KANSAS STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 9 



common species, and in very many varieties, were on trial. 

 Peaches and grapes were sold in 1872 to the value of $194.66. 



The lands on the College farms were at first cultivated in the 

 ordinary way, but gradually more and more systematically, trials 

 were made of fertilizers, special crops, methods of soil preparation, 

 methods of planting, etc. The annual report for 1872 includes 

 about twenty pages devoted to reporting the results of agricultural 

 operations. Although efforts were made continually, it was with 

 much difficulty that the legislature was induced to make any ap- 

 propriation even for agriculture. By the terms of the federal law 

 all buildings must be furnished by the State, but up to 1872 

 nothing had been done. Bluemont College was the only building. 

 The legislature of 1872 made an appropriation with which the 

 stone wall enclosing the present campus was built and a barn was 

 begun. Only one wing of this was ever completed. It was used as 

 a barn until 1875, when it was taken for College classes. It has 

 served many purposes since: General class-rooms; chapel; society 

 hall; dormitories: residence of the professor of agriculture; 

 quarters for departments of zoology, botany, bacteriology, and 

 veterinary science; armory, etc. It is now used for instruction in 

 farm mechanics, and for housing the machinery used in that work. 



Altogether the administration of President Denison conducted 

 an arduous w r ork. Space does not permit going further into de- 

 tails. Those were pioneer times and the State could scarcely af- 

 ford to appropriate much money for the College. The unremitting 

 efforts of boards of regents had, however, begun to yield some re- 

 sults, and State support of the College may be said to have reallv 

 begun in 1872. Education in agriculture was but an experiment 

 at best, and to the writer it seems that the Faculty of those days 

 should be commended for what it did, rather than criticised for 

 what it did not do. The College did important work in giving to 

 young people an education that helped them in all of the duties of 

 life, and at a minimum of expense. Many of these went out to 

 teach in the common schools of the State and thus spread the bene- 

 fits of the College. 



The Anderson Administration 



With the administration of President Anderson all instruc- 

 tion in Latin and Greek was soon abolished, and it has never been 

 restored to the curriculum. Practical and theoretical study of 

 agriculture was greatly extended, and daily work at some industry 

 was required of every student. These "industrials" were a dis- 

 tinctive feature of the institution for twenty years or more, but 

 they have been to a large extent gradually replaced by systematic 

 laboratory exercises carried out for the most part in connection 

 with theoretical instruction. 



