The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1891-04-24
OREGON AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE.
PREPARATORY DEPARTMENT,

/ In order to be admitted to the first years
class in this college the applicant must pass
satisfactory examination in reading writ
ing, spelling, geography, arithmetic and
elementary grammar.
Those who are unable to pass this exam
ination are given the advantage of the Pre-
paratory Department, where these subjects
form the basis of instruction.
The object then of the Preparatory De-
partment is to provide elementary instruc-
tion for any who wish to attend the college
but who have not had the benefits of pub
lie school. 1t is the step between district
school and college.
The Importance of having this department
may be seen from the fact .hat Al per cent,
of the students. who attended college last
year, were i'll the Preparatory Department..
There are more students in this depart
msnt now, than ever before during the
third term and all declare it their intention
to remain till the close of the school year.
The work of this years class has been
quite satisfactory and it may be said, above
the average.
The same text book in grammar is used
here as in the college, that the first system
of grammar learned may coincide with that
which must subsequently be followed.
With class of students who have studied
various grammars, there always arises
difficulty, both for teacher and pupil, in
adapting such systems to a standard.
Mental Arithmetic is taught in addition
to written arithmetic for the purpose of
of question in his mind without the aid of
a book, to think more independently, rea-
son more accurately and to connect the
premises with the conclusion. In fact it is
good preparatory study to logic.
!! All belonging to the Preparatory Depart
ment are exercised daily in spelling. Each
must make the accented sylables observe
diacritical marks and be able to give the
definition of the words or the words from
the definition. The textbook used is a
school edition of Webster's Dictionary.
| Prot. Bristow has been engaged in teach
ing for about twenty-five years, the last
eight of which have been