at the west end of the plain, being a part of the old sheep-pasture and badly overgrown with moss. Quite a quantity of rocks have been taken out of the field just northeast of the barn. The avenue has been cleared from brush and the grade stakes set out for constructing a drive way. It is proposed to remove the surface soil for fifteen feet in width and use the small stone of the cross walls in making a road-bed, and with proper attention to drainage we hope to have a dry, firm driveway. A good pair of horses six years old and weighing 2,600 lbs. have been purchased, also a cow. Some farming tools and wagons have been provided, and others will be bought later. WANTS OF THE EXPERIMENT STATION. To fully equip the Experiment Station requires the construction of a laboratory and barn, plans for the former of which are now completed. The design calls for a stone building constructed from the material on the farm, the main building 45x19 feet and two stories high, with two wings each 32x19 feet and one story high, with basement under the whole. The main building will be used for office, collection rooms, etc. The wings are provided with flues, retorts, etc.. for chemical work. To construct this building in a substantial manner will require nearly if not quite $10,000. Designs for a barn are not yet made. By the condition of the Hatch Act, $3,000 of the first annual appropriation paid to any State by the United States may be used for building purposes, and this sum the Board deem sufficient to build the necessary additions to the existing barn and repair the sheds, etc., including the work already done to the barn on the plain. Therefore to place the Experiment Station on a substantial basis the Board of Managers would respectfully ask the General Assembly to appropriate the sum of $10,000 with which to construct a laboratory and otherwise provide for the efficient conduct of the Rhode Island State Agricultural Experiment Station. Once established it is expected provide for the wants of the the annual grant from Congress will Station. THE STATE AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL to be organized when the appropriation made for the purpose becomes available will require for its development a school building to accommodate from thirty to fifty students with facilities for boarding, laundry, etc., also recitation rooms' and reading rooms. This building will certainly be needed by another year. It is also hoped that the State or friends of the institution will provide the facilities for INDUSTRIAL TRAINING in the mechanic arts, which would require an appropriate building, boiler, engine and machinery. A knowledge of wood and iron working is valuable to the farmer, enabling him oftentimes to save both time and money, and such a department would afford valuable training during the winter months when manual work on the farm is difficult to provide. Finally, the Board would respectfully urge that in their opinion the agricultural and mechanical interests of the State will best be promoted by appropriating the income from the Fund obtained from the sale of the Agricultural College Land Scrip to the Rhode Island State Agricultural School, believing that the University having over sixty scholarships of $1,000 each and upward endowed by private benefactors is in no sense dependent upon the income from the Land Grant Fund for any measure of its prosperity, while to the infant Agricultural School it will prove of great assistance. To this end the Board would recommend that your Honorable Body take such action as shall prevent any further appointment of State beneficiaries to Brown University, and shall, as soon as those now receiving the aid of the income from the fund have graduated or ceased to attend college, cause the Land Grant Fund to be an endowment for the Rhode Island State Agricultural School and the income thereon ayailable for its support. That there is a DEMAND FOR SUCH A SCHOOL is shown by the fact that last September, nearly twice as many young men applied for admission to Storr's School at Mansfield, Conn., as could be accommodated. There is also a demand for men as teachers and investigators in special lines related to agriculture-such men as these schools and agricultural colleges educate. The recent statement of the chemist of the Bureau of Agriculture that in the event of the manufacture of sorghum sugar becoming commercially practicable, more people will be immediately needed for the scientific work connected therewith than the whole number who are now competent and available is evidence that the field of the natural sciences is not over crowded with workers. This day is perhaps not far distant, for the average per cent. of sugar in beets in the early history of the beet sugar industry was about six per cent. and by judicious selection of seed grown from beets known to contain a higher per cent. of sugar the average per cent. has been raised to a very profitable point. The prospect is encouraging that these same facts may be realized in the case of sorghum industry. The Board are unanimously of the opinion that the hearty support of the State in organizing and equipping the Rhode Island Agricultural School will be appreciated by the citizens of the State, result in great good to the agricultural and mechanical industries of the State and thus to the benefit of all. Respectfully submitted, CHAS. O. FLAGG, MELVILLE BULL, C. A. SHIPPEE, CHANDLER H. COGGESHALL. |