To the Board of Trustees: Your committee organized by selecting J. W. Garner as chairman and C. M. Dunbar as secretary. The first meeting of the committee was held on March 14, when three preliminary questions presented themselves for discussion: 1st, How many assistants should be employed to enable the director to carry out the spirit of the law of Congress? 2d, Whether land should be purchased for the station, or whether a part or all of the College farm should be taken for experimental purposes? 3d, What kind and how large a building should be erected? It seemed very clear to your committee that section 2 of the act of congress establishing experiment stations requires the employment of a chemist versed in agricultural chemistry, and with considerable experience in conducting experiments therein. The capacity of new plants or trees for acclimation, and the adaptation and value of grasses and forage plants for culture, also mentioned therein, require the constant observation and experiments of a botanist skilled in that line of investigation. Destructive insects and the new enemies to all kinds of crops multiplying so rapidly yearly, demand the uninterrupted watchfulness and study of an experienced entomologist, to ascertain how to prevent their ravages and to point out how they may be exterminated. In providing for keeping the work of the station in the main separate from that of the College, it was not the intention of your committee to interfere with the power delegated to the director by the report of the committee appointed at the November meeting, 1887, and adopted by the Board in February last. He still can employ and compensate the heads of the different departments for pursuing special lines of investigation, and preparing reports for the quarterly bulletins. After consultation with Director Speer and President Chamberlain, your committee assigned about 120 acres from the west side of the College farm to the station, the station to be at the expense of changing fences and keeping the same in repair, and to pay an annual rental of $200. We have contracted for the erection of a two-story frame building, with propagating house attached, for the use of the station as office and laboratories. We employed Messrs. Foster & Liebbe, architects, of Des Moines, to draw plans and specifications and advertise for proposals for building. Seven different proposals for the erection of the same were received, as follows: The contract was let to Smith & Tusant, of Des Moines, for $3,380, they having been the lowest bidders. They have filed a satisfactory bond for the faithful performance of the contract, and to complete the same before June 30th. It has been the aim of the committee to employ the best scientific talent obtainable for the different departments of the station. With that end in view Director Speer was authorized to correspond with well known scientists, asking for recommendations and suggestions of suitable persons. After receiving a large number of recommendations and applications, the committee, by a unanimous vote, selected Mr. G. C. Patrick of Orono, Maine, as chemist at a salary of $2,000, from April 15, 1888. Mr. A. A Crozier, of the department of agriculture, Washington, D. C., as botanist, at a salary of $1,800, from April 1, 1888. Mr. P. C. Gillett, of Lansing, Michigan, as entomologist, at a salary of $1,600, from May 15, 1888. In making the above selections preference was given to persons who had paid special attention to the particular lines of investigation required by the station. Teams, implements and seeds have been bought and Director Speer and President Chamberlain have been authorized to purchase the necessary chemical and biological apparatus and supplies, and also the library for the station. The limit placed on the amount to be expended in buildings by the act of congress making the appropriation, caused the committee to build somewhat smaller than it would otherwise have done, and to build of frame instead of brick. However, we think the building will answer the needs of the station and be an ornament to our grounds. act Respectfully submitted, J. W. GARNER, The report was adopted and the committee given full power to upon all matters in connection with the station. A question having arisen in regard to the interpretation of certain sections of the congressional act, an official interpretation of these sections by the comptroller of the treasury was obtained. The following are the principal points in this decision: 1. Under section 237 of the revised statutes of the United States, all appropriations for agricultural experiment stations and all expenditures and accounts of the same, must be for and limited by the fiscal year of the United States government, which ends June 30th. 2. The quarterly payments to stations are held to be, not in advance, but for the calendar and fiscal quarters next preceding the days specified for the payments. The payment of July 1st should, therefore, be regarded as belonging to the quarter ending the day before, and should be included in the account for the year ending the 30th of June. 3. The annual reports of stations, which are due "annually, on or before the first day of February" * “including a statement of receipts * * and expenditures," may very properly include in the "reports," full description of operations for the previous calendar year, but financial 'statements" should be only for the fiscal year last preceding. 46 4. The portion of funds unexpended, which reverts, as provided by section 6 of the act of congress approved March 2, 1887, will be the balance at the close of the fiscal year, as shown by the statement above described. The decision of the comptroller leaves the station without any working capital during the first quarter of each U. S. fiscal year, (commencing July 1st,) and causes, of course, great inconvenience in the station work. The reports of the station committee to the Board of Trustees, made in August and November, 1888, may be summarized as follows: 1. Changes in the station building, costing $92, were authorized by the committee. 