STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 365 



the net proceeds of the sales of such lands, for the purchase of experi- 

 mental farms. 



In 1868, the legislature of Minnesota authorized the board of 

 regents of the state university to expend $8,500 from this fund for 

 this purpose, and a tract of land near the university was bought, 

 cleared, fenced, ditched, and put under cultivation, and under the 

 direction of Prof. Charles Y. Lacy, was used as the Experimental 

 Station, and School of Practice of the College of Agriculture up to 



1880. Various lines of agricultural experimentation were undertaken 

 by Prof. Lacy, and full detailed reports of the same were made annu- 

 ally to the board of regents, and will be found in their published 

 reports for the years 1875-6-7-8-9, and '80. 



Prof. Lacy withdrew from the institution in 1880, and in January, 



1881, Prof. Edward D. Porter was placed in charge of the department 

 of the Theory and Practice of Agriculture. After operating the farm 

 for one season he was convinced that from the character of its soil, its 

 proximity to the city, and continued subdivision by public thorough- 

 fares, it was entirely unsuited for the purposes of an experiment station, 

 and urged upon the board of regents the necessity of disposing of it and 

 purchasing a more desirable location. The plans proposed were ap- 

 proved, and the legislature having given authority for the sale, and 

 provided that all the proceeds of the same should be used in the pur- 

 chase and equipment of the new farm, the old one was subdivided and 

 sold from time to time up to the present, yielding sufficient funds to 

 purchase and equip the new station. The location of this farm, its 

 character and equipment, and the work accomplished up to Jan. 1, 

 1887, are fully set forth in the report of the department of agriculture, 

 to the board of regents, and published as a supplement to their fourth 

 biennial report to the governor. 



The legislature of 1885 directed the board of regents of the Univer- 

 sity of Minnesota to establish, as soon as practicable, in connec- 

 tion with that institution, an Agricultural Experiment Station 

 for the purpose of promoting agriculture in its various branches, plac- 

 ing it under the control and supervision of said board, making the 

 professor of agriculture its general superintendent. 



Unfortunately there were no funds placed at the disposal of the uni- 

 versity to carry out the objects of the act, and there were none at the 

 command of the department for that purpose, as all the funds derived 

 from the sale of agricultural college lands were, by act of Congress 

 required to be devoted to the purposes of instruction. The experi- 

 mental work given in previous reports, and accomplished up to the 



