condition of this State Institution, would report that in company with the President of this Society and members of the Executive Committee, with other prominent agriculturists of the State, we visited the College on Wednesday, June 13, 1883, and were cordially received by its president and faculty, who were untiring in their efforts to give us every opportunity to view the College in all its departments. We spent the day in examining the buildings, the grounds, the stock, the grain, grapes, and fruits, as well as the departments of Education, and found them in complete order, and we see no reason, with the ample provision made by the State for the encouragement of the science of agriculture and a thorough knowledge of all its branches, why the young men and ladies of this State who desire a practical education should not avail themselves of its privileges. In the annual visits of this Society to the College, your Committee believe that improvements are being made and the Agricultural College is attaining that standing which is a credit to the agriculturist of the State of Michigan, and every effort should be made on the part of this Society to aid the State Board of Agriculture in their efforts to make this a model institution, for its practical instruction in the science of agriculture.

All of which is respectfully submitted.

WM. CHAMBERLAIN.
A. F. WOOD.
JOHN LESSITER.

In the report of Hon. C. G. Luce, Master of the Michigan State Grange, presented to the National Grange on the second day of the session in Washington, in December, 1883, he says:

"For several years our State Grange has appointed a standing committee upon the Agricultural College, with instructions to visit the institutes when in session, examine, commend, criticise, or suggest as in their judgment the case requires. This course has brought the Grange and College into very close and very friendly relations. This has done much to strengthen the college with the public. And to-day it is not claiming too much to say that it rests on as solid a foundation as any of our institutions. It now ranks with any of them in confidence, esteem, and usefulness, in a State that we believe to be justly proud of its educational and charitable institutions.

"The farmers are more and more, each year, taking charge of it. This is true of the people at large, on the board of agriculture, and in the Legislature. More and more they are feeling that it is our college. The whole number of students in attendance during the year 1882 was 216. The average for ten years has been very nearly 200. A large number of these never complete the course. Some of them come in as specials, to study some specific subject. And some commence with the intention of completing the course, but for various reasons fall out by the way. The whole number of graduates in the twenty-three classes, has been 272. The smallest graduating class was in 1862, consisting of only five students. The largest was in 1881. and consisted of thirty-three. Of the 272 graduates, 103 are farmers, 60 others are engaged in various industrial pursuits; 109 are in the profession, or engaged in commercial pursuits, Of course all of the graduates are comparatively young men. "It is too early to take the full measure of their success, or want of it. More than seventy of these graduates are on farms in the State of Michigan. I enjoy the personal acquaintance of many of them, and know that they are adding materially to the intellectual forces to be found on the farms. And they are thus aiding the tillers of the soil, in building upon the only real solid foundation, knowledge. I venture the assertion that full as many of these students remain on the farms as would have done so if they had not enjoyed the benefits of a college education, and many more than would have done so if they had graduated at our University, While there is still room for improvement, as all will admit, yet we do know that our college is doing much to educate the farmers of the State. And we shall hail with delight the day when graduates of the Michigan Agricultural College are to be found on the farms in every neighborhood and township. No one now questions that it was the height of wisdom to maintain it as a distinct agricultural school, with its one single department."

NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL CONVENTION.

The Hon. George B. Loring, United States Commissioner of Agriculture, called a series of several conventions on various departments of agricultural

practice, in Washington, in December, 1882, and again in December, 1883. To the first series of conventions the Hon. F. Wells, and Secretary R. G. Baird were sent as delegates; to the last series the president of the college was sent. Full stenographic reports of each series have been published by the Department of Agriculture, making an extended account of them in this place unnecessary.

The conventions called together a large number of gentlemen distinguished in their several branches of agricultural study and practice, and I believe it is the universal opinion of the delegates that these conventions have been of essential service in awakening interest in various important desiderata of agricultural practice, and directing effort toward their, elucidation.

While I was at Washington action was taken having reference to securing government aid to carry on agricultural experiments at the various agricultural colleges, and the following circular, prepared by President Knapp of the Iowa Agricultural College, has been circulated.

