« {2 BAS i aS" f REPORT OF THE PRESIOENT eOe SHE ee ee . : Utah ae a gricultural College 0 ie oo Peo SEUSS RUSK 8 ‘ i ~~ — SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. if = ; One 3 AND ae y Peo Somme Nools. ra a ee 3 : fs For the Year Ending June 30th, 1801. = 3 ee SE Smith Cummings & Co., Printers Logan. REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT —OF THE— Agricultural College of Utah ee hg hae dt Gee eS EN Ae UR eee SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. SAN eee EG) CAGE Oe Oe SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR. For the Year Ending June 30th, 1891. REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE Agricultural College of Utah. Logan, Utah, August, 1891. HON. JEREMIAH RUSK, SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. Srr:—In compliance with a Co gressional law, approved August 30th, 1890, applying a po° \oa of the proceeds of the sale of public lands to the more complete endowment and support of colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the me- chanical arts, which requires an annual report by the presi- dents of said colleges regarding the condition, progress and other general information in relation to them, I most respect- fully submit the following statement: The Agricultural College of Utah was organized by an act of the Territorial Legislature of Utah, approved, March 8th. 1888, and passed in acceptance of the conditions of the Con- gressional law founding agricultural colleges. $25,000 was given for the erection of a college building, Cache County and . Logan gave 100 acres of land to secure its location at Logan. The legislature of 1890 gave $48,000 for salaries and for equip- ment. It opened its doors for the reception of students on Septem- ber 4th, 1890; the past year was therefore its first year of active existence, and statements following will give in fact the history of its growth and present condition and prospects as requested by the Commissioner of Education, as the past year comprises its real history. The Congressional law, for further endowment of agricultural colleges, gave most opportune assistance to the Agricultural College of Utah, enabling it to enlarge its purposes and to increase its equipment. The development of the public school system of Utah is not adequate to equip students to enter beyond the freshman year of college, hence the limited faculty employed during the first year, the restricted sum paid for teaching and the large ratio of the Congressional grant applied to equipment. A balance is still reserved for further equipment and to meet the salary 2 expense of a rapidly increasing faculty. During the present or second school year fourteen teachers will give instruction in the college. Under “Condition and progress” of the college I will state that the college opened with twenty-two students and soon reached an enrollment of 189—106 males and 33 females. This number is likely to be doubled during the coming year. There is a strong demand in this Territory for the higher education, a demand that will ultimately and soon admit of the eleva- tion of the standard requisite for admittance to the college; but at present, necessitated by the inadequate development of a high school system and from lack of intermediate schools or private academies, the college has been forced to give pre- paratory instructions. The policy of the college has been framed in accordance with the Congressional laws endowing it. Its main course of instruction is that of agriculture. This Department of Agricul- ture has a four years course, a three years course and a course of winter lectures. It has.a collection for lecture room illus- tration for the classes in agriculture. It is provided with a farm of eighty-five acres, a new fine and model barn with all of the modern conveniences for various classes of stock and crops and is adapted for experiment work in animal nutrition. This building cost $6,000... A model modern farm house cost- ing $4,500 has been erected. .A laboratory for the experiment station costing $4.700 is also a part of the general equipment that serves this department as an indirect stimulus of the col- lege work. During the past year a club or boarding-house cost- ing $20,000 and accomodating seventy-five students has been erected, and also two cottages. — The present central college or school building is eighty feet square constituting but about one-fifth the area of the building when in its completed condition. The boarding-house and the main college building are not, however, exclusively used for the department of agriculture but are for the common use of all of the students of the college. These buildings are mentioned in this connection, as they conclude the list of the present buildings of the college. The college has a four years course each in domestic arts; mechanical engineering and civil engineering and a business course of two years. One general purpose is embodied in the courses of four years each, namely: A liberal and practical education of the industrial classes. : The educated man and the educated industrialist is the aim of our college instruction. To achieve this end imparting a knowledge of English and the sciences is supplemented by daily practical exercises in each department of study. German and French as optional studies are the only languages taught. As the college is but one year old its present condition will represent its progress. The college