written in 

 response to inquiries on poultry subjects, and seven lessons on poultry 

 were prepared for the Rural School leaflets, besides a number of ad- 

 dresses before farmers' gatherings. 



XIII. Department of Farm Mechanics. — As this department but re- 

 cently organized and is not yet fully established no investigations of 

 any kind were attempted. During the coming year, however, there 

 will be made a thorough investigation of spray nozzles which it is 

 hoped will prove of much practical value. But next to giving instruc- 

 tion to students in farm mechanics, farm engineering, farm machinery, 

 and allied subjects, the department will probably find its most im- 

 portant function in acting as consulting engineer for the farmers of 

 the State in matters pertaining to the selection of their farm ma- 

 chinery. This, of course, is a phase of the work which will require 

 the most delicate handling as the greatest care must be exercised to 

 avoid injuring the trade of any manufacturer by carelessly condemn- 

 ing his goods without just cause, but on the other hand the farmers 

 of the State will expect and may justly demand expert advice, and it 

 is the policy of the department to issue no statements either deroga- 

 tory or commendatory in regard to any implement or machine unless 

 such statement is founded on facts obtained by accurate tests under 

 thoroughly fair and fully specified conditions. 



XIV. Department of Agricultural Chemistry. — The Department of 

 Agricultural Chemistry enrolled during the year 48 regular and 75 

 special students in addition to 125 students from the short winter 

 courses, who attended a course of lectures arranged for them. The 

 experimental work conducted under the appropriation from the State 

 fund consisted chiefly in making chemical analyses of materials sent 

 in by other departments, including a large number of moisture de- 

 terminations of farm crops grown for experimental purposes. There 

 has also been a large increase in the number of requests from resi- 

 dents of the State for analyses of various materials as soils, fertilizers, 

 feeds, insecticides, etc., and this work now takes most of the time of 

 the assistant in the laboratory. During the coming year investiga- 



