350 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



The college-farm contains 2G0 acres, and is valued at $24,000. Inipor- 

 tant iinpiovements have Ijcen make on it during the year, and experi- 

 niifnts conducted in the cultivation of wheat with different fertilizers, 

 with v.iiite rve received from the Department of Agriculture, and with 

 barley. From experiments made with timothy-grass, it has been dis- 

 covered that it cannot be relied on as a permanent crop-in the locality 

 of the coHege, being incapable of resisting the drought, and after two 

 cuttings dies out. Orcharti-grass, on the contrary, flourishes well, and 

 is not permanently injured- by dry weather. A new barn has been 

 erected on the farm, and apparatus for instruction in chemistry lias 

 been purchased to tlie uraount of $300; seventy-two dollars' worth has 

 ali^o been purchased for the use of the professor of agriculture. 



Professors in the agricultural college, 1) ; assistants, 3 ; students, 58 j 

 professors in all the departments, 9j assistants, 8; students, 300. 



TEXAS. 



Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, at Bryan ; Tliomas 8. 

 Qathright, A. M., president. — The college was inaugurated and opened 

 for the reception of students October 4, 1876. It is l)eautiiully located, 

 in a healthy section, four miles from Bryan, on the Houston and Texas 

 Central Eadroad, and is easily accessible from all parts of the State. 

 The college building, of which an engraving is here presented, is claimed 

 to be equal to the best in the country. It is 153 feet long, GO wide, 

 four stories high, and is built of brick, except the foundation, which is 

 stone. The window and door sills and caps are made of Texas granite. 

 On each floor, exce})t the fourth, it contains three halls, running the 

 entire length of the building. The two set apart for literary societies 

 will each accommodate 4.00 persons. On the fourth floor are a chapel, 

 60 feet square, six lecture-rooms, library, president's otiice, cadets' room, 

 armory, and guard-room. The remaining rooms are for studentt^ dormi- 

 tories The inside of the building is finished with native cypress in the 

 highest style of architecture, varinshed to show the texture of the wood 

 to the best advantage. Besides the college building, there is another 

 called the "students' hall," four stories high, and built of the same 

 materials as the main building, but not so elaborately finished. Also 

 four brick cottages for professors' residences, and a nice barn. The 

 cost of the college building was $100,000; of the students' hall, $33,000; 

 and of the smaller buildings, $20,000. The State appropriated the 

 liberal sum of $187,000 for the erection of these buddings and the 

 purchase of the farm. Koue of the fund granted by Congress has been 

 used. 



Q'here are five courses of study in the college : (Ij Preparatory and 

 general; (2) in agriculture; (3) in mechanics and engineering; (4) in 

 languages and literature; (5) in military tactics. The first-named course 

 occupies three years, it is designed to afibrd the student a good edu- 

 cation for the practical duties of life, or to prepare him for entering 

 upon ^ny special course he may choose. Each of the special courses 

 occupies two years. The general course includes rhetorical reading, 

 declamation, English grammar, composition, higher arithmetic, geogra- 

 phy, history, drawing, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, physics, chem- 

 istry, geology, plain and topographical surveying, zoology, animal and 

 vegetable physiology, elements of agriculture, Ereuch, Spanish-, Ger- 

 man, Latin, Greek, and military tactics. Modern languages may be 

 substituted for Latin and Greek, if desired. The course in agricult- 

 ure includes analytical geometry, conies, calculus, physics, astronomy, 



