MAINE STATE LEGISLATURE The following document is provided by the LAW AND LEGISLATIVE DIGITAL LIBRARY at the Maine State Law and Legislative Reference Library http://legislature.maine.gov/lawlib Reproduced from scanned originals with text recognition applied (searchable text may contain some errors and/or omissions) l 'j l Public Documents of Maine: BEING THE ANNUAL REPORTS OF THE VARIOUS PuOlic Officers an~ Institutions FOR THE YEAR 188 4. VOLUME II. AUGUSTA: SPRAGUE & SON, PRINTERS TO THE STATE. 188 4. Dormitory and Boarding House. White Hall. Laborat')ry. PR:NC:PAL Bu:Ln:~~Gs OF TH:·: S·rA'1'2 CoLLEGE o>· AGR:CULTURE AN:> '!'HE M:,:cHAn:c ARTS, Oiw:w. ANNUAL REPORTS OF THE Trustees, President, Farm Superintendent aml Treasurer OF THE STATE COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AND THE MECHANIC ARTS, Orono, Me., 1883. Published agreeably to a Resolve approved February 25, 187 J. , AUGUSTA: SPRAGUE & SON, PRINTERS TO THE STATE. 18 8 4. ' TRUSTEES' REPORT. To his Excellency, t!te Governor, ancl Executive Council of the State of 1~J,aine: The trustees of the State college respectfully submit their sixteenth annual report, . together with the reports of the president nnd members of the Board of Instruction, and of the trensurer of the college. These several reports will show the present condition of the institution. In response to a recommendation of the trnstees in their report of last year, the Legislature appropriated $2,800 to build and equip shops to afford facilities for the instruction of students in several branches of shop work. The plan outlined in the report referred to has been carried out. The result is a substantial wooden structure in two parts, the main building, 56x36, two stories high, and an ell, 56x24., one story high, with monitor roof to promote ventilation. The length of the structure, including main building and ell, iH 112 feet. The outside has been completed and presents a sn bstantial and attractive appearance. A small surn of money will be required to complete the interior. The appropriation hns not been exceeded. The building committee, Hon. ,vm. P. ·Wingate and President Fernald, are entitled to much credit for having secured so good a strncture at a cost so moderate. Its interi(~r comprises shops for vise and forge works, for joinery and wood turning and for casting and working iron. The courses in vise and forge work which were established several years ago and 4 STATE COLLEGE .. have been maintained under great disadvantages, will now be carried on with increased usefulness. The course in wood work was instituted upon the completion of the shop in Reptember, and has been attended with gratifying results. For a. more pa.rticular description of the building, and its purposes nnd adaptations, attention is respectfully directed to the report of Prof. Benjamin. THE BOARDING HOUSE. Mr. Henry M. Lander,who has had· charge of the boarding house during the last seven years, has asked to be relieved from further service for the college. The success of Mr. and Mrs. Lander in meeting the exacting requirements of their position has heen remarkable. If complaints have been made they have not reached the ears of the trustees. The scrupulous neatness observable in every department of the establishment, the excellence of the food spread upon the tables, their kindly hearing towards students and visitors hnve been subjects of much favorable comment. Nor has Mr. Lander's usefulness been limited to the interior of the board­ ing house. It was observable in the faultless condition of the out-builclings, and in the well kept grounds connected with the establishment. The large number of ornamental trees ( more than one hundred and twenty-five), planted with his own hands, and now growing, will, in the years to come, attest his interest in the welfare of the college, and the beneficence of his connection with it. CHEMICAL DEPARTMENT. An appropriation of $1,000 was made by the Legis1ature for the benefit of the chemical department. A pnrt of this sum has been used to supply a new gas making machine and other apparatus much needed, and the usefulness of the department has been largely increased by this moderute e_xpenditure in· its behalf. TRUSTEES' REPORT. 