The Portland daily press., 1877-01-15
THE STATE COLLEGE.
Annual Report of the Trustees and
OMcers.

The Trustees of the State College at Orono
report that they have been more impressed dur
ing the past year than ever before, by the use
fulness of the College and its Importance to the
State. A change las been made in the College
TERMS reducing the number from three to two.
The first term will commence early in August
and continue until the last week in November.
The second termiwill commence in February
and close towards the last of June. By this
change the students will be relieved from study
during the warmest part of the summer, and
lett at liberty t. assist their friends at home or
to work t 'r wages, as many of them desire to
90, through the season OF hayiDg. A revision
of the courses of study, suggested by the expe-
rience of the past, has also Deen authorized Dy
the Trustees. The object sought is to equalize
the amount of study and of educational work
between the different courses
In order to afford the students in mechanical
engineering the same advantage of practical
work, which students of other branches enjoy,
IL is recon- mended that system of workshop
instruction, after the Russian plan, be introduce
ed Additional buildings and more apparatus
are needed.
The appropriation last year was only suffi-
Gent to psy the debt and the salaries of profess
ors, and the result is debt of 81 515 76. The
unpaid bills against the College swell this to
$4,000.
Rev. c. F. Allen, D. d. President of the Col
lege, reports that the failure to secure the
needed appropriation for the College, has inter-
fered with the accomplishment of much that
is desirable in the development of the insttu-
ton. The practical experiments conducted
have not been so extensive as they would other
wise have been.
The department of Mathematics and Physics
hos noutipupd in obaroa Of prof
maid. Satisfactory progress has been made BY
the several classes. A new building for
laboratory and additions to the apparatus are
earnestly called for. 1t is hoped that speedy
provisions may be made for the construction of
building which may include chapel, library,
engineering rooms, cabinet, rooms for the de-
partment of agriculture, physical laboratory,
and rooms giving enlarged accommodations for
recitations and for other purposes.
Prof. Albert B. Aubert has had charge of the
department of Chemistry. Among the expert
ments that have been made, the most interest
ing are those in connection with the growth of
sugar beets, demonstrating that their culture
for the purpose of producing sugar may be
made successful in Maine, as suggested by Gov.
COnnor in his address.
The department of Natural History has been
in charge OF Prof. G. Ell. Fernald who has Civ
en- Instructions in its various branches BY
The interesting and important depaI tment of
mechanical engineering has been in charge of
Prof. W. A. Pike, who makes detailed report
of progress in that de ,,artment. Beside the
regular text book work, the students spend two
hours and a half day in the drawing room,
where they receive thorough instruction in
machine, isometic and perspective drawing,
The usual trips have been made to Bangor,
where the students take sketches and meas.
nrements of actual machines, from which they
afterwards make working drawings. The class
which graduated last April, spent the last
term of their course in designing engines and
boilers, of which they made the necessary
drawings and calculations The great necessi-
ty of afforoing some practical instruction for
the students of this department., to correspond
to the field practice of the students in civil en-
gneering, is felt more than ever, and the es-
Enlistment of a machine shop, for practical
instruction, is recommended.
Prof. w. S. Chaplin has charge of the de-
partment of modern languages ard military
instruction. The military instruction has
been somewhat changed in character, but the
hours devoted to it have remained the same
fifteen minutes five days In the week and one
hour extra one day each week. This arrange
ment has proved beneficial Early in the
diets with one hundred breech-loading mus
been in daily use during the summer and au-
tumn terms.
The several studies in the agricultural course
that are more Immediately connected with
practical farming, are assigned to the care of
j. r.. harrington, the farm superintendent.
Various tests and experiments are recorded in
his report.