library now consists of about 1200 bound volumes and 3800 pamphlets. These books cover the leading domains of thought and are mostly from the pens of the great masters in their several fields. They have been selected with reference to the special needs of the stu- dents as students. Summarizing its present condition I find that we have seven buildings valued at $63.000, furniture and museum specimens and tools, apparatus and library valued at $25.000; 105 acres of land valued at 21.000; that 139 stu- dents attended the first year. The college farm includes twelve acres devoted to horticultural experiment work and sixty-eight acres to farm experiments, This feature of the college growth will be alluded to again under a report of the experiment work carried on. The following table shows the number of students by classes and by sexes. Boys. Girls. 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UM es SCS, AA shai HANS ets, ORE re (OU AUG ORS, REL oy ae eR ON a aan Bae bay aL? 12 Shop Noni ialronsemoug ak +. icces Paae nes 8 BRULEE WOOC eS rier ycwhrhk i Pee Se 24 Several of the studies above mentioned were continued 4 through several terms—the list simply stating the number of students of the several classes. FINANCIAL STATEMENT. The fiscal year of the Territory begins on January Ist of each year and therefore does not run parallel with that of the Government. Again, as our College has had but one year of collegiate work I have, to prevent confusion, treated the Ter- ritorial appropriation as though it coincided in time of appro- priation with that of Government appropriations. I have also followed the letter of instructions sent out by Hon. Wm. T. Harris, Commissioner of Education, and grouped all of the expenditures for the department of instruction in one statement and therefore refer you to the Treasurer’s report for a statement of the expenditure of money given by the Government for the purpose of instruction. RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURES OF THE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE oF UTAH FoR THE YEAR ENDING, JUNE 30TH, 1891. Received from Territorial appropriation $48,000.00 ‘From Treasurer of the United States for Experiment Station 15,000.00 From Treasurer of the United States for College instruc- plone WORK Nikita. Seen 31,000.00 “From Experiment Station from Sales, ole.c 0 SOR seen 3,996.05 Rene OIL LUILION ACeB ais a canek ae 639.00 reel rom Tent Of TOomMs+. =), eee 89.05 $98,724.10 [ea | EXPENDITURES, Paid Experiment Station account cae $20,211.95 LIEN ge Rone chy She NR ec es ee A 4,601.84 ‘“ Supplies, grain, manure, hay, coal, boolswappltancesetes..5c.> : - Wiavacre “ Stationery and express........ 307.85 Oo CSSD NRE CRs Cee Ca OR ee ora 564.57 Re ipried fc 0e , Rhine Gan yo ks 4,771.14 memeisCellaAnGOUs) ).% Sj43 ) fee een a 594.76 Paid for College supplies and salaries. . $64,733.81 Expense Fok Wrustecs: es os =. - 1,731.90 * Buildings and furnishing........ 37,883.79 “> Land, fences and grading....,.. 2,785.55 . “ Printing, stationery and insurance 2,689.99 ‘* Miscellaneous for Collegeand farm 2,463.98 Pee mararics Of teachers vis... vs as 7,277.54 BPE TANI S boys 7), a, feb ue vs 1,624.38 * Materials for museums.:........ 648.23 ‘‘ Furniture for lecture rooms...... 3,204,11 BOR Kamen nl Sot Ne ee 1,254.63 ‘* Material for mechanical arts dept. 1,976.68 “Domestic arts department....... 573.88 Pers Loole-andsmachmery. 2.5.5.0. 619.15 Total, - - - $84,945.76 I again call attention to the reason of the small ratio of ex- penditures for salaries of instructors. Our work was only that of the freshman and preparatory years and but for ten months of the year—the salaries of the teachers having begun on the previous September. In the near future the Government appropriation will be absorbed by our corps of instructors. EXPERIMENT WoRK. I will give an outline of the experiment work being carried forward by the Experiment Station, with an outlined report of results obtained. In the spring of 1890 all of the land of the college was covered with sage brush and the time intervening has not been adequate to cbtain permanent re- sults in much of the field of inquiry made by this college through its department of research. It is and will remain the policy of the station, under the present management, to secure in its field investigations the results of several years work befcre it makes such work public, and where any other research is specially liable to lead others to false con- clusions, corroborating or disproving results will be secured through repeated trials. During 1890 the following field trials were carried forward in the departments of agriculture and of horticulture. 1. Fifteen acres were sown to varieties of grass for test cf mixed varieties of grass for grazing—eight varieties were sown. 2. 'Ten sections were sown to as many varieties of grass, ex- cept the tenth half acre, which was mixed grasses. These are to be grazed by lots of similar animals on each, and growth of animals on each are to be weighed. : | o. Twenty-four varieties of grasses and clovers were sown on plats for test of varieties. 4, Varieties of oats, wheat, corn and bane were We tested. 5. A line of the most promising varieties of forage croys were tested. 