No. 4.] AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 227 



Report to the Legislature of the State 

 Board of Agriculture, acting as Over- 

 seers OF the Massachusetts Agricult- 

 ural College. 



[P. S. Chap. 20, Sect. 5, adopted by the Board, Jan. 8, 1901.] 



To the State Board of Agriculture, Overseers of the Massachtisetts Agri- 

 cultural College. 



Your committee, having completed the duties assigned 

 them by occasional visits to the college, and a general in- 

 spection of the work, from time to time, at different seasons 

 of the year, beg leave to report as follows : — 



The " Grinnell prizes," which are awarded by this com- 

 mittee, based upon written essays and oral examinations of 

 the graduating class in agriculture, were awarded in June, 

 1900, as follows: the first. prize was awarded to Mark H. 

 Munson of Huntington ; the second to Morris B. Landers of 

 Palmer. The oral examinations were well sustained ; the 

 essays were thoughtfully prepared, but with too little atten- 

 tion to minor details. 



To lay aside, now and then, the philosophy of nitrogen, 

 phosphoric acid and potash, of clover nodules and fungi, to 

 study the potency of semicolons and interrogation points 

 and the art of syntax and orthography, might be helpful 

 even to college graduates. 



The Farm. 

 The usual farm work, with its practical and experimental 

 operations, has been carried on successfully, although natu- 

 ral conditions have operated in some cases to lessen results. 

 The testing of seeds, fertilizers and chemicals, here made in 

 a scientific way, of the results of different foods and rations 

 to attain certain results, are being given to the farming pub- 

 lic at institutes and in various ways, to awaken new interest 



