Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1902 [PAGE 396]

EXTRACTED TEXT FROM PAGE:

1902]

PROCEEDINGS OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES.

377

AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION.

lo the Board of Irustees of the University of Illinois: GENTLEMEN—During the last biennial period the work of the Agricultural College and Experiment Station has been greatly extended through an act of the Forty-second General Assembly, approved May 10, 1901, The scope of the work and the provisions for its execution are best set forth by the act itself which is as follows: An Act to provide appropriations for the equipment of the College of Agriculture and the extension of the work of the Agricultural Experiment Station. SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly: That it shall be the duty of the College of Agriculture to maintain typical specimens representing the various market classes and the several pure breeds of live stock, and to give expert instruction in stock judging, and in the most advanced and approved methods of live stock husbandry. That it shall be the duty of the Agricultural Experiment Station to conduct feeding experiments intended to determine the most successful combinations of stock foods, particularly in Illinois grains and forage crops, and to discover the most economical and successful methods of maintaining animals and fitting them for the markets; to investigate live stock conditions, both at home and abroad, in so far as they affect market values, and to publish the results of such experiments and investigations. That to carry out the provisions of this section there be, and hereby is, appropriated the sum of sixteen thousand dollars C$16,000) annually for the years 1901 and 1902, of which sum eight thousand ($8,000) is to be set aside annually for live stock feeding experiments, etc.: Provided, that the work undertaken and outlined in this section shall be carried out on lines to be agreed upon by the dean of the College of Agriculture, and a committee of five to be appointed by the Illinois Live Stock Breeders' Association. §2. That it shall be the duty of the Agricultural Experiment Station to conduct experiments in the several sections of the State, in order to discover the best methods of producing corn on the different soils and under the various climatic conditions of the State, and for the purpose of improving the varieties grown for special purposes, combating insects, enemies, etc., and that, to carry out the provisions of this section, there be, and hereby is, appropriated the sum of ten thousand dollars (10,000) annually for the years 1901 and 1902. Provided that the work outlined in this section shall be carried out on lines to be agreed upon by the director of the Agricultural Experiment Station and a committee of five to be appointed by the Illinois Corn Growers' Association, the Corn Breeders' Association, and the Illinois Grain Dealers' Association. ?3. That it shall be the duty of the Agricultural Experiment Station to make chemical and physical examinations of the various soils of the State, and to determine the character and location of their several classes; to ascertain what crops aud treatment are best suited to each; whether the present methods are tending to the preservation or the reduction of their fertility,