6. The sugar plants-—sorghum and sugar beets—were tested with reference to the sugar product. A sugar beet factory Ce been erected in the Territory, hence this inquiry. (. Sixty-three plats are devoted to irrigation trials: a. Night versus day irrigation. b. Flooding and other systems are being tested. c. Varying amounts of water were used and results noted. d. Varying amounts at a given time, but total amount for the season remaining the same. é. Sub-irrigation versus surface irrigation. jf. Length of season that irrigation can be continued suc- cessfully. g. Relation of irrigation to soil fertility. h. The amount.of water percolating through soil under va- ue applications. . Influence of fall irrigation, - Manures in their relation to irrigation. kX. Mulching in connection with irrigation. 2. Lateral movement of water in the soil in irrigation, m. Test of a part of above questions by the use of vessels. 8. Zinc boxes devoted to testing vaporization of water, soils and of the various crops. 9. Continuous test of the power of crops to secure nitrogen from the air. 10. Mulching of corn and of potatoes and the relation of a mulch to yield of crop, to soil temperature, moisture and soil fertility. 11. Mulch of earth to above relations. - ( 12. Drill versus checkrowed corn. 15. Hilling versus flat culture of corn. 14. No tillage, shallow tillage and deep tillage for corn and potatoes and their relations to soil moisture, root growth and crop yield. 15. No harrowing of the ground, and little or much harrow- ing before planting. 16. No plowing, shallow plowing and deep plowing for wheat and potatoes, 17. Various methods of tillage for potatoes. 18. Various methods of planting potatoes in trenches, shal- low and otherwise. 19. Distances of planting potatoes, thirty-six distances being used. 20. Various methods of cultivating potatoes and of using seed potatoes. 21. Various times of planting and harvesting potatoes. 22. Various amounts of seed wheat. 23. Varying times of sowing wheat. 24. Broadcasting versus drilling wheat. 25. Hoeing wheat, rolling and not rolling wheat, ete. 26. Distance of drilling wheat. 27. Varying times of harvesting wheat. 28. Selected seed, versus average seed and poor seed. 29. Time of plowing and style of furrow. 80. Depth of sowing wheat. 31. Manure trials, utility, methcd of application, ete. o2. Soiling cattle. 33. Green versus dry food for cattle. 34, Green manuring. 30. Rotations: a. Six years’ rotation. 6. Four years’ rotation. c. Three years’ rotation. d. Two years’ rotation. e. All of the above rotations have each crop of the rotation. start the series, so that there will be in each rotation a yearly answer without waiting six years or the number of years of each rotation involved for an answer to the problem. Special attention will be given in these rotations to a test of all of the relations of a rotation to soil fertility. The scientific relations of all of the various questions studied will be closely observed. The barn has a silo, root cellar and other conveniences for feeding trials. Storage of foods in their various relations 8 and the etfect of temperature on the economy of cattle feeding were investigated. A full line of meterological instruments is in use. A su- perior dynamometer for test of draft of tools, etc., is at com- mand. This forms an outline of the work for the past year, but does not state all the questions that will be investi- gated on the farm. HorTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT. The Horticultural Department contains twelve acres. It is fully covered with crops designed for investigation and for school room teaching. 1. It has set an important line of economic forest trees not grown in the Territory, for test in this climate. . It has one hundred varieties of apple trees. . It has twenty-five varieties of pear trees. . It has twenty-five varieties of plum trees. . It has forty varieties of peach trees. . It has twenty-five varieties of cherries. It has thirty varieties of strawberries, eight of raspber- . eight of apricots, and various other fruits. . It has varieties of vegetables, including potatoes, under os hie OA CH ADO wp — @ It has in progress tillage and irrigation tests of crops fall- ing within its sphere of work. This department of the station work will be conducted fully in the interests which it represents. During the winter, feeding experiments with horses to test the proper time of watering in reference to time of eating; cut- ting and mixing of hay and grain; carding; feeding whole versus ground grain, etc., were tried by the farm department. Six sets of hogs were fed on the varieties of hog foods avail- able in Utah to test their relative value. Hight sets of sheep were fed on ensilage versus dry fodder; on the various kinds of hay grown in Utah, and on grain fed alone. Kight sets of steers were fed on ensilage versus dry fodder; were fed in-doors and out of doors, tied up and in loose box stalls; blanketed and unblanketed, etc. Sets are now being fed on green versus dry food, and a grazing set versus a non- grazing set. | On the farm grounds have been added trials of the various 9 stock manures; fermented manures versus unfermented ma- nures; solid and liquid versus solid manure; and sheltered versus unsheltered manures. New forage plants have been added and other work designed. Wild grass seeds are being collected for propagation. The horticultural department has added tests of various amounts of manure; of orchards in lucerne, timothy in hoed crops and in no crops, and various methods of grafting, bud- ding, of propagating and handling apple trees. This depart- ment now contains some 600 varieties of trees and vegetables under trial. The chemical department is making digestion trials, testing the fuel value of woods and coals, in the interest of farmers who use dear fuels; is analyzing various farm products enter- ing into feeding trials, and testing soil conditions in connection with field trials. Seven bulletins that give the results of actual trials have gone to press, a resume of whose contents I will give. A large mass of material is on ovr books, most of it waiting for dupli- cation before publication. Bulletin No. 1 contains a statement of the or ganization and and proposed work of the Experiment Station. This is already included, in its essentials, in the body of this report. Bulletin No. 2 reports the results of plow trials under vary- ing conditions and methods of adjustment. CONCLUSIONS. 