The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1888-12-05
The Trip TO Manhattan.

Agricultural College and state expert
ment station, situated at Manhattan,
the national grange and farmers con-
gress visited the college on Saturday,
November II. Manhattan is situated
on the Kansas River, about sixty-five
miles west of Topeka. The road is
through one of the finest farming Sec
tons of the state and extensive corn
fields and large herds of cattle were
seen on every hand. The general APP
pearance of the farms and farm-houses
indicated that they were owned and
operated by thrifty and industrious
people. Elaborate preparations had
been made by the citizens of Manhattan
for the entertainment of their dis
tinguished guests. Thirty or forty fine
teams were at the station to meet the
visitors on the arrival of the train to
take them to the fine hall of the Man
haitian grange where the national
grange was formally received by
speeches and responses by prominent
citizens of the city and members of the
grange. After the pleasant exercises
at the hall. we were escorted to the
dining hall where was served bounti-
full repast prepared by the ladies of the
town. After dinner the teams took us
to the college, located on an elevation
which commands fine view of the sur
rounding country. The college is only
sixteen years old, but it is a vigorous
institution, with over four hundred stu
dents, boys and girls, who are receiv-
ing practical education with free tut
ton except in music, for which only
small fee is charged. President Fair
child and the trustees of the college at
tribute the great success of the college
to the fact that manual labor of some
kind is required of every student at the
college. The regular course of study
is four years, but students are taken
for single term and given instruction
in any of the departments they may
uSollo' lho Slllo uOpai lihOho 10 III
Gated in the main college building
and they are taught everything that
pertains to practical housekeeping,
from making butter to making cake,
from mending stockings to the finest
fancy work After passing through the
main room we visited the mechanical
department, located in a building
erected for the purpose. In this de-
partment the student is taught the use
of tools and how to make joints of all
kinds, to enable the student to make
harrow or frame barn, to make COM
mon box or an elaborate cabinet. The
use of blacksmith and iron tools is also
taught. A complete printing establish
ment is connected with this depart
ment. In another building is the veter-
mary and botanical department. There
are also extensive hot houses to test
the value of different plants. A banana
tree in fruit attracted our attention.
The barn for the college is model one
and we'll adapted to carrying out ex-
periments in feeding different kinds of
food to the different breeds of animals.
The college is now making experiments
in nearly all the forage plants grown in
Kansas. Ensilage is also one of the
rations now in use. Owing to frequent
drouths and the hot winds, il is ex-
tremely difficult to make tame grasses
grow and make a sod on Kansas soil.
The college is now trying to solve this
problem. To test the different breeds
of cattle for different purposes, the
college has in its barns Jerseys, Guern-
seys, Holsteins, Shorthorns, Herefords,
Black Polled, Angus, Holstein, and last
the scrub. A single visit to this college
would be most conclusive proof to the
most obtuse farmer that scrub stock
don't pay. Another interesting ex-
pertinent in progress is that of feeding
hogs for fat and lean meat. The re-
suits of this experiment can not be
known until the pigs are killed and cut
up. The entire receipts of the college
consist of its revenue from the land
grant fund and the experiment station
fund of $4,000 per annum. Its trus-
tees are men who have the interests OF
the farmers of Kansas at heart, both in
educating their sons and daughters foI
the practical duties of life and making
experiments that are of real value in
farming. We wish that the agricul
tural college authorities in Vermont
might receive some inspiration fol
work from the colleges in some othel
states; or, if our college has the in
spiration, it would use it in similar
practical way for the benefit of Yer
mont farmers and their sons.
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