5 THE FARM. The farm affords unmistakable evidence of intelligent and vigorous management. At each regular visit of the trustees (in June and November), it discloses fresh and important . improvements. At the rear of the college buildings, a short distance from them, is an area of twenty acres of land, known as the '' bdck yard field." Its shallow surface of clayey loam is nnderlaid by a sub­ soil of rank, strong clay, which is naturally suggestive of unlimited material for the manufacture of brick::,. The substantial walls of the chemical laboratory and Brick Hall are of material excavated fr0m a comer of this field. Its flat surface was considerably broken hy depressions from which the water scarcely di::,appeared in the drouth of summer. The present farm supe1fotendent entered upon the di::,charge of his duties April 1, 1882. vVithin seven months thereafter, in addition to meeting the exacting requirements of regular farm work, he found time to clear this piece of land of " stones and boulders," to relieve it from the influence of water by car~ful ditching, and to plow it into beds thirty to thirty-six feet in width. Last spring, after receiving applications of unleaehed ashes and phosphate, it was sown to oats and stocked to grass. The results were a crop of 800 bushels of excellent oats, and a •' fine growth of young grass and clover." Thus, this unpromising lot of twenty acres, which had produced le8s than three-fourths of a ton of hay per acre, hus been added to the area of prodncfrve grass lands. An adjoining lot of eighteen acre8, similar in dmracter to that above described, has been marked for reclaimation. It has already been cleared of bu:-::;hes, stumps and 8Wamp grass, with which it ·was nearly covered, hlis been ditched to relieve it of surface water, and plowed into beds ready for the resumption of treatment the coming spring. 6 STATE COLLEGE. NEAT STOCK, The nent stock of the farm has heen increased in numbers and largely irnprovPd iu quality within the last two years. Six or ::;even valuable thorough-bred Jerseys have been added to the dairy stock in the last year. Hon. Z. A. Gilbert and Superintendent Gowell, who made these purchases in behalf of the trustees, are entitled to much credit for the excellence of their ::,elections. A recent careful inspection of the small henls showed them to be in excellent condition, and the trustees are fully pre pured to indorse the statement of the farm superintendent, that they do not comprise "one inferior animal." The statements found in the report of the farm superintend­ ent pertaining to the quality of the dairy stock, and to the important experiments thnt have been made to ascertain the positive value of hay fed to such stock in connection with concentrated food, and to determine the relative value of early and late cut hay, and of indi:rn meal, cotton seed meal and,, shorts, cannot fail to be of general interest. CHANGES. Mr. J. Fred W ehster was elected to the office of treasurer of the college in September last, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the sudJen and widely lamented death of Col. Eben vVebster. Col. \Yebster was elected treasurer in 187$l, and was the successor of the late Hon. Isaiah t,tetson, who had resigned the office on account of poor health. C~l. vYebster ,vas an eamest friend of the institution, and gave it his "''arm support, not only when its prospects seemed flattering, but in the dnl'ker days of doubt and discourage­ ment, when hs friends were few and its chances of success or failure seemed to hang "in even scale." vVhether as private citizen, or legislator, or an officer of the institution, he freely gave to it the benefit of his valuable influence. His services as treasurer and his unwavering friendliness to the college were held in high appreciation by the trustees. TRUSTEES' REPORT. 7 BOARD OF TRUSTEES. The original board of trustees was appointed in the year 1865, and consisted of sixteen members, each county in the State being represented in it. This board was found too large for practical purposes and its members, by common consent, sent their resignations to the Governor in 1867, with the recommendation that a law be passed providing for a board with a smaller membership. These resignations were accepted and a law was passed pro­ viding '' that no vacancy occurring in the board of trustees of the State College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts shall hereafter be filled until the number of said trustees shall be less than seven, and thereafterward the number of said trustees shall be seven and no more." A year or two later the law was so modified as to make the secretary of the board of agriculture ex-officio a member of the board of trustees, which increased the number to eight members. In 1883, the Legislature provided by law for an additional trustee to be selected from the alumni of the State college. Wm. T. Haynes, Esq., of Waterville, was appointed t~ fill the trusteeship thus established. The board now consists of nine members. In the year 1879, Hon. Emery 0. Bean of Readfield, was appointed trustee to fill the unexpired term of the Rev. Samuel F. Dike, the latter having resigned. At the expira­ tion of this term in April last, Capt.