besides ten acres in the vicinity of the buildings used for pasturage and meadow, and about 100 acres of partly cleared land used for pasture. The season, in many respects, has not been a favorable one for farm operations, the work of putting in crops in the spring having been delayed beyond the usual time, by heavy rains. The following memorandum from the farm journal, will show the effect of the peculiarities of this part of the season: "Commenced plowing for oats April 29th." "Finished sowing oats May 17th." "Commenced plowing for corn May 14th." "Finished planting corn May 31st.' Notwithstanding the hurried preparation of the soil, and the late planting of the corn, a fair yield was obtained by thorough cultivation-twenty-two and one-half acres, in field No. 9, giving 1,344 bushels (of 75 lbs. of ears each), or an average of 59.7 bushels per acre. The east part of the field had not been plowed until this year. The west part of the field had been twice in wheat, and the entire field had been used as a pasture for eight years. Quite a number of stumps remaining in the field interfered with cultivation, and the ground surface was rough and unpromising. The account with the crop is as follows: Plowing and harrowing Planting and rolling Cultivating and hoeing. Harvesting.. Labor Seed Total By 46 tons of stalks, @ 82 00 .. Cost of corn.. $99 32 23 36 86 91 206 14 $415 73 2 12 $417 85 92 00 $325 85 But 1,344 bushels at $325 85-244 cts. per bushel for labor and seed. The root crop of 17 acres, in field No. 5, was on the whole a fair one. about 13 acres of this field was in good condition for the crop, the remainder being rough, with obstructions on the surface that interfered with cultivation. Thirteen and one-half acres of upland, mostly in Swedes (including some experimental plots of beets that did not yield well), gave an average of 700 bushels of roots per acre, and 34 acres of flats gave an average of about 230 bushels of flat turnips per acre. Total yield 10,270 bushels, an average of 604 bushels per acre for the whole field. The account with this crop is as follows: Plowing, fitting and sowing.. Cultivating and hoeing. Harvesting.. Total for labor... Seed... 102 05 155 10 158 44 $415 59 18 87 Total for labor and seed................ $433 96 An average of 4.23 cents per bushel. The tops (which were put in the adjoining field to be planted to corn next year) furnished the larger proportion of the feed for our stock for some five weeks. The field is charged with 436 loads of manure @ 50c... $218 00 105 34 $323 34 As this manure is intended to last through the remaining four years of the rotation, it will perhaps be fair to charge one-fourth of this amount (viz.: $80 84) to the root crop, and credit it with the value of the tops fed. As this is a matter of opinion merely, the statement is given without further comment. In connection with this statement of the root crops, an outline of the previous crop3 raised in the field will perhaps be of interest. The west 8 acres of the upland has been cropped as follows: 1866, corn; 1867, roots; 1868, oats; 1869, wheat; 1870, clover (two crops cut for hay); 1871, clover (two crops cut for hay); 1872, corn. The wheat crop in 1869 (84 acres) averaged 30 bushels per acre, and the corn crop in 1872 (17 acres) averaged 113 bushels of ears per acre, including the 34 acres on the flats that was planted late and did not ear well. The east part of the field had been in grass for several years previous to 1872, when it was planted to corn. The entire field of 17 acres is now in fine condition for cropping. The oat crop in fields Nos. 1 and 8 (25 acres) showed the effects of late Bowing, the yield being below an average. Total yield, 1,130 bushels; an average of 45 bushels per acre. The wheat (27 acres) in field No. 6 was seriously injured by a thaw in the winter, followed by freezing weather that covered the surface of a large part of the field with a sheet of ice. Total yield, 410 bushels, of good quality; an average of less than 15 bushels per acre. The live stock now on the farm consists of six farm horses, 64 cattle, of which 49 are pure bred and 15 are grades, 119 sheep, of which 43 are pure bred and 76 are grades, and 15 swine. The value of the stock, at a low estimate, us inventoried, is as follows: Horses, $750 00; cattle, $9,050 00; sheep, $728 00; swine, $344 50; making a total of $10,872 50. Several valuable additions to the breeding stock have been made during the year by purchases and donations, as follows: A Berkshire boar, presented to the College by Frederick W. Stone, Esq., of Guelph, Ontario; an Essex boar, purchased of Joseph Harris, of Moreton Farm, Rochester, N. Y.; a Silesian ram, presented by Joseph Harris, Moreton Farm, Rochester, N. Y.; the imported Jersey bull "Hudson," purchased of Hon. Samuel Campbell, New York Mills, N. Y.; the short-horn bull "Rufus," purchased of Hon. Samuel Campbell, New York Mills, N. Y., at his noted sale of September 10. An inventory of the property in charge of the Farm Department (marked D) is likewise presented as a part of this report. The influence of the College in developing in its students a taste for rural pursuits and inducing them to engage in some department of productive industry, will depend, to a great extent, upon the success of the labor system, which is made a prominent feature in the course of instruction. All operations in this department have been planned and carried out with reference to this idea, the benefits that may be derived by the student from the system adopted receiving the first attention, while the question of pecuniary profit has been considered as of secondary importance. With the improved condition of the farm the educational features of the labor system have been more fully developed, while the students take a deeper interest in the system of management as they witness the results of their labor in the crops produced. The experience of the past year in this department, both in the field and the class-room, has furnished additional evidence of the advantages of combining labor and study in a system of industrial education. In closing this report, allow me to acknowledge my appreciation of the efficient and untiring efforts of Mr. E. H. Hume, foreman of the farm, in carrying out the plans for the year, and of the valuable services rendered by Mr. G. W. White, assistant foreman of the