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of the most approved pattern. Old-country farmers consider it a very useful implement. We shall be able to speak more fully on this point after having used it.

Of the various horse-pitchforks that have been tried on the farm, the preference, as a hay-fork, is given to the Improved Harpoon, or Finger Fork, presented to the College by J. Covode, Cross Roads, Pa., as combining the requisites of simplicity, lightness, facility of management, and efficiency.

Beckwith's Roller Drill, manufactured by P. D. Beckwith, Dowagiac, Mich., has been in use on the farm three years, and its merits as a simple, strong, and efficient machine have been fully proved.

Of various inventions called "bag-holders," the Farm Superintendent thinks that of S. S. Rockwell, of Lansing, Mich., possesses many points of superiority, combining in its simplicity, facility of adjustment, and durability, all the desirable qualities of such an article.

THE LIVE STOCK OF THE FARM

Comprises specimens of the same breeds of cattle, sheep, and swine that have been mentioned in former reports, with the addition of the Berkshire to the stock of swine. Some other breeds of cattle, especially the Hereford, several breeds of sheep, and at least one other breed of swine--the Yorkshire-should be obtained as soon as funds can be spared for that purpose.

IN PERMANENT IMPROVEMENTS,

Progress has continued to be made. The expenditures which the College has made in draining the tract known as the " Big Marsh," have already resulted in greatly improving it. From the funds obtained from the sale of some lots, the College has been enabled to supply the long-felt want of a green-house and to partly stock it with plants; to erect a barn for the Horticultural Department; to make various alterations in the cattle and horse barns, by which they are rendered much more con

venient for their several uses; to make repairs on the Boarding Hall and other buildings; to build a new road through a portion of the farm, make new lines of fence along the road, and much other new fence, inclosing land cleared and in the process of being cleared, to be used for pasture. The Parrish stump-puller has also been doing service in following up the removal of stumps, which for the past year or two has added much to the appearance of the fields, as well as aiding to bring them into a state in which thorough tillage is practicable.

EXPERIMENTS.

The most important experiments heretofore made have this year been repeated and carried further, and various others commenced. Prof. Miles has experimented in reference to the following points: With Indian corn, first, to ascertain the relative advantages of hills and drills; second, to ascertain the variation in the natural productiveness of soil, without manure. With roots, the effects of various fertilizers, as superphosphates and other prepared manures, salt, &c. With sheep, continuation of experiments reported on last year. With swine, repetition and continuation of experiments reported on in 1866. Arrangements are now made to commence experiments to show the relative value of different breeds.

To carry on the experiments with swine, it became necessary to erect a building for the purpose, with proper conveniences for weighing all the animals at regular intervals, without subjecting them to fright or waste of tissue by extraordinary exertion.

Prof. Kedzie has conducted experiments in reference to the value of muck, variously combined with unleached and leached wood ashes, with lime, and with salt. To show the relative effects of gypsum mixed with ashes, and also the effects of those substances applied separately. In reference to the volatile constituents of animal excrements, to show under what circumstances ammonia may be saved or lost, as manure. Also,

experiments in reference to the temperature of soils, as affected by their chemical and physical constitution.

In the Horticultural Department, experiments, under the supervision of Prof. Prentiss, were made to test the earliness, productiveness, and other qualities of thirty-six varieties of tomatoes, and similar trials with fifty-eight varieties of potatoes. Specimens of most of the varieties of tomatoes and potatoes were shown at the exhibition of the Michigan State Agricultural Society at Detroit, and also at the exhibition of the Central Michigan Society at Lansing, where they attracted much attention.

Detailed reports in regard to all these experiments are herewith appended. It cannot be doubted that they comprise very important matter, which deserves the attention of all who are interested in questions on which the successful practice of agriculture depends. Mr. Harris, in the article from which an extract has been given, spoke highly of the experiments in feeding sheep, and a summary of the results which he gave in that article was copied into nearly every agricultural paper, as well as into various other papers, in the country.

The Superintendent of the farm, in his annual report, remarks that "in its management, its use as a means of instruction has been kept prominently in view. Although the strictest economy has been practiced in all operations, the direct pecuniary profit to be derived from the system pursued, has been a matter of secondary consideration. In supplementing instruction in the class-room by practical illustrations in the field, that serve to fix in the mind of the student the principles he has been taught, while he gains a knowledge of their applications, it cannot be reasonably expected that the expenditure of a given amount of labor will command the same pecuniary return that should be derived from it under more favorable circumstances. The labor expended in conducting experiments cannot, from its very nature, be remunerative; while in the field, the cost of the crops raised in the immediate vicinity of experimental plots is increased from the unavoidable interference with the regula

distribution of labor. Again, where a number of distinct breeds of domestic animals are kept as they are here, for the purposes of illustration and experiment, it is impossible to derive from them the same direct profit that could be gained by limiting the selection to a single breed, especially adapted to the peculiarities of the farm and the system of management. The leading object of the farm being thus incompatible with the idea of direct pecuniary results, they should not be regarded as the exclusive standard by which the success of its management is to be measured."

SUMMARY OF CASH ACCOUNT

Of the Superintendent of Farm Department, for the year ending December

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