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under the superintendence of Mr. M. L. Greider, a new series of field fertilizer experiments was begun, the former series having established certain facts during five years of tests, and enabled us to guide the tobacco farmer to a better fertilizer for application to the clay soil of that region than had before been used. Tests of tobacco varieties and methods of sweating have been continued. I have nearly ready for press a report covering the five years, field tests with fertilizers for tobacco, which will be printed as a bulletin of the Department of Agriculture.

Under special contract made with the Secretary of Agriculture of Pennsylvania, I have continued this year the investigations begun last year upon the use of lime in Pennsylvania, and the relative values of lime and magnesia for improvement of the soil. In this work, I have been assisted by Messrs. Sweetser, Browne, Fries and Norris.

Under similar contract, Mr. M. E. McDonnell, M. S., was permitted to undertake for the State Department of Agriculture, a careful examination of the milk supply of the principal cities of the State. The important results of this work have already been published by the Department.

Under similar arrangements, I made last year a careful study of the "whole cream cheese" sold in the markets of Central Pennsylvania, for the purpose of ascertaining whether it departed with any frequency from the legal standard. Mr. J. A. Fries performed most of this work under my direction, and the results have already been published by the Department.

At the request of the Director of the Station, I have taken charge of the analyses of the sugar beets collected in the investigations upon the adaptability of the sugar beet to Pennsylvania soil and climate that have been conducted by this Station in co-operation with United States Department of Agriculture, and have visited several times the principal region in which the culture was carried on. The analyses amounted to many hundreds and were made by Mr. A. O. Hiester under my supervision.

For several months of the past summer, during the absence of the Director of the Station, I served as Acting Director, under authorization of the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees.

External Relations:-The officer of an Experiment Station and the professor in a State institution of learning is called upon to serve the public in many other ways than by the performance of the immediate duties of his position in the Station or the College. It may not be immproper, therefore, to note several of such demands upon my time with which I have endeavored to comply, with your approval, as coming legitimately within the wider sphere of service which public institutions of this character, render to the State and the Nation.

At the request of the Director of Farmers' Institutes of the State

and by arrangement of the Board of Trustees of the College, I devoted three months of last winter to attendance upon Farmers' Institutes in the central section of the State.

In 1897, the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists of the United States appointed a committee to consider the feasibility of preparing a compend of reliable analyses of American food products, to serve as a basis of judgment for chemists of food controls and also as the basis for a system of food standards. At the request of this committee, I have drafted plans for this work and enlisted the aid of representative chemists in various parts of the country for its accomplishment.

In March, 1898, I was appointed by you to represent the College and the Experiment Station at the National Pure Food and Drug Congress, a body called together representing the various public and private organizations and institutions interested in preventing the adulteration and misbranding of foods and drugs, for the purpose of considering the feasibility of national control of inter-state commerce for its prevention and the best form of such legislation. The congress determined upon securing certain legislation of this character and appointed an executive committee to act in its behalf to this end. With your consent, I have served as chairman of this committee.

In closing, I desire to express my appreciation of the many marks of consideration I have received from you and from the Board of Trustees.

Very respectfully,

WM. FREAR,

Professor of Agricultural Chemistry.

State College, Pa., June 30, 1899.

III. BIOLOGY.

To the President:

Sir: The past year has been one of few changes. A rearrangement of some of the subjects in the course in biology has been made, and the results have been all that could be desired. A few additions, in the line of apparatus, have also been made, greatly increasing the value of the laboratory work in a number of subjects.

Owing to the acceptance of outside duties last spring, undertaken after consultation with yourself, it became necessary for me to obtain assistance for the proper continuance of some portions of the work of the Department, and Miss E. B. Meek was selected as an assistant to take entire charge of certain subjects. Miss Meek, in addition to her training in biology received here, both as an undergraduate student and while pursuing advanced research as a candidate for an advanced degree, has studied and taught with marked success elsewhere, and brought to her work here an interest and enthusiasm which has very materially contributed to the progress which the Department has made during the year.

