Board of Regents of the Oregon Agricultural College and Experiment Station. ..Salem, Oregon. Hon. F. I. Dunbar, Secretary of State.. Hon. J. H. Ackerman, State Supt. of Pub. Instruction, Salem, Oregon. Hon. B. G. Leedy, Master of State Grange.. Hon. William W. Cotton. Hon. Jonas M. Church. Hon. J. D. Olwell..... Hon. William E. Yates.. Hon. J. T. Apperson, Hon. W. P. Keady.. Tigardville, Oregon. Portland, Oregon. La Grande, Oregon. Central Point, Oregon. Corvallis, Oregon. Park Place, Oregon. Portland, Oregon. SIXTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE OREGON AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE AND EXPERIMENT STATION. REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF REGENTS. Hon. George E. Chamberlain, Governor of the State of Oregon. I have the honor to submit a report of the work done at the State Agricultural College and Experiment Station for the year ending June 30, 1904. The year just closed has been a very successful one. The attendance has been very satisfactory, and the work done by Professors and students has been such as to reflect credit upon the institution and to redound to the benefit of the State of Oregon. For a detailed statement of the work done in the College, I refer you to the report of the President of the College and the Professors at the heads of the various departments made to the Board of Regents which accompany this report and are made a part of it. The Secretary of the Board, in his report shows the financial condition of the College, which, I am glad to inform you, is good. As shown by the report made one year ago, there is received from the General Government under what is known as the Morrill Act, $25,000.00 annually, and from the Hatch Act $15,000.00 annually, and from the interest accumulated on the irreducible fund, which fund is derived from the sale of lands given to the State by Act of Congress approved July 2, 1862, which is for the present year $10,943.36, making a total received from these three sources of $50,943,36. This fund is substantially sufficient to pay salaries and the ordinary expenses of the College. It becomes necessary, however, for the State to provide all buildings and plants necessary to carry on the work of the College and Experimental Station. The money derived from the "Hatch Act" can be used only to aid in acquiring and diffusing among the people of the State useful and practical information on subjects connected with agriculture and to promote scientific investigation, and to experiment respecting the principles and application of agricultural sciences. And it is made the duty of each experimental station to conduct original researches or verify experiments on the physiology of plants and animals, and diseases to which they are severally subject, with the remedies for the same; the chemical composition of useful plants at their different stages of growth; the comparative advantages of rotative cropping as pursued under a varying series of crops; the capacity of new plants or trees for acclimation; the analysis of soils and water; the chemical composition of manures, natural or artificial, with experiments designed to test their comparative effects of crops of different kinds; the adaptation and value of grasses and forage plants; the composition and digestibility of different kinds of food for domestic animals; the scientific and economic questions involved in the production of butter and cheese; and such other researches or experiments bearing directly on the agricultural industry of the United States, as may in each case be deemed advisable. In accordance with the provisions of this law, the Station has, during the year just closed, issued bulletins on the following subjects: "Canning Cheese" by Prof. E. F. Pernot; "Strawberries and Varieties of Vegetables" by Prof. Geo. Coote; "Swine Feeding" by Dr. James Withycombe; "Plant Food" by Prof. A. L. Knisely; "The Apple in Oregon" by Prof. E. R. Lake. These have been sent free to a great many people engaged in farming in the State of Oregon and any one desiring the bulletins can have them upon furnishing the Secretary their names and addresses. These bulletins. should be more generally distributed and would be furnished to every one in the State of Oregon if their names and addresses were furnished to the Secretary. Much valuable information can thus be disseminated, especially to those engaged in the agricultural pursuits. I am pleased to say that during the past year Dr. Allen, Chief Assistant in the supervision of the Experiment Stations of the United States at Washington, D. C., made an official visit of investigation to the Station, examined the accounts and looked over the work done. He seemed to be much pleased with the work of the Station and complimented those in charge of it. He gave it as his best judgment that it was doing a useful and practical work and one that must be of great benefit to the agriculturists of the State. I have no doubt that his report will place the Station in the front list of the Stations of the United States in developing the latent resources of the soil and the products thereof. The money used under the Morrill Act can be used only for instruction in agriculture, the mechanical arts, the English language, mathematics, physical, natural and economic sciences with reference to their application to the industries of life, and facilities for such instruction. For the purpose of carrying out the first requirement of the Act, that of instructing in agriculture, there has been, within the last two years, erected a large building which is supplied with the necessary equipments for instruction in the various branches connected with the agricultural course. During the year just closed the Board has made an expenditure of $6,000.00 to furnish the Agricultural building with the latest and best appliances for that purpose. The chemical department is probably the best on the Pacific coast and is pronounced by men of experience to be equal to any of the colleges in the older and larger States. The dairying department is also supplied with the latest and best improved machinery and appliances necessary for instruction in this most important industry. It may appear to the casual observer that the number of students taking the agricultural course is small compared to the number of students in attendance at the institution. The percentage, however, of students enrolled in the agricultural department during the past six years has been larger in Oregon than in most other States. The following table which I have collated from the reports made to the Commissioner of Education shows the number of pupils enrolled in the agricultural departments of the Agricultural Colleges of the different States: |