s 0 r
VOL XIX.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., SATURDAY, NOV. 29,1884.
NO. 48.
TIIE I.\DU-A AURICULTUKAL COLLEGE
AND EXPERIMENT FARM.
The Indiana Agricultural College was
organized and formally opened to students
inlS79, as a department of Purdue University. In accordance with the plan of
organization it embraces two lines of work,
viz.:
1. Systematic instruction in agriculture.
2. A continuous series of agricultural
experiments.
I.—COURSE OF STUDY.
The course of study at first required three
years to complete it, but has been extended to four
years and lead-
to the degree
ofB.S. Item-
braces a wide
range of subjects, providing an excellent general
education' in
science and
Knglish, and
giving special
prominence to
applied science
related to agriculture.
Two years are
devoted   to
mathematics,
includingalge- ^..-^-g^
bra, geometry, Kffiflpp
trigonometry f^i__*i___£.
and surveying; four years |-
to physical and
biological sci-
ence,including
b o tany, zool-
ogy, human
physiology,
geology, physics and chem-
istry; four
years to the
English language and literature; and
one  year  to
agement: Ecenomy in tho use of materials
and labor; relation of fences to the productive operations of the farm; arrangement of farm buildings for economy and
convenience; how to utilize the resources
of the farm; keeping accounts; hiring
help; buying and seiling.etc. Shop work:
Practice with carpenter's tools in plain
wood work. Floriculture: Culture and
propagation of flowering plants and
shrubs; winter care of plants and bulbs.
Vegetable gardening: Preparing the soil;
planting, cultivation, harvesting and winter preservation of vegetables.
Third Year—Veterinary hygiene: Laws
of health; symptoms, causes and preventives of diseases;  effects of exposure and
methods of growing the same. Principles
of agriculture: Objects of tillage.manures,
mulching, drainage, irrigation; how to ascertain the conditions most favorable to
maximum crop production; how to maintain and improve the fertility of soils.
Principles of feeding and drainage: Laws
of animal nutrition; feeding rations for
young, fattening, milking and working
animals; how to most fully utilize the
field products in feeding stock; causes affecting the yield and quality of milk; milk
setting, and butteriand cheese making;
utilizing the bye-products of the dairy.
Economic botany: Noxious and useful
plants of the farm, their characteristics,
propagation,rateof increase and conditions
Boarding House. Ladle.' Hall.
Industrial Art Halt.
Laboratory. Engine House.
Mechanics' Shop.
University Hall.
Men's Dormitory.
political and mental science.
The above named studies in the agricultural course are precisely the same as
in the other courses of the University. It
is important to emphasize the fact that the
College of Agriculture is not designed to
make farmers merely, but broad minded
intelligent citizens as well. The studiesof
the course, specially related to agriculture,
are as follows:
First Year—Farm crops: Methods of
growing, harvesting, curing, improving,
ete. Live stock: Character and adaptations of the improve- breeds of domestic
animals, witli critical study of the types of
animal form best adapted to the wants of
man. Stock breeding: Principles of breeding; laws of heredity; good and bad polnta
in breeding stock; causes of deterioration
and means of improvement; value of pedigrees and herd records.
Second Year—Farm implements: Their
use and adjustment, morits and defects;
tare of when In use, and when laid by;
means of reducing the draft.   Farm man-
Purdue Universt
unwholesome food; effects of ill-ventilated
and foul stables; sanitary arrangement of
farm buildings. Entomology: Descriptions of insect families, witli cloze study of
typical forms of insect life; beneficial and
injurious insects; meaus of preventing or mitigating insect ravages. Me
teorology: Relation of climate to agriculture; laws of storms and means of forecasting tlie weather. Shop work: Practice
witli blacksmith's tools in plain work in
iron. Farm drainage: How to lay out,
level and construct farm drains and sewers; how to secure outlets. Landscape gardening: Embellishment of private and
public grounds with trees, shrubs, flowers, lawns, drives, walks, etc. Agricultural chemistry: Chemistry of soils and
manures; chemistry of plant growth;
chemistry of feeding and of the dairy.
Fourth Yoar—Fruit culture: Propagation, culture, harvesting, storing and shipping of fruits. Forestry: Effects of removing forests; reasons for forest tree
planting;  trees for  various locations and
'Y. Lafayette. In
of growth; time and manner of destroying annual and perennial weeds; cross
fertilization and selection of means of improving grains, vegetables, fruits and
flowers.
The constant aim of the instructors is to
inculcate a love for agricultural pursuits,
and to help the students to become successful and progressive farmers. The instruction is made as thoroughly practical
as possible; and to this end tho expari-
ment farm with its buildings, implements,
livestock, crops, orchard and experiment
plats, and the greenhouse and campus are
all freely used to illustrate and enforce the
teaching of the class roqin. In addition to
this, and for the same purpose, the agricultural students are taken to see improvod
herds in the vicinity of the University.
This year the professor of agriculture took
his entire class to the Chicago Fat-stock
Show to give the students a better opportunity to study andeompare the meat pro
dncing breeds!
II.—THE KXPEKIMENT FAHM.
The college farm contains about 11S0 acres
of land known as "second bottom." Every
foot of it is tillable and under cultivation.
The surface is nearly level, and the soil is
a dark heavy loam underlaid by a bed of
gravel of great depth, which gives perfect
natural drainage. The south portion of
the farm (100 acres) has a very uniform
soil well adapted to field experiments. In
1880 ten acres of this south portion was set
apart for agricultural experiments. This
field has proved inadequate, as the area in
field experiments has gradually increased.
This year about twenty-five acres were occupied with various experiments with
wheat, oats, corn, potatoes, etc.
The board of  trustees realizing that the
I usefulness of  the  farm would  be very
largely increased by extending theex-
peri.mentai
work, have decided that the
farm (or .such
portion as can
be profitably
used for this
object) shall be
devoted exclusively to agricultural exper- .
intents for tho
double purpose of benefiting both the
students and
the farmers of
the State. Tkis
change enables
the d e p a r.t-
ment to combine the large
and small plat
systems of ex-
peri men ting.
The results of
the small plats
are taken as indications and
tho basis
test on _
plats. To"
illustrate: Of
the :!7 varieties of wheat
grown last
year on small plats, six of the most promising wero sown this fall on large plats extending entirely across the field, and in
every respect, tinder ordinary field conditions. Tlie relative value of a certain
variety ot wheat, e. g., can be ascertained
from the small plat; but the actual value
of the variety tothe farmercan be more accurately determined on this largo plat.
Within the four years that the Agricultural Department has been in operation 45
varieties of grasses and clovers (chiefly
small plats for instruction of students);
over 50 varieties of potatoes; more than
100 varieties of wheat and oats; nearly 35
varieties of strawberries; about 20 vario-
j ties each of grapes and raspberries; several varieties of corn, and 17 kinds of sorghum have been grown comparatively anu
the results (except those of this season)
published in the annual report-of the
University. Many experiments with fer-
I tilizers have been conducted, some of
which are not yet completed. Experiments with different rotations are now in
Military Hall.
D.