A MODEL UNIVERSITY.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2761, 22 December 1871, Page 2

A MODEL UNIVERSITY.

The Agricultural College of Michigan embraces a farm of 67G acres, of which 300 are under cultivation ; botanical gardens of trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants, and a commodious greenhouse; together with vegetable gardens, apple orchard, pear orchard, general lawn and grounds; besides a chemical laboratory and apparatus, philosophical and mathematical apparatus ; a museum of animals and minerals; an herbarium ; a museum of vegetable products ; a library and reading-room, buildings, workshops, and all the other necessary appliances. With regard to labor, each student, not exempt by physical disability, is generally required to labor three hours a-day on the farm or in the garden; but the number of hours may be increased to four, or diminished to two-and-a-half. Students are further not employed in those kinds of work only in which they may be most proficient ; but as the work is classified, each is made acquainted with all the operations of farming and gardening. Besides Elementary, Analytical, and Agricultural Chemisty, Geology, Meteorology, Logic and Philosophy, Zoology, Mathematics, and Civil Engineering, Modern Languages, and Literature, there are other departments an acquaintance with the details of which may be of service. In the first place a course is given in Physiological Botany ; Systematic Botany S then taken up, the natural' Order’s being studied as to their botanical characteristics? their size and geologica l distribution, their relative importance, the genera and species having agricultural vai e, those having commercial or medicinal value, and those which are obnoxious op detrimental, such as weed'd or poisonous plants. The orders are illustrated by diagrams and numerous living and dried specimens. The living specimens are dissected and examined by the student, and their genera and species determined. The indigenous |plants, together with those cultivated in the gardens and grounds, afford material for the study of this department of botany. In the study of Vegetable Physiology, structure is illustrated by means of diagrams. Powerful microscopes are used in the study of minute structure. Lectures arc also given on the history, theory and practice of horticulture. With regard to Landscape Gardening,- each student is required to form a plan in detail of some grounds assigned to him by the instructor. Particular attention is given to the anatomy and physiology of domestic animals. This course is illustrated by anatomical preparations and diagrams, representing the comparative structure of the organs of locomotion," digestion, circulation, respiration, and reproduction of each branch of the animal kingdom. Dissections of animals are made to render the student familiar with the appearance, situation, and relation of the organs of the animal system in a state of health, and the changes produced by disease, The course of Entomology is illustrated by a valuable collection of native and exotic insects ; particular attention is given to the study of species injurious to vegetation, and the best methods of checking their ravages are discussed. The-study of Practical Agriculture embraces the laying out of farms \ the arrangement and planning of farm buildings ; farm implements; general principles of tillage ; principles of drainage ; laying out and construction of drains ; methods of seeding ; harvesting of crops ; principles of stock breeding; breeds of domestic animals—their characteristics and adaption to particular purposes ; general principles of farm economy ; manures—their management and mode of apjdication ; succession of crops ; management of grass land ; stock husbandry ; care of animals and principles of feeding ; fattening of animals, and management of sheep. Besides these, instruction is given in the field in the various manual operations of the farm. The above is a brief sketch of the course adopted in the Michigan College, taken aft being as comprehensive as any with which wc are acquainted, and as furnishing much valuable information to those to whom may be entrusted the formation of a school of Agriculture in' connection with the University of New Zealand. —P rests.'