farm. STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, Farm Department, Dec. 1, 1873. ( M. MILES, Superintendent Farm Department. HORTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT. To the President of the State Agricultural College: BRARY QF THE UNIVERSITY CALIFORNIA The following report of the condition and experiments of the Horticultural Department for the year 1873 is respectfully presented: THE APPLE ORCHARD was plowed shallow in the spring, and cultivated and harrowed later in the season. It had been seeded to clover and orchard grass for several years, so the leaves were looking yellow and the limbs were making slow growth. The grass was evidently stunting and starving the trees rather than inducing fruitfulness. The crop of apples was quite light, and mostly of inferior quality. The Northern Spys were the most productive. The severity of the previous winter caused quite a number of trees to die. The Sweet Boughs, Jersey Sweets, and Baldwins suffered most. Most of the latter, and we have about fifty large trees, are injured. Some have died, and others will soon follow. Some of the younger trees set in ground several years ago where the drainage is imperfect have also died, another proof (an experiment too often tried) that apple trees cannot endure "wet feet." Three rows through the middle of the orchard were left in grass, with some exceptions mentioned below. The soil of the orchard is a good sandy loam. Some Experiments in Cultivating have been begun. None of the trees mentioned in experiments produced apples to amount to anything. It is the intention to continue them for several years, and perhaps try the same thing in some other place. The trees have been set twelve to fifteen years. An accurate record is kept of the growth of the upper twigs of each tree for each year for six years. The average growth of nearly all the upper twigs has been 5 inches in 1873, 6 inches in 1872, 8 inches in 1871, 9 inches in 1870, 10 inches in 1869, 15 inches in 1868. At the north end of the fourteenth row, counting from the west end of the orchard, the first six trees are Northern Spys, of pretty uniform health and vigor. These trees are in one of the rows in grass which was not mowed or fed off. The first tree, twenty-three inches in circumference eighteen inches from the ground, has been kept clean and mellow six feet each way from the trunk, grass beyond. The second tree, twenty-five and a half inches in circumference, has been kept clean and mellow eight feet each way, grass beyond. The third tree, twenty-five and one-half inches in circumference, has been kept clean and mellow nearly ten feet each way,-as far as the spread of the limbs,grass beyond. The fourth tree, twenty-six and a half inches around, has been kept clean and mellow six feet each way from the trunk, grass beyond. The fifth tree, twenty-five inches in circumference, stands in the center of a square of thirty-three feet, cultivated, except a piece of grass twelve feet square, in the center of which stands the tree. The sixth tree, twenty-six and a half inches around, has been treated like the fifth, except the square of grass is fourteen feet on each side. These six trees were uniformly trimmed, by taking off a moderate quantity of small limbs, none more than an inch in diameter. The object of this experiment is to find the most important place to cultivate about trees, or to watch the effect of the different degrees of culture on the trees, in health, vigor, and fruitfulness. Trees one, two, three, and four appeared in growth and color of leaves, the same as those left in grass with no culture. Trees five and six made a very little better growth, and produced leaves of a darker green, in all respects like trees which had clean culture every where about them. In the fifteenth row, trees numbered two, three, four, and five, are 25, 26, 26, and 25 inches around, respectively. They are Northern Spys. The whole row was cultivated like most of the orchard. The growth of twigs was a little better, an inch or so more than those in grass, but the color of leaves was dark, making a striking contrast with the yellow shade of the "grass-fed trees. The intention is to compare these trees with others differently treated. Experiments in Manuring " begin at the north end of the twelfth row from the west end of the orchard. The entire row is in grass, not mowed or fed down during the year. The first tree, a Spy twenty-three inches around, had one-third of a load of well-rotted barnyard manure spread three feet each way from the trunk. The tree was trimmed. The second tree, a Spy twenty-two inches around, had the same amount of manure four feet each way from the trunk. The fourth tree, a Spy twenty and one-half inches around, had the same amount of manure uniformly spread under the tree as far out as the ends of the spreading limbs. The third and fifth trees, twenty-five and nineteen inches around respectively, had each the same amount of manure spread uniformly on a square thirtythree feet on each side, with the tree in the center. The seventh tree, twentyfive and one-half inches around, had the same amount and quality of manure as the trees above spread in a ring two feet wide about the tree, the inner side of the ring being seven feet from the tree. The eighth tree had a two foot ring of manure under the ends of the spreading limbs. The object of these experiments is to note the effect or find the best place to spread the manure. It is intended to continue these for many years. The appearance of the trees this year has been very much like those left in grass without manure. Trees in Grass. The thirteenth row was left in grass not cut, nor fed off, nor manured. The first tree was a Northern Spy, 25 inches in circumference; the second a Spy 24 inches around; the third a Spy, not pruned, 25 inches around; the fourth was not pruned, 27 inches around; the fifth, not pruned, 25 inches around. The rest were pruned uniformly. Insects. About the tenth of June the trunks and larger limbs of all were scrubbed with thin soft soap, to kill bark lice and the eggs and young of the borers. In the proper season we went twice through the orchard and destroyed about twenty-five nests of caterpillars. As soon as the apples were the size of quail's eggs, we placed bandages about the trunks of all the bearing trees. These bands were made of three thick |