No. 4.] COLLEGE AND STATION. 143 



One notices first the study of agriculture proper, begin- 

 ning with a brief consideration of the history of the art in 

 earlier times, and continuing down to the present; then fol- 

 low the formation, character and classification of soils, with 

 methods of improving them. A series of lectures is devoted 

 to mowings and pastures, the value and peculiar character 

 of different grasses, how to grow and preserve ensilage, and 

 its value in farm economy. A course of lectures is devoted 

 to farm manures and fertilizers ; the nutrition of farm crops, 

 what farm manures are and how best to turn them to account, 

 the composition of crude fertilizing material, how commer-* 

 cial fertilizers are made up, and the most economical way 

 to purchase nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash, are some 

 of the special topics considered. Field crops and the best 

 methods of growing them are dwelt upon, as well as the 

 most suitable implements and machinery to be used in their 

 cultivation. Distinct courses of lectures are devoted to 

 breeds and the breeding of farm animals, cattle feeding and 

 dairying. The dairy school, which, owing to financial con- 

 ditions, has not been started, will, it is hoped, be shortly in 

 full running order. 



Considerable time is devoted to the study of botany, i. e., 

 to the variety, structure and growth of all forms of plant 

 life. By structural botany is meant a study of various 

 groups of plants, with reference to their different forms and 

 to the shape and structure of their various organs. A 

 knowledge of analytical botany enables one to identify and 

 classify plants, shrubs and trees. Physiological botany 

 teaches the functions of the different plant organs, and 

 shows how the plant elaborates its food in order to produce 

 what is termed plant growth. Special study is given to 

 plants of economic value under the head of economic botany. 

 In cryptogamic botany one devotes himself to observations 

 on the lower forms of plant life, special attention being 

 given to the fungi producing the various plant diseases 

 known as rusts, blights and mildews, and to the different 

 bacteria which produce such changes in many farm prod- 

 ucts, and play so prominent a part in plant growth. 



In horticulture instruction is given partly by lectures 



