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REPORT.

OFFICE SEC'Y. OF IOWA STATE AGL. COL. AND, FARM, }

To the Honorable Senate and

DES MOINES, FEBRUARY 18T, 1864.

House of Representatives of the State of Iowa :

In pursuance of Law I herewith submit the following report, exhibiting the Receipts and Expenditures of the Iowa State Agricultural College and Farm, for the year 1863, with its present financial condition; also the operations of the office of Secretary for the year 1863:

RECEIPTS.

Their amount on hand as per settlement in January, 1863, in
Bonds, Notes and County Orders,.

Received in notes of individuals for Jasper county lands,.

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in cash for Jasper county lands,.

for sundry articles sold on farm,.

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EXPENDITURES.

Paid Oliver Mills, Treasurer, balance due on settlement, Jan. 1863,.

166 00

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Paid miscellaneous expenses on farm,

Paid for 40 acres of land, with individual note of W.
J. Graham,

345 32

21 15

66

expenses of Agent to secure interest on Story county bonds,..

12 00

Paid expenses of Jasper county land sale, including

advertising and printing,..

129 69

Paid on Farmers' House, carpenter work, and balance in hands of Agent,.

737 44

Paid John F. Dixon, cash, amount paid by him for
Jasper county lands,.

763 20

The am't. due by Ag't. on farm, on settl'm't Jan. 1864

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The am't. of bills receivable, donated by citizens of

Story and Boone counties,.

The am't. of cash on hand,.

906 00

1,118 94

468 51-$14,941 77

ASSETS.

The Institution has the following assetts, one-half of which, probably, might be realized within the next 18 months :

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Bills receivable, donated by citizens of Story and Boone counties,

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for Jasper county lands,.

906 00

Jasper county lands, 2460 acres, cost $5 per acre,..

12,300 00

Lands donated in Boone and Story counties, 731 acres, cost $5..
Due for rent on farm, &c.,. .

Value of crop on farm for 1863, of crop for rent,.

3,655 00 106 64 497 50 25 99 468 51

Value of old crop on hand, and due from individuals,.
Cash on hand,..

'Deduct from this amount due individuals,..

Total assets,.

$30,638 58

82 08

$30,556 50

Although the following was embraced in a memorial to your honorable bodies, it may not be inappropriate in this report for general information, as it gives a brief review of the action of the Trustees since the organic law was passed, and the reasons why more has not been done towards preparing buildings for educational urposes:

In 1858 the Legislature passed an act appropriating 10,000 dotlars for the purchase of a farm on which to locate an Agricultural College. A farm was purchased in 1859 in Story county, situated about midway between Nevada and Boonsboro, and about 30 miles directly north of Des Moines. The farm contains 648 acres and is admirably adapted to the purposes of the Institution, embracing all the leading varieties of soil in the State. No additional appropriation has been made by the State since the organic law was passed, but the county of Story donated 10,000 dollars in the bonds of the county, bearing 7 per cent. interest, and individuals of Story and Boone counties donated, in lands and notes, about 7,000 dollars additional. The organic law also diverted the five sections of land granted by Congress to the State for Capital purposes lying in Jasper county, provided Congress would consent. A recent act of Congress gave the control of the land to the State, which is now under the charge of the College Institution. These lands will probably produce about $14,000. This, with the sums mentioned, after deducting cost of a brick farmer house, frame barn, expenditures on the farm for breaking, &c., leaves something over $30,000 besides the farm.

The Institution is managed by a Board of Trustees which are appointed by the Legislature, one being taken from each Judicial district in the State, and embracing the Governor and President of the State Agricultural Society, being in all thirteen members. This Board serves without pay for their services, but are allowed mileage, same as members of the Legislature. Its officers are a President, pro tem., a Secretary and Treasurer, and an Executive Committee of three to act during the interim of the meetings of the Board.

It was expected that the Legislature of 1860 would have made an appropriation sufficient to commence the erection of suitable College buildings, but as the financial condition of the State would not justify it, an appropriation was not asked for nor was one made. At the session of 1862 an appropriation was not expected as the whole finances of the State were needed to meet the extraordinary expenditures incident to the suppression of the rebellion. Hence, nothing has been added to its prospective revenues. Since the Institution was organized, and for want of necessary means to build a suitable edifice to open a College the Board did not feel justified in using what they had to commence a building when they had not sufficient to finish it; but they have done what they deemed prudent in

opening a farm and erecting thereon buildings suited to a dwelling for a farmer and to shelter the crops, grain and animals used and fed upon it. It has never, however, been farmed except by a tenant, which was leased to him for a money rent for two years, and for a third of the product of the farm, for the third year, yielding altogether about $850, with an average of 100 acres under cultivation per annum. There is under cultivation now 147 acres.

The barn erected on the farm is a very substantial frame, 42 by 60 feet in size, upon a gentle slope of ground, with underground stables, built with heavy stone walls on three sides, eight feet high, 16 feet posts, with floor lengthwise, so that any length can be added at the south end.

The brick work of a Farmers' House, 32 by 42 feet, two stories high, with pantries and kitchen back, 16 by 24, one and a half stories, also brick, have been erected during the past two years. There is attached to this a wash-room, milkroom and wood-shed, 24 by 24, one story, of wood. The back buildings were erected in 1860 and finished; the front building was put up in 1861 at a cost of $950, besides the cellar and the brick. The inside of the main building is now being finished at a cost of about $700. It will be completed early in the Spring. Each story is nine feet high, of good brick on solid stone walls, with a cellar under the whole of the house.