Last winter the rooms occupied by the Department were taxed to their utmost to accommodate the students taking biological subjects, there being one class of twenty-eight students-the largest as yet taking general biology. Not all of these took the laboratory work, but the laboratory was filled to its utmost limit, notwithstanding. If more should present themselves for this subject hereafter, it will be necessary, either to divide the class into sections or to find larger rooms in which to conduct the work. Either of these things would be difficult, I fear, as the number of teaching hours in the winter session is already very large, and to add five more would be likely to produce serious difficulties in schedule, while I know of no large rooms not already constantly in use. Fortunately, however, this difficulty is not a present one, and a solution for it may have been found by the time it becomes pressing.

The museum is, as ever, a source of unfailing interest to visitors, and I would recommend the establishment of a visitors' register at some convenient place in the room, where the names of those who examine the collections may be recorded. A catalogue of the specimens in the museum is now well under way, and, it is hoped, will soon be ready for publication. It is intended that this catalogue shall be not a list of scientific names only, but that it shall also explain what the animals are represented as doing, together with notes of any

interesting features about them and their habits-in other words, that it shall be instructive, as well as descriptive.

The same may be said of the invertebrate specimens, now placed in the wall cases. As soon as these can be properly cased, they can be so arranged as to show, far better than now, their real nature and utility. Accordingly, cases to contain these are most desirable, and it is to be hoped that they may soon be obtained.

The Entomology of the Course in Agriculture has now been given to two classes, and has, I think, been found of much value. Too thorough a knowledge economic entomology cannot be possible in a State which loses over $20,000,000 annually by the ravages of insects. Especially should this be true for those whose occupations render them particularly liable to losses of this kind, and one session is all too short in which to give the training needed in this subject. For this reason I would recommend that, for those who desire it, an elective of a second term in entomology be provided.

The Course in Biology has been arranged with the view of preparing students; (a), for a subsequent medical course; (b), for teaching biological subjects; (c), as a preparation for becoming biologists, zoologists, entomolgists or bacteriologists as the case may be, connected with experiment stations. In the later portions of the Course specialization, with these different lines in view, could be advantageously carried much farther than it is at present, and options between physiological psychology, entomology and bacteriology, for example, could be made of equal importance, though one might be of much greater value than another to the student, according to his plans for future work. While a series of such options can hardly be arranged for at present, the desirability of such a modification of the Course in the future should be kept in mind, and the necessary changes be made as soon as practicable.

In conclusion, permit me to express my appreciation of the interest shown, both by yourself and by the members of the Board of Trustees, in the work in my charge, as well as the personal assistance and encouragement I have so uniformly received.

Respectfully submitted,

State College, Pa., June 1, 1899.

3--22--98

H. T. FERNALD.

IV.-BOTANY.

To the President:

Sir: I beg leave to present herewith the report of the Department of Botany and Horticulture for the calendar year 1898.

There have been no changes in the arrangement of subjects, as presented in the College catalogue, nor in the time allotted to them, except in a single instance, where four hours of practicum were substituted for two of recitation. It is gratifying to be able to report larger classes than ever before and as successful a year as it has ever been my privilege to record.

The instruction in botany begins with the Spring Session of the sophomore year, when, under the name of plant study, the student first becomes acquainted with the simple details of the parts of plants and their use in the economy of plant life. It is to be regretted that the time allotted during this session is so brief, two hours per week, that it is scarcely possible to finish this portion of the subject satisfactorily. It is necessary to break off somewhat abruptly and arbitrarily, or else to use undue haste, hence this has been the least satisfactory part of the course. The work in biology has materially helped that of botany, but in the early study of any subject it is wise to progress carefully, in order that a good foundation may be laid for future work.

The second session's work, that of the Fall Session, junior year, is intended to follow naturally the first, so that the continuity of the subject matter shall not be broken.

After completing the gross anatomy of flowering plants the microscopic structure is taken up and treated with considerable fulness, as its importance seems to warrant. Having six hours of practicum work, in connection with the four of recitation, all of the principal structural details are directly observed by the student through the aid of the simple and compound microscopes. He need take nothing at second hand. He is required to record these details accurately by drawing and written description or reference. Our facilities for this work, while not elaborate or showy, are quite satisfactory, and this method of study is greatly superior to any other. Indeed, the laboratory method, in this and in allied subjects, is now indispensable, and we wish to emphasize the fact that we habitually employ it.

No student completes the work of this Department without having seen with his own eyes all the important structural details of the plant world, and having the opportunity of making his own record of what he has seen.

Matters of physiology and the growth of plants

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