means of illustration are at hand. Therefore the institution shouid have a large and select museum. It should contain samples of all the standard and new varieties of wheat, barley, oats, corn, rye, flax, beans, specimens of the grasses, and of any other vegetable products that can be preserved. It should exhibit the different hand implements used in agriculture and horticulture and models of the larger machines. Not merely the best of these, but those also that are not so good, in order that the two may be compared and their differences explained. It should also contain drawings, engravings or portraits of things that cannot be preserved, or cannot be obtained, and of such others as it may be desirable to have thus represented. With these things at the command of the instructor, twenty minutes of explanation will be better than one hour's skillful description. Moreover, no intelligent persen will be able to visit the museum without carrying away some new ideas that will be of service to him.

Stock. The stock, like the museum, is to be kept for purposes of instruction and illustration. For in no class of farm property is improvement more needed than in live stock. Yet probably not one farmer in five knows a Devon, an Ayrshire or a Jersey, when he sees one or the circumstances and uses to which each ls suited. Or, if he does know these things, it is only from heresay, and, having no stronger evidence, he takes no active interest. I would have good representatives of the Shorthorn, Ayrshire, Jersey, Gallaway and Devon breeds of cattle; Cotswold, Leicester, Merino and Southdown breeds of sheep; Berkshire, Poland China, Essex and Suffolk breeds of swine; the different breeds of poultry and two or three breeds of horses. There should be both males and females in order that the characteristics of the sexes may be shown, the principles of breeding illustrated and income derived.

It

Experimentation.-All concede that one duty of the agriculture college is to conduct experiments. Thus it may indicate the varieties of grain, fruit and vegetables best adapted to soil and climate, the fertilizers best adapted to the needs of crop and soil, the best modes of feeding, &c. should test new varieties and decide the dozens of questions that occur in the experience of every farmer. The results should not be confined to official reports but should be given to the press to be scattered broadcast among the farmers.

Farm. For experiments and the support of the stock a

farm is required. To carry out the details of this plan it should consist of not less than 250 acres. A certain portion should be set aside for such experiments as require but small areas, while other experiments requiring larger areas may be conducted on the portion devoted to stock. This farm should be conducted without extravagance or show. Sufficient money and labor should be expended to accomplish the purposes it is intended to serve-support of stock, experiment, instruction and illustration. The best methods. of cultivation should be pursued, the best modes of feeding should be practiced, and the buildings, to consist of house and barns, should be models for their purposes.

Gardens, &c.-In the horticultural department there must be vegetables, fruit and flower gardens, plant houses, nursery, orchard and forestry. In these, varieties are to be tested and the student is to see performed and also perform with his own hands, all the operations incident to their management, such as planting, transplanting, budding, grafting, pruning, &c.

Labor and Practice.-Each student in this college should be required to perform a sufficient amount of labor to attain some degree of skill in all the operations of agriculture and horticulture. For this labor he should receive no remuneration. But when he has acquired sufficient skill, if he choose to continue the work, he should receive what his services are actually worth, and the same for work requiring no special skill. Student labor should be preferred when it can be obtained.

Accounts. This plan contemplates a comprehensive, thorough and minute, yet simple, system of records and accounts, so that at the end of the year it will be the work of a moment only to find the conditions and the results of each experiment or set of experiments, or the expenditures and receipts of any division of the farm or gardens. The students should be thoroughly practiced in keeping these records and ac

counts.

Extra Course of Lectures.-I have examined and considered the plan for an extra course of lectures, projected by this institution, to extend through the winter mouths, the same to be open to all comers without fees or preparatory examinations, and cannot recommend it too highly. As a means of instruction it will be superior to the "institute" system and it will prove an excellent substitute for the shorter courses of study in agriculture that some institutions are offering. The young farmer who would neg

lect to attend would not consult his best interests, and he who could derive no benefit from such attendance must be wise indeed.

PRESENT PLAN.

