628 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



THE DEPARTMENT OF FARM MECHANICS AT THE IOWA STATE 



COLLEGE. 



C. J . Zintheo, Professor Farm Mechanics Department , 1. S. C. 



The State of Iowa may well be proud of its agricultural college. The 

 Ames College of Agriculture is better and more favorably known than 

 any college of its kind in this country. All other colleges of a similar 

 kind look to this institution for innovations along new lines of investiga- 

 tion and teaching. In Animal Husbandry, the college is far in the lead 

 of all others as demonstrated by the fact that for the third successive 

 time it has won the Spoor Trophy at the International Live Stock Show- 

 in competition w^ith all comers. The Dairy School has a splendid reputa- 

 tion. 



In the matter of improving and developing corn, the Division of 

 Agronomy is now doing more for the farmers of Iowa to increase their 

 wealth than any other agency among them. 



As a fitting climax the college has made an entirely new innovation 

 in establishing a department of Farm Mechanics. With its usual charac- 

 teristics, the college is not doing anything by halves, but it has gone into 

 this new work with a vim and enthusiasm which promises to outstrip, 

 all previous efforts. 



Such a department is eminently appropriate in the Agricultural Col- 

 lege when one considers that the State of Iowa' has $57,960,000 invested 

 in farm implements, and that the sum so invested amounts to about one 

 dollar and seventy cents for every acre of land in the State. 



That there is an enormous waste of money due to the neglect and 

 unskillful handling of this part of the farm equipment, must be obvious 

 to anyone who has traveled through the State. It is to overcome this 

 waste and to teach the agricultural students how to care for and properly 

 operate the machinery on the farm that this department of Farm Me- 

 chanics was established. 



For the department has been erected a modern fireproof building 

 60 by 100 feet, four stories high. There are already one hundred and 

 twenty-five students enrolled in Farm Mechanics and also several post 

 graduate students who are preparing themselves to teach the subject in 

 other institutions. Among the subjects taught in the course are the 

 following: Field Engineering, consisting of laying out farms, mapping 

 and plotting of fields for crop rotation, location of farm buildings, fence 

 construction, water supplies, tile and surface drainage, road construction 

 and irrigation; Rural Architecture, consisting in planning of farm build- 

 ings, such as barns, living houses, machine sheds, granaries, etc., ar- 

 rangement of stalls, testing of different materials used in farm buildings. 

 The students make complete drawings and specifications of the buildings, 

 and figure out the cost according to the market price of the materials. 



In the laboratories the students have practice in drawing, carpentry, 

 blacksmith work, and horseshoeing. They are also taught how to do the 

 repair work on the farm, and to make neckyokes, whiffle-trees, and other 