Beyond the expenditures necessary to place the farm under a fair state of cultivation, the Trustees did not feel justified in making appropriations from the limited amount in their hands, but preferred reserving the best of the assets for an endowment to meet the expenses of the Institution when in operation, hoping that when it had the ability, the State would make the needed appropriation for College buildings. But during all this time the people of the State generally supposed that buildings were erecting and that the College would soon be opened to the public, and many applications have been made to receive students. Had it not been for the extraordinary condition of the financial matters of the State, such would doubtless have been the situation of the Institution on the opening of the present year, now about five years since the purchase of the College Farm. If all this could not have been done, a general expectation, or hope at least, was felt by its friends generally, that the farm would be opened for experimental husbandry. Even this could not be accomplished under the circumstances without involving an expenditure which was thought would not be justified by the people of the State, unless the College Institution was fully provided for.

In July, 1862, Congress appropriated to the several loyal States in the Union, for Agricultural Colleges, 30,000 acres of land, for each Senator and Representative in Congress. The amount under this grant, to the State of Iowa, was 240,000 acres. Any State accepting this grant is required by the terms of the grant to erect the necessary College buildings, without using any of the proceeds of the lands for that purpose, within five years from the time of the acceptance of the grant. The State of Iowa, at the Special Session in September, 1862, accepted this grant, with this and other conditions imposed therein. The lands have been selected by an agent every way competent, appointed by the Governor, and approved by the Board of Trustees of the College, as required by the accepting law of the State, and the Governor has forwarded the list of selections to the proper officer at Washington, for approval. As these selections were made under the instructions of the General Government, and in conformity therewith, they will doubtless be confirmed at an early day. They embrace some of the best unentered lands in the State, and when prepared for sale will command the attention of immigrants. As the interest on the proceeds of the sales of these lands is exclusively donated to meet the annual expenditures of the Institution, with a small exception for the purchase of lands on which to locate the buildings, there will be a fund soon created to sustain the Institution.

This munificent grant having relieved the Board from any anxiety in regard to the future endowment of the Institution, they felt that a portion of the reserved assets might safely be used to place the farm in a condition to experiment upon crops, the purchase of several of the leading races of improved animals of all kinds, and testing their value by crossing on native breeds, best mode of feeding, shelter, &c., and in beautifying the farm with useful trees and shrubbery, and preparing fully for the work contemplated in the establishment of such an Institution; the selection of a scientific farmer to take charge of the farm and the experiments required thereon, a committee of the Board have had under their charge

during the past year, but could not come to any definite conclusion, neither did the Board take any action on this matter, but left the appointment of a Superintendent open until a day early in the Spring, when it will be absolutely necessary to make a selection to commence work on the farm.

Such is a brief history of the Institution under the management of the Board of Trustees which is almost exclusively confined to the farm and the operations thereon. The next point is the College proper, and the course of studies to be pursued therein, which are specified in the organic law as follows, with some other provisions in regard to the reception of students, &c.

SEC. 15. The course of instruction in said College shall include the following branches, to-wit: Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, Botany, Horticulture, Fruit Growing, Forestry, Animal and Vegetable Anatomy, Geology, Mineralogy, Meteorology, Entomology, Zoology, the Veterinary Art, plain Mensuration, Leveling, Surveying, Book Keeping and such mechanical arts as are directly connected with Agriculture. Also, such other studies as the Trustees may from time to time prescribe, not inconsistent with the purposes of this act.

SEC. 16. The Board of Trustees shall establish such Professorships as they may deem best to carry into effect the provisions of this act.

SEC. 17. Tuition in the College herein established shall be forever free to pupils from this State over fourteen years of age and who have been residents of the State six months previous to their admission. Applicants for admission must be of good moral character, able to read and write the English language with ease and correctness, and also to pass a satisfactory examination in the fundamental rules of arithmetic.

SEC. 18. The Trustees upon consultation with the professors and teachers shall, from time to time, establish rules regulating the number of hours, to be not less than two in winter and three in summer, which shall be devoted to manual labor, and the compensation therefor; and no student shall be exempt from such labor except in case of sickness or other infirmity.

The inquiry will naturally be made in regard to the cost of educating and sustaining a scholar in the College for one year. In the Farmer's College of Pennsylvania, the price for board, lodging, washing, fuel and lights, is fixed at $100 per annum. The cost in our institution would not exceed this sum, from which would be deducted the amount credited for labor on the farm. The tuition is made free by law.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES.

The following persons compose the Board of Trustees for 1864 President-Suel Foster, of Muscatine county.

Secretary-Wm. Duane Wilson, of Polk county.

Treasurer-M. W. Robinson, of Des Moines county.

Peter Melendy, of Black Hawk county.

W. J. Graham, of Story county.

C. E. Whiting, of Monona county.
Thomas Holyoke, of Powesheik county.
J. A. Bronson, of Jones county.
John McDonough, of Clarke county.
John Thompson, of Appanoose county.
Peter L. Hinckley, of Fayette county.

EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS:

Wm. M. Stone, Governor, of Marion county.

Geo. G. Wright, Prest. State Agl. Society, of Van Buren county.

CONGRESS GRANT OF LANDS FOR AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES.

The act of the Legislature accepting the grant of lands to the State of Iowa for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts,

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