The plan adopted for the present is substantially the above with some omissions and modifications. The condition and size of the farm, and the want of a barn and sufficient funds, preclude the stock feature. The same causes will compel the location of gardens, nursery, orchard and experimental grounds to be made temporarily and not permanently. Neither will immediate perfection be achieved in any of these branches.

WORK FOR THE COMING SEASON.

The plans of the work for the coming season have not yet been completed. They will, however, include the following: additions to the library of agricultural and horticultural works; the collection and arrangement of a museum; sets of experiments, in continuation of those performed the past season, to ascertain the comparative yields of different varieties of wheat, barley, oats, corn, potatoes, mangolds, turnips and beans; sets of experiments to ascertain the effect of different fertilizers upon these crops; beginning of a new nursery; laying out and planting vegetable and fruit gardens and testing varieties therein; stocking the plant house; and drainage of a portion of the farm.

NEEDS.

The needs of this deparment are varied and numerous. They are mentioned here in the hope that friends will be found in all parts of the State able and willing to assist us in supplying some of them.

More land is needed to maintain the stock which the institution should have and hopes to have at no distant day. A stock barn is needed for the protection of the same. A farm house is also a pressing want. When we can furnish work on the University farm, and board and rooms in the farm house, then we may reasonably expect more students in our agricultural courses. Farm-buildings cannot, however, be properly located until it is decided in what direction additions to the farm are to be made. Specimens for the

museum will be very acceptable. We would like to have there a collection of products from each county in the State, consisting of all the kinds of grain and all the varities of each kind raised there. We want specimens of manufatured articles; spades, shovels, hoes, forks, draining tools, pruning tools, garden tools, tools of domestic use, machines, models of machines and other manufactured articles. Fruit plates and portraits of thoroughbred animals, will prove very useful, and add to the attractions of the museum.

Respectfully submitted,

C. Y. LACY.

REPORT OF WORK DONE AND IMPROVEMENTS MADE ON THE EXPERIMENTAL FARM DURING THE SEASON OF 1874.

The old Territorial road running through the farm has been vacated, the fences removed and the road bed partly seeded down to grass and partly prepared for cultivation. Fences have been placed on each side of the University Avenue at a distance of 80 feet from each other, leaving an enclosed space of twenty feet on each side for the purpose of planting trees and securing protection for the same.

Ten acres north of the avenue have been summer-fallowed and manured and prepared expressly for experimenting with the various kinds of vegetables, testing of new varieties, &c. Seventeen acres of brush land have been cleared up and two acres of the same broken and cross-plowed.

South of the avenue one-third of the meadow land has been seeded down to timothy and red-top. The upland not occupied as nursery has been plowed, cross-plowed, dragged and surface-drained. Four acres of land have been added to that before under cultivation. One hundred loads of manure have been partly spread on the surface and partly plowed under. Twenty tons compost of swamp muck with lime have been prepared for spring use. Three acres of brush land has been cleared up. About six thousand forest trees, including a variety of evergreens, have been planted for experimental purposes.

Two hundred elm trees from the forest to be planted on University avenue for shade and ornament are now on hand. Arrangements have also been perfected for a large and select assortment of vegetable and forest tree seeds for experimental purposes. The object is to determine which

kinds are most worthy of cultivation and best adapted to the soil and climate of Minnesota. It is believed that such exexperiments may become the means of saving much time and money, which are now wasted on inferior varieties.

The season being tar advanced and no suitable preparation having been made when the writer took charge, it was deemed advisable to devote most of the season to preparation for future operations. The same circumstances render the experiments that have been conducted less satisfactory in their results than they might have been under more favorable conditions. The following are the details of the most important experiments made:

No. 1. Oats.

Sown May 5th, on land fall-plowed and well worn.

The earliest to ripen was White Schoen; the latest, Houghton; difference 12 days.

Somersett and Houghton were imported by U. S. Department of Agriculture. The Somersett promises to be superior in every respect.

No. 2. Wheat.

Imported by U. S. Department of Agriculture.

Sown broadcast May 5th, 1 bushels per acre on fallplowed land.

Arnotka, bearded, very early, berry large. Oran, grain shrunken.