346 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Ill November, at the close of the term, the freshmen were 

 examined in physiology, the sophomores in agriculture, the 

 juniors in physics, and the seniors in botany. The classes 

 acquitted themselves creditably, and when compared with 

 similar performances a little to the south, forty years ago, 

 they were of a high order. But facilities, advantages and 

 times change, and boys must change with them. Not that 

 every student was a perfect master of the subject he had 

 studied, an adept in science, — the teachers themselves would 

 not claim that, — but these young men were familiar with the 

 j)rinciples laid down in text-books and inculcated by their 

 teachers, and showed that they had them fixed in their minds, 

 and could use them in stating a proposition, and defending 

 the same, even when questioned by the professors. Having 

 gathered a few facts, they had made them their own, and had 

 the manliness to stand by their theories and defend their 

 positions. Evidently they had been taught to think, and that 

 is education in its essence. 



The dormitories of the college boys, so prone to l)e any- 

 thing but patterns of neatness and order, are watched by the 

 eagle eye of the military officer, and under his discipline they 

 are learning lessons which many an older college boy has had 

 to learn some years later from his better half, by " line upon 

 line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little " ; 

 and precious little credit did he get for proficiency in that 

 "woman's school," but oftener the gentle reminder, "'Tis 

 hard to teach old dogs new tricks." 



The conservatory is an honor to the institution and to the 

 State. From the laboratory, with its appliances for teach- 

 ing agricultural chemistry, and its liberal, learned and live 

 professor, so competent to fill" such a position anywhere in 

 the world, results may be looked for of the highest order, 

 and expectation without limit must be realized. 



The apparatus of the mathematical and philosophical 

 departments, under the direction of competent and zealous 

 instructors, affords the student the best facilities for a full and 

 thorough understanding of the subjects treated. 



During the year, portions of the land have been devoted to 

 experiments made by Professors Goessmann and Stockbridge. 

 Professor Goessmann has made some valuable experiments ou 