1. That coulters add to the draft of plows. 2 That trucks under the end of the beam lessen draft and add to the uniformity of the furrow, and decrease the work of the plowman. 3. A share sharpened by a blacksmith drew 36 per cent - harder than a new share. 4. A dull share drew harder than a sharp one, but not as hard as a poorly sharpened share. 5. Less loss of draft was found when the plowman forced the plow to carry a furrow out of harmony with the hitch at the bridle, than it was expected would be found. 6. When the sulky plow was forced to take land by adjust- ments, by the pole forming a line at an angle with the plow, ee was a loss of draft. No loss of draft was found either when the share was Bide straight on its base or straight on its land side—on the contrary, a slight gain was recorded. 8. Lengthening the hitch slightly decreased the draft of the plow. 10 9. Changing plowmen varied the draft, but not so materially a3 it has been supposed it would. . 10. A three wheeled sulky plow, having no pole—the third wheel running in the furrow and allowing of a shorter land side—gave a light draft and excellent work. 11. Walking plows gave very slightly less draft than did sulky plows with rider, but not a material difference. 12. The wider the furrow up to the standard cutting width of the plow, the less the force required to turn a square inch of soil. After passing this width the draft on a clover sward still very slightly continues to decrease. On old ground it does not decrease beyond tbis point. 15. Draft decreases with depth, and probably does as long as the soil retains the essential physical conditions of the sur- face. Bulletin No. 3 reports the results of trials with garden vege- tables. This bulletin of results covers trials of many varieties and cannot well be summarized. The results have mainly a local value, and will therefore not be reviewed in this report. A copy of the bulletin accompanies the report. Bulletin No. 4 reports the results of a trial of wagons in test of several problems involved. A copy is enclosed to you. It will be found on page 14 of the annual report accompanying these papers. The following summarizes in part the work therein reported: 1. It will be observed that the draft of a load was greater on a road bed chopped into fine dust than on a mud road. 2. A worn dirt road remained wet longer than a dirt road of the same soil, and would carry 1413 lbs. less of net load for the same force. 2. Between a worn gravel and a good gravel road the differ- ence was the carriage of 2974 lbs. 4. The draft on a good gravel road and of a dry good dirt road showed a difference in favor of the former of 4008 lbs. load for the same force, or 119 per cent. more of net load could be carried on the former than on the latter. or the draft was lessened more than one-half. Summary of conclusions of Bulletin No. 5 on methods of planting potatoes, including distance of planting: 1. The depth of planting did not materially affect the total yield of potatoes. 2. Potatoes planted near the surface contained 23.1 per cent. more starch than those planted deeper, and were. therefore, worth 53.4 per cent. more for food, while being at the same time more palatable. 11 3. Shallow tillage and even no tillage were more effective than deep tillage. 4, The yield of potatoes decreased after passing eight inches apart as the distance between the hills increased; the yield de- creased when planted nearer than eight inches. 5. Increasing the distance between rows did not appear to decrease the yield. This fact is probably due to the decreased ratio of root cutting and might not hold true for a system of tillage that does not involve root cutting. 6. Close planting resulted in an increase of moisture and in a decrease of starch of potatoes amounting to 7 per cent. 7. The potatoes contained only 70.42 per cent. of moisture. They contained 34.84 per cent. more starch than those reported upon in the east, and therefore have 54.34 per cent. more value than such eastern potatoes. 8. The practice of planting nearer than three feet between rows and one foot between hills should not be accepted as de- sirable until further inquiry in regard to the increased cost and decreased value of the product resulting from such close planting is made. 9. Quality should be regarded as one of the prime consider- ations in potato production, as potatoes are used more as a luxury than wheat. 