A very important measure to aid practical science is now pending before Congress. On the 10th of December, 1883, the Hon. A. J. Holmes, of Iowa, introduced a bill "To establish National Experiment Stations in connection with the Agricultural Colleges of the various States."

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That in order to enable the Department of Agriculture to fulfill the design and perform the duties for which it was established, as declared in the organic act creating the said Department, to-wit, “ to acquire and diffuse among the people of the United States useful information on subjects connected with agriculture in the most general sense of that word, and to procure, propagate, and distribute among the people new and valuable seeds and plants," institutions shall be established in connection with each of the agricultural colleges in the States providing such colleges, with an improved farm in connection therewith, and placed under the conduct of such colleges, to be called and known as "national experiment stations."

SEC. 2. That it shall be the object and design of the said national experiment stations to conduct original researches or verify reported experiments on the physiology of plants and animals, the diseases to which they are severally subject, with the remedies for the same; the chemical composition of useful plants at their different stages of growth; the comparative advantages of rotative cropping as pursued under a varying series of crops; the capacity of new plants or trees for acclimation within the isothermal limits represented by the climate of the several stations and their vicinity; the analysis of soils and waters; the chemical composition of manures, natural or artificial, with experiments designed to test their comparative values for raising crops of different kinds; the composition and digestibility of the different kinds of food for cattle; the scientific and economic questions in the production of butter and cheese; and all other researches of experiments bearing directly on the agricultural industry of the United States.

SEC. 3. That the said experiment stations shall be placed under the general control of the regents or trustees of said agricultural colleges, who shall have power to employ a professor for each agricultural college who shall act as superintendent of the experiment stations established under this act.

SEC. 4. That the said professors shall make such reports to the Commissioner of Agriculture from time to time as he may direct. The general character of the work and of the experiments to be performed at each station shall be determined by the Commissioner of Agriculture, the president of the college where the station is located, and the professor in charge of said station.

SEC. 5. That to each agricultural college providing for experiment stations under this act, to pay the salaries of the professors and superintendents of the said experiment stations, the wages of the laborers employed in their operations, and the cost of the experiments and researches connected with their conduct as heretofore specified, the sum of fifteen thousand dollars is hereby appropriated out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, or so much thereof as may be necessary to cover expenditures actually made for said purposes; the money to be drawn quarterly from the treasury of the United States, upon a certified statement of the amounts actually expended at each station, properly indorsed by the college board of audit, the professor in charge, and the Commissioner of Agriculture.

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SEC. 6. That upon the passage of this act, before the agricultural college in any State can draw any funds as provided, the legislature of such State shall pass an act accepting such trust and agreeing to conduct an experiment station in accordance therewith.

In the 47th Congress the Hon. C. C. Carpenter, of Iowa, introduced a bill. substantially the same as the foregoing, which was referred to the committee on Agriculture. At a meeting of the delegates from the several Agricultural and Mechanical Colleges, called by Commissioner Loring, for January, 1883, this bill was perfected as here printed, and the following standing committee was appointed by Dr. Loring to have the matter in charge:

President Knapp, of Iowa,

President Abbot, of Michigan,

President Peabody, of Illinois,

President Chadbourn, of Massachusetts,

President Lee, of Mississippi.

In the 48th Congress this bill was promptly introduced by Hon. A. J. Holmes, of Iowa.-H. R. 447.

It should not be necessary at this time to enter into a discussion of the value of agricultural experiment stations. The importance of a body of scientific experts and observers in the leading industries, has been fully recognized in Europe, and their beneficial labors are understood by well informed men in this country. In the United States we have the anomaly, among enlightened nations, of a people, the prosperity of which depends largely upon sustaining agriculture, and upon eliminating from it the uncertainties of production, failing to support their interests and deflecting their school funds almost entirely to other lines of education.

With no agricultural instruction in the common schools of the country, what can one or two stations on the Atlantic coast do towards educating half a continent in the broad domain of agriculture? As well might a single cannon, planted on Bunker's Hill, defend the seaboard cities of the nation from the combined attack of the navies of the world.