2. The completed building was examined by the committee and Architect Foster on June 25th, and found to comply with the contract, plans and specifications. It was thereupon accepted. 3. Director Speer, acting under the authority of the committee, procured tables, book-shelves and other furniture; purchased a gas machine known as the Detroit Combination Gas Machine, for the purpose of lighting the building and furnishing the gas to the chemical laboratory; put in water tanks, pipes and a force pump to supply the entire building with water and bought a heating apparatus for heating both the main building and the propagating house. The law of congress establishing the experiment stations provides that only $3,000 of the first annual appropriation, and $750 of each subsequent annual appropriation, can be used for the erection or repair of station buildings. The board of audit being in doubt as to whether the heating apparatus purchased by Director Speer could be considered as furniture, a letter was addressed by him to the Attorney-General making the following statement of the case: I have bought and placed two of Hitching's portable hot water heaters on the cellar floor of the station building. From one of them hot water passes up through the floor through pipes to radiators, which stand on the floor. and returns through other pipes to the base of the heater. No part of the heaters or pipes are fastened to the building by nails, screws or other materals. From the other heater hot water pipes pass through the propagating houses and rest on iron chairs without being in any manner attached to the Would it be lawful for me to pay for this heating apparatus out of the part of the appropriation intended to be used for other purposes than station buildings? same. Attorney-General Baker, in his reply, says: Taking your statement as a basis of facts, I would say that the heaters would be no more a part of the realty than an ordinary stove with pipes running through partitions and into flues would be. It is simply furniture, and not fixtures. The special powers granted the committee on experiment station, placing the full management of the station in their hands, were continued during the College fiscal year of 1889. At the close of that year, the station having been firmly established, these powers were revoked; the committee was made subject to the approval and direction of the Board the same as other standing committees, and both the committee and director were required to report to the Board. The unexpended balance to the credit of the station, together with all sums which may be received from the national government or from other sources for said station during the College fiscal year of 1890, were appropriated by the Board to the support of the station. The resignation of Mr. Crozier, botanist of the station, to take effect July 1, 1889, was presented and accepted; otherwise the working force of the station remains as already stated. The work accomplished by the station during the biennial period, together with an exhibit of the expenditures on account thereof, are fully set forth in the bulletins issued by the department, and in the report of the director, found on page 30. PUBLIC GROUNDS. Permission was granted by the Board to the treasurer, Herman Knapp, to erect on the College grounds a residence and out-buildings. For this purpose there was leased to him for ten years, with the privilege of renewal, one acre of ground at an annual rental of one dollar. It was directed that the lease should provide: that the buildings erected should be satisfactory to the building committee; that they should be kept in repair; that a failure so to do should work a forfeiture of the lease; and that said residence should not be rented to any party except with the consent of the Board of Trustees. It was ordered by the Board that the barn in the rear of south hall be set apart as a tool room and stable, in charge of the faculty committee on public grounds. Provision was made for the construction of a road sixteen and one-half feet wide running from the cemetery gate due east until intersecting the road running north from the College. The committee on public grounds were directed to take charge of the same. This department is not supported in any way by College funds. It is managed by the Board of Trustees for the benefit of the students, and all its expenses are met from the income derived from the sales of books and stationery. During the last two years it has been under the charge of the treasurer, who is allowed $100 per annum as compensation for such service, and who gives a bond ap proved by the Board in the penal sum of $1,000. The following summary shows its financial condition: Inventory November, 1887: Stock on hand... CASH ACCOUNT. DR. Cash on hand at beginning of biennial period..... CR. Cash, paid for. school-books, stationery, express, .$ 1,029.04 $ 739.36 6,899.86 .$ 6,700.45 Total assets at beginning of the biennial period..... $1,768.40 2,045.39 Treasurer Knapp is continued in charge of the department at the salary hitherto allowed. BOARDING DEPARTMENT. The Board of Trustees elect the steward, approve his bond and examine his accounts. The funds of the boarding department are, however, kept separate from those of the College, and do not enter into the accounts of the treasurer. The department is not strictly a College department, but is managed by the Board in trust for the students. During the past two years it has been under the charge of Captain J. R. Lincoln, who receives therefor a salary of $1,000 and board during the school year. He gives a bond of |