10. Utah potatoes, being of very superior quality, require that our farmers maintain and even further develop this fa- vorable quality, and, in addition, make special etfort to make known to possible markets, their superior economical value and palatableness, for the reason that the distance to market beyond our border is so great that their superiority alone will secure for us sale in these markets except in very infrequent years when crops are very short in the east and very great in Utah. This Bulletin is included as it contains unsummarized data. Bulletin No. 6 considers trials with sleds and tillage tools. SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS. This summary will include the conclusions arrived at in a more complete trial made two years ago. For summary of results of sled trials see close of the section of this Bulletin devoted to sled trials. 1. Depth of cutting the ground, draft per square inch and per pound of soil moved, looseness of soil and evenness of bot- tom varied very widely in the various types of harrows used. 2. The rolling cutters, especially those termed cutaway har- rows, move the soil deepest and loosen it most, and. in the 12 form of the cutaway harrow, draw the easiest of the class that penetrates deeply. 3. The spring toothed harrows draw moderately, fine to an average degree, and till to an average depth, but leave the soil with an uneven bottom and more compact than the class above named, while on newly plowed grass sward they tear up the sod. As used for the cultivation of corn, as the sulky harrow tried is used, they are very good implements, serving well the functions required in tillage of crops. 4. The square toothed and the smoothing harrows are su- perficial in their action on plowed ground, run easy but com- press the soil more than other classes, and are therefore better adapted to loose soils and for putting in seeds than to do the tillage work of soil fitting for crops. If present views regard- ing tillage are correct, then these implements are utterly un- fitted for the purpose when applied to most soils. 5. When depth of cutting; ease of draft; evenness of bottom, or of the top of the unstirred soil, and looseness of soil is con- sidered, the cutaway type of harrows is the best of the several classes of tillage tools used by the writer for the preparation of the average soil for crops. It is believed that the work of this class of harrows should always be supplemented by the smoothing harrow. 6. Harrows move less earth for a given amount of force than plows do. but, as found in a previous trial, the force required for fitting the soil for crops, when the plow is used supplemen- ted by the harrow, is practically no less than when the har- row alone is used. : 7. Less force is required to fit a given surface area of soil for crops when the harrow is used tian when the plow is used. This fact admits of the use of some substitute for the plow upon soils that do not require deep tillage, if indeed there are such soils. 8. The relative efficiency of harrows varies on varying soils, and on varying conditions of a given soil, the wedge shaped teeth being at createst disadvantage on hard soils. 9. The plow acting as a wedge compresses the particles nearer together as it inverts the soil, and divides only large masses, therefore the harrow is the true implement for fineing and loosening the soil, the plowing serving to fit the soil for its action. Except upon grass ground it is not improbable that the harrow, somewhat modified, may grow in importance when compared with the plow, unless the plow becomes mod- ified for special soils. Bulletin No. 7 reports the results of a trial of mowing ma- chines, and of principles involved in their use, 13 SUMMARY. 1. A difference of draft was found in mowing machines, but not great, save in favor of one machine. This difference seemed to follow speed. 2. The draft of mowing machines varies in their relations to each other in varying kinds of mowing. This seems to be due to speed, therefore they should have two or more pinions. 3. The draft of machines varied with the point of attach- ment for draft. 4. The draft was 8.7 per cent. greater for a well sharpened sickle than for one more nicely sharpened. 5. An old machine well repaired drew easier than a new one. 6. A six feet cutter-bar drew easier per foot of cut than a 41 feet cutter-bar, and at a draft less than a plow carrying an averave furrow; therefore a pair of horses can draw a six feet cutter-bar. 7. A pitman box set tight gave a draft less than one run quite loosely. _ 8. A heavy loss of force was observed when the truck at the end of the cutter-bar failed to roll, or 7.6 per cent. 9. When cutter-bar is not near right line with pitman rod the draft is increased. 10. When guards are out of true, draft is increased. 11. When cutter-bar is inclined upward the draft is de- creased. 12. The draft was decreased ten pounds by the driver walk- ing. 13. When the sections of the sickle do not strike in the centre of the guards the draft is increased. A new college develops historic data of much local interest but I am not aware of other facts that I can add that will have extended interest. The college for its first year of existence has been favored to a high degree, It has met with gener- ous encouragement from the public and has_ been un- attended with misfortune or with any severe obstacles. Its outlook is exceedingly bright for all of its departments. The coming Legislature of Utah will be asked to make a very material addition to its school] room space and to its museum, library and apparatus. Very respectfully submitted, J. W. SANBORN, President. ag ae CY 3 0112 106096990