There are, therefore, many important reasons why this hill ought to become a law; to some of which allow me to call public attention:

1st. The diversity in climatic conditions in the United States is so great that any attempt, by a single station, to give information of general value, must be limited to pure scientific statements, so narrow as to fail in accomplishing the work designed; or allowing greater latitudes of advice, such statements would be misleading in most sections of the country. The fruit trees, many of the forest trees, the wheats, the corn, the oats, etc., adapted to the Atlantic States, are totally unsuited to Iowa, and to nearly all that great territory between the Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains; and a positive damage has been done to this mid-continent section by the distribution of the plants and seeds suited to a moist climate. A similar statement may be made in regard to other sections of the United States.

This diversity in climatic conditions is sogre at as to include not only the plants, but all that relates to their production, the sales and the methods of retaining or restoring their fertility and nearly all the processes in the wide domain of husbandry. 2d. The distribution of seeds and plants, to be valuable, must be done with intelligent reference to the requirements of the several localities to which they are sent. Marked climatic differences frequently exist within the limits of a State, requiring close discrimination in the disemination of plants.

3d. The domain for experiment is very wide, covering such countless things and details as to almost overwhelm the investigator upon the threshold of his inquiries. Judicious selection from the multitude, is of primary necessity, and an experiment station is valuable in proportion to its considerate selection of the more important lines of agricultural investigations, and its devotion to them of most careful attention. Agriculture in the United States is so diversified that it requires stations devoted to the specialties of the several divisions, and so located as to make the tests under conditions similar to those in the districts to be benefited.

To intelligently carry out the purposes for which the Department of Agriculture was created, to wit: "To acquire and diffuse among the people of the United States, useful information on subjects connected with agriculture, in the most general sense of the word, and to procure, propagate, and distribute among the people, new and valuable seeds and plants," requires that experiment stations be established in every State; and it remains only to notice some of the features of this bill.

It is not presumed that any one favorable to station work will object to sections one and two of this bill.

The union of the stations with the several Agricultural Colleges, is based on the following reasons:

1st. Economy. Each college has buildings and apparatus (including farm) for such purposes, which could not be specially provided for many thousands of dollars.

It has its organized board of trustees and a faculty that can give important aid. 2d. The investigations would be of great benefit to the students of the colleges as object lessons, and would perfect and give practical value to the work of the colleges, as contemplated in the original law creating them.

Section 4 wisely gives to the Commissioner of Agriculture such a relation to these stations as will systematize their work throughout the United States, and will avoid too much repetition of experiments at different stations.

To the great work of establishing Agricultural Experiment Stations, we invite the attention of the thoughtful men of this country, and ask their aid, so far as they can indorse the views here presented. Respectfully,

S. A. KNAPP, President of the Iowa Agricultural College, and Chairman of the committee, appointed by the Department of Agriculture, on experiment stations at the several Agricultural Colleges.

The matter of experiment stations has been discussed in the State agricultural societies, the State grange, and in the pomological and horticultural societies of the State, and an earnest desire expressed that such a one should be established. I find in a published address before the pomological society at Allegan, February 19, 1884, by Mr. A. J. Bracelin, a student in the college in 1867 and 1868, a portion of a letter of mine, giving my idea of the relation of an experimental station to the college, which I take the liberty to transcribe. Mr. Bracelin says:

I have conferred with President Abbot, and take pleasure in submitting to you his estimate of such a department and his plan of how it should be conducted. He says: "You ask. Would a farmer's experiment station, added to our agricultural college, be beneficial to the practical farmer and horticulturist?' The term 'experiment station' is somewhat vague, but I have no hesitation in saying that, in the sense in which I understand it, such a station is highly desirable. I would not think it well for the college, however it might be with the science of agriculture, to plant here an experiment station to be conducted independently of the various departments at the college, and of their separate heads; but if the term means such an enlargement of force and means as would enable our officers greatly to extend their experimental work, I say yes. We have ordinarily done at this college, I believe, more experimenting than any simply experiment station in the United States. It is rather an extension of our work than a superseding of it by a foreign set of workers with new laboratories, that seems to me to be needed. Take for example chemistry. Artificial fertilizers are beginning to be used in this state more than ever before, especially, perhaps, by horticulturists. Now, many of the experiments that would naturally be tried would require the joint efforts of a skillful, well-read horticulturist, and of a chemist. We have three, and under their directions and immediate oversight. young graduates could do the work which would otherwise call for separate men of high attainments and salaries. I do not speak of the government inspection of phosphates and other fertilizers offered for sale, because any good chemist, authorized by the State courts, would suffice, probably, for that simply; and yet there might be an advantage in having that work done in a place where any practical question might receive a practical test. Such inspection forms a large part of what is done in many experiment stations.

"But if the questions before an experiment station were such, and involved one, as the source of nitrogen in plants-such as Dr. Kedzie has been engaged in-what could such a station do? The persons competent to perform such experiments are so very few that a small number of stations would exhaust the supply in the country, and an independent station of such investigation would require laboratories, apparatus, and a high-priced chemist, and might as well be in one place as another. My plan would be to give our chemist, who is one of the few competent men, all the skilled help he needs, and such a limited field of labor that he can do the work. One head, of course, must plan and direct, while much detail work could be done by such graduates as develop an aptitude for the work, while not improbably such practice here might develop and bring into the field, in time,

Dr. Beal recom

independent and skilled investigators. Take another example. mends, for good reasons, the trial of some of the not so well known grasses. Experience has shown that seeds true to name are only to be got when you have a competent botanist to distinguish them. Now, professional botanists are few, but we could here easily find graduates who, under proper instructions, could learn to make an inspection of seeds. Would it not be better and more economical to have such necessary inspection done here, with a botanist known to be competent, than to set up an independent station under new officers? Here, too, the botanist and the horticulturist, or the professor of agriculture, could act in unison. These are illustrations. When our professor of agriculture experimented in ensilage, he employed graduates to take immediate charge of feeding and weighing. When Dr. Kedzie experimented with sorghum he had some of the work and some of the analyses made by graduates. It might be necessary, in experimenting in fruit trees and nurseries, to go a few miles away from the college for suitable sites; but in the main we have both men and facilities, and only need the larger force and outlay to make right here the experiment station which is desired."

Commissioner Loring was freely consulted as to some plan for the establishment of such stations, and his hearty sympathy and good sense were of essential service in making out a trial plan, such as is given above.

Some such plan seems to be the best that has been devised to give some unity and sufficient aid to the attempt to transform agriculture from an empirical art to a true science.

T. C. ABBOT,

President.

REPORT OF THE PROFESSOR OF AGRICULTURE AND SUPERINTENDENT OF THE FARM.

To the President of the College:

I herewith submit my report of the work of the Farm Department, for the College year, ending September 30, 1883:

INSTRUCTION.

The Freshman class, in two divisions, met me daily during the spring term for lectures on drainage, breeds of domesticated animals, their characteristics and adaptation to particular purposes. The interest of the class in the subjects discussed was a matter of encouragement to me. Not a single member failed to pass a satisfactory examination at the close of the term. The class room instruction was supplemented by visits to the barnyard, where our best specimens of the different breeds were critically examined, their defects as well as good points noted and each member of the class was required to mark the animal according to the approved scale of points adopted by the leading breeders.

During the summer term I lectured daily to the Seniors on the Principles. of Stock Breeding, the Feeding of Animals, Rotation of Crops, Farm Buildings and Implements, Manures, Farm Economy, the Law and the Literature of the Farm.

During the present term I am lecturing alternate days to the Sophomores. This is a new arrangement, but one which I have desired ever since my connection with the College. In my last report I said "the Sophomores are now and have been for years assigned to the farm for labor the entire year; but as Professsor of Agriculture I do not have a single opportunity to see them in class