AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 529 



BOTANIC DEPARTMENT. 



President J. C. Greenough. 



Sir : — I have the honor to submit the following report as 

 to the condition of the Botanic Department. The instruction 

 in the class-room and the field in this department lias been 

 ffiven in accordance with the colleo^e .curriculum. The chamje 

 in the course of study, bringing the subjects of botany .and 

 horticulture into the summer and fall, is a step in the right 

 direction, making the work much more interesting and easier 

 k)r both student and teacher. 



The students have shown unusual interest in their Avork, 

 which has been especially manifest in the very fine herbaria 

 completed at the close of the fall term. 



The work of instruction has been somewhat impeded by 

 the efforts to have all the recitations in the rooms in the 

 main college buildings. This is undoubtedly desirable for 

 the economy of the students' time ; but the best results in 

 teaching the natural sciences can only be obtained where the 

 recitation rooms are closely connected with cabinets and 

 specimens for illustrations. 



The crops during the season have been very abundant and 

 of very fine quality, so much so that the prices received for 

 them, in many cases, have been below the cost of production. 



The trees in the peach and pear orchard received, during 

 the winter of 1884, a severe "heading in," and are very 

 much improved in form. The peach trees thus treated, 

 many of them indicated signs of "yellows," but the effect 

 of this pruning, and the application of an abundance of bone 

 and potash, has apparently restored them to complete health. 

 About five hundred young peach trees were planted in May 



