philosophy, history, mechanics, and other sciences and courses of instruction as shall be prescribed by the regents of this institution of learning."

By section 25 of the same act the assent of the legislative assembly was given to the establishment of experiment stations within the Territory of New Mexico in connection with the agricultural college, in pursuance of the act of Congress approved March 2, 1887, known as the Hatch Act.

Income. The revenues of this college are derived from the following sources (1) Students' fees. (2) Sale of college farm products. (3) Territorial tax and special appropriation. (4) The United States under Congressional act of March 2, 1887, the Hatch fund. (5) The United States under Congressional act of August 30, 1890, the Morrill fund.

The money received from students and from the sale of products from the college farm has, so far, been very limited in amount, and has been used principally for paying expenses not provided for by either of the acts of Congress.

From the beginning the college has steadily grown in the number of students in attendance and in the confidence of the people, until last year there was a total enrollment of 215 pupils.

Four general courses are offered, namely, agricultural, mechanical engineering, civil engineering, and scientific, each of these being four years in length, leading up to the degree of bachelor of science. Besides these, there are shorter courses in bookkeeping and stenography and typewriting.

The laboratories are unusually well equipped, and are being added to continually. During the past year an electric dynamo and motor have been put in. Several additions have been made to the equipment in the chemical department, and the apparatus in the biological department has also been added to. A new building, called a station building, has been completed, and in it are located the chemical laboratories and lecture rooms, biological laboratory and lecture rooms for teaching anatomy and physiology, botanical laboratory rooms for the entomological department and the bookkeeping department. The building is an ornament to the place, and fills a long-felt need. A girls' dormitory was also completed during the year, and is now completely furnished and in use.

Many valuable experiments have been and are being carried on in the experiment station. Those relating to the cultivation and care of sugar beets have been especially satisfactory, and large numbers of farmers in different sections of the Territory have cooperated in this work, with the result that it has been practically demonstrated that New Mexico can grow as fine sugar beets, running as high in sugar content, as are grown anywhere in the world. The college invites the patronage and confidence of the people of New Mexico because of its large corps of efficient teachers, its well-equipped laboratories, its unsurpassed location, and the genial climate of the section in which it is built, which makes it the finest college of its kind in the entire Southwest.

DEPARTMENT OF ENGINEERING.

In the engineering course instruction is given by lectures, recitations, and practice work, so combined as to constitute a symmetrical course of study. The endeavor is to provide the student with a broad foundation of general and theoretical knowledge, together with a liberal amount of practice in the line of his chosen profession.

After taking the elementary drawing and the bench work in wood, which are given by the department to all college students, those who elect engineering continue on advanced work in these subjects, and, in addition to the general studies in mathematics, physics, chemistry, English, language, Spanish, political economy, history and literature, their course includes descriptive geometry, theoretical and applied mechanics. hydraulics, engineering structures, metallurgy, electrical engineering, strength of materials, mechanism, machine design, steam engine and shop practice in carpentry, wood turning, blacksmithing and machine work, and a thesis for graduation. While the shop practice develops considerable ability in the student as a craftsman, yet, the educational features of this work are the most valuable and are constantly emphasized.

The laboratory is used to give the student an opportunity to put into practice the principles taught in the class and drafting room. An example of this method of teaching in all colleges of agriculture and mechanic arts may serve to explain the great difference between these colleges and those organized for literary and normal work.

After taking enough elementary free-hand and mechanical drawing to enable him to interpret such work, the student makes a correct drawing of some mechanical device, the drawing including the making of a tracing and blue print. He next goes into the wood room and constructs a pattern after the dimensions given in the drawing. Next in turn the pattern is molded in the foundry, and the casting is finished and the parts assembled in the machine room. At the same time, with this practice work, the student receives from text-books and lectures a thorough drill in mathematics, and their application in problems in hydraulics, roof and bridges, strength of materials, the generation and transmission of electric energy, specifications, etc.

The equipment of the engineering department consists of two buildings arranged for the work. One of these contains two large and well-lighted recitation rooms, a hall, a boiler room, machine room, and woodworking room. The second building contains room for forge and foundry work.

The motive power consists of a 40-horsepower steam plant and a 15-horsepower oil engine. The machinery is all of modern and improved design. It is expected that additions will be made to this equipment each year, as is done in all agricultural and mechanical colleges, and that the department will thus be enabled to offer to the student the most valuable preparation possible for his profession. The citizens of the Territory should give this engineering-laboratory feature their most substantial support, for the plant is a permanent one, growing more and more valuable each year, and giving additional educational training of increasing value to students in proportion to the extensiveness of the equipments. Gifts of machinery, drawings, photos of engineering work, or loans of these things to the engineering laboratory, will be of great value to the students, and will be appreciated by them.

An excellent department library, containing standard and special works on the subject pertaining to the engineering professions, is accessible to the students.

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND HORTICULTURE.

The work of this department is of a dual character, the more important work being, perhaps, the experiments conducted with a view to solving agricultural problems as presented in all parts of the State, though the work of instruction in agriculture and horticulture is of equal value, but more confined in its results. The principal lines of experiments now being worked upon are—

1. The testing of such varieties of grasses and forage plants as can be secured, that give promise of success in the dry, hot climate of New Mexico. While we have an extensive range in this Territory, there is a great lack of suitable pasturage for stock on the ranges and ranches. A summer pasture for cattle is especially needed. Annual grasses, such as the millets, nonsaccharine sorghums, Kaffir and Jerusalem corn, and several varieties of perennial grasses are now under trial. As far as possible, preliminary experiments in the feeding of these crops are being made, but such work can not be satisfactorily done until the college owns its own live stock.

2. Experiments in soil tillage and water management are receiving much attention. In this work the department of soil physics cooperates. The problem to be solved has many phases, and is one of the most important in New Mexico agriculture. It involves the measurement of all water applied to the land, the determination of the moisture content of the soil, the influence of tillage on soil moisture, and kindred subjects. The ultimate object is to determine the least amount of irrigation necessary to secure the highest crop returns. Investigations of this character are cumulative in value, and must necessarily be prolonged over a series

of years. Hay, grain, and orchard crops are being employed in this study, and already interesting and valuable data have been secured. The principal indication noted in the study of an irrigated corn crop is that a deep, loose soil-a condition secured by subsoiling to a depth of 15 to 18 inches-permits the absorption of much more water at each irrigation than is possible in shallow-tilled land, and insures a much more vigorous growth, and, consequently, a better crop.

3. Orchard studies: In the experiment orchard of the college there has been continued this year an experiment begun last year for the destruction of the codling moth. All of the fruit in the orchard was destroyed while very young last year to see if the absence of a food supply would result in the destruction of the pest. During the present season the trees were banded just after the fall of the bloom, and weekly examinations have been made for moths. Compared with other orchards in which the fruit was not destroyed, the college orchard is remarkably free from the codling moth, though not entirely exempt. An experiment in the pruning of the peach is also under way, and studies of the fruiting season, yield, etc., of many varieties of orchard fruits are being made.

4. Feeding experiments with cattle and sheep are planned, and it is hoped may be begun next year. Preliminary to this, an effort has been made this season, both at the college and the substations, to increase the list of possible crops that can be used in stock feeding in New Mexico. It is believed that with alfalfa as a basis a sufficiently varied diet can be provided to yield best results, while the mild climate should aid in making the winter feeding of range stock a profitable industry for the valley ranchmen.

On a smaller scale, experiments and observations with garden crops, ornamental plants, and forest-tree plantations are being conducted. During the year a weekly press bulletin has been sent to the newspapers of the State, and has been very largely used by them. The subjects discussed have been timely and practical, and the bulletin has resulted in an enlarged correspondence for the department coming under this heading, thus proving the interest of the public in the work.

The substations at Roswell, Las Vegas, and Aztec, supported by Territorial appropriations, are designed to aid the home station by undertaking problems of a more local nature. Late in the season they were placed in the care of this department, and while a lack of time prevented the planning of entirely satisfactory work for the present season, it is believed that these substations can be made a source of great value to the communities in which they are located. The great question of the increase of alkali by seepage water will be studied at the Pecos Valley station, and the Aztec station will be largely devoted to experiments with fruit during the immediate future.

The equipment of the department has been materially increased during the year and the prospects for its increased usefulness are bright.

DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC SCIENCE.

Political economy.-During the year 1899-1900 one course will be given on this subject-an_exposition of the general principles of economics. Davenport's Outlines of Economic Theory will be the handbook used, and the subject will be developed in the main by means of assigned readings and oral discussions. Collateral reading on special topics will be assigned to the several members of the class, upon which they will be required to report.

Political science.-Two courses in political science will be given in which the same general method will be followed as in the course in political economyassigned readings, recitations, and discussions, oral and written, by the class as a whole; and collateral reading, oral and written reports upon special topics, by the members, severally. In the first course-a comparative study of the development of government-Woodrow Wilson's The State will be used as a text-book. In the second course, constitutional law in the United States, Cooley's General Principles of Constitutional Law will probably be retained as a guide book.

DEPARTMENT OF ELOCUTION AND PHYSICAL CULTURE.

Four years ago the department of elocution and physical culture was introduced into the college. Since that time systematic instruction has been given in tone and voice work, articulation, emphasis, inflection, and gesture. All college students are required to take the work, and public recitations by the various students in each class are given yearly.

The class in physical culture, which comprises all of the young ladies of the college, meets every morning at recess in the McFie Hall. Visitors have found it a pleasing sight to watch the fifty or sixty young ladies keeping time to the music

as they go through the graceful movements of the Delsarte drill or the varied changes of the wand and dumb-bell exercises. Instruction is also given in free gymnastics and the Swedish system. Several pleasing entertainments have been given under the direction of the instructor in charge of this department.

DEPARTMENT OF BOTANY, IN CHARGE OF GEOLOGY AND PHYSICS.

College work. This department has under its charge the work in botany, geology, and physics. The work in each subject occupies the whole year of time, botany having the equivalent of six hours and the others five hours each week,

The method of teaching these subjects pursued is as much the laboratory method as facilities will permit, and it is possible to follow this method almost entirely in the subject of botany.

Students in this subject are supplied with good compound microscopes and all the other necessaries for making a careful microscopic examination of different kinds of vegetable structures. Besides the laboratory work a text-book is used as a guide, and both are supplemented by lectures.

The work in physics consists of lectures with assigned text-book reading and demonstration experiments performed by the teacher and assistant in class. Strictly laboratory physical measurements, except of the simplest kinds, are not possible for want of the necessary apparatus, but it is expected that much of this will be added in the near future.

The work in geology comprises a term in mineralogy and lithology, a term in dynamical and structural geology, and one in historical geology and paleontology. A rather large assortment of minerals is placed in the hands of the students for study and some work in determinative mineralogy is attempted. A small collection of fossils is used in the work in paleontology.

The

The department has excellent quarters for botanical work in the new science hall, and the work in geology is temporarily placed in one of these rooms until it shall be possible to arrange suitable accommodations for a museum. physical laboratory, in the engineering building, furnishes good accommodations for this work and will be much better when it is thoroughly equipped for students' laboratory work.

Experiment-station work.-On account of the large amount of teaching in charge of this department not a very great deal of experimental work has been done the past year. A study of the flora is being carried on with the ultimate purpose of publication of a manual of the flora of the Territory, and to this end plants are being collected at all times and preserved in the college herbarium. This herbarium is now of some size and is fairly representative of the flora of the Territory, besides containing some other plants received from different parts of the United States. Some studies of the distribution of plants have been made with the design of making a life-zone map of the Territory.

The summer of 1899 has been spent in the field in the Sacramento Mountains, making collections of plants in localities never before visited by a botanist. The season's trip has yielded between 3,000 and 4,000 specimens of dried plants, of which it is believed that several are new.

The head of this department is particularly anxious to become acquainted with the various investigators in the botanical field of this Territory and offers his services for the identification of plants and the answering of general questions relative to this subject.

DIVISION OF SOIL AND IRRIGATION INVESTIGATION.

This department is cooperating with the Division of Soils and of Irrigation Investigations of the United States Department of Agriculture. The following lines of work are now under way:

First. Measuring the amount of water applied to the experiment-station orchard and to 30 acres of alfalfa near Las Cruces.

Second. A piece of ground on the experimental station farm of about 4 acres was divided into twelve plats and these planted to corn, which has been subjected to different amounts of cultivation. Three of the plats were subsoiled. The soil of each plat has been carefully examined as to its physical characters. In each of these plats were installed two sets of electrodes for determining the amount of moisture in the soil by the electrical method-one at 6 to 9 inches, the other at 21 to 24 inches. Soon after the corn was planted it became impossible to irrigate these plats, and we have therefore gotten some interesting figures on the per cent of moisture in the soil during drought and of the effects of definite quantities of rainfall on soil moisture. We have also learned something of the effect of dust mulch on conserving the soil moisture.