Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1871 [PAGE 336]

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328 farmed as a model farm. The programme of experiments, I may say, was drawn up by the committee of the Board of Trustees and other gentlemen from different parts of the State, who were interested in agricultural experiments. This programme, as it was drawn up, was made irrevocable. No matter if a Professor of Agriculture in the Agricultural College, or the President of the Agricultural College should leave, no matter what should take place, this system shall be carried out; it is the action of the Board. It was got up by the Board of Trustees, and these experiments were imprinted here by the Board of Trustees themselves. They are irrevocable*; they expect to carry them out as they are, allowing those plats that have received any error to go through, and noting their errors, counting them of no value, but not changing the system because some of the plats have been found to be erroneous. The committee, who drew up the plan, considered that there were three points upon which men desired information. One object of the experiments was to demonstrate the rotation of crops and the methods of culture. Another was the difierent applications of manures and their effect upon soils. Another, the different £orts ot grain; trying experiments as to the comparative value of the different sorts of grains, seeds and vegetables. These were the three ideas that they intended to develop, and all their experiments were made to tend to this end; the object was to have them tend in this direction. The matter of rotation of crops was tried very cautiously. They saw the difficulties that were in the way, and they agreed that the common system of rotation of crops was probably the safest one to take at first, so they took what we call a five years' rotation of crops. The first would be corn, the next would be in barley, or in oats, or in potatoes ; and the next would be in clover, and the next year in clover, making a five years5 rotation of crops. This is the rotation of crops that is common there. A few of the experiments go to show the effect of a change from barley to oats, or from barley to fallow, but these are the only experiments in the rotation of crops that we have. The next object was in the methods of culture, and in these methods of culture they used different sorts of plowing, for one thing—the difference between shallow and deep plowing—to continue these experiments year after year, and see the relative value of shallow and deep plowing in our soils. These are matters that are of great importance to us, for if we have to subsoil our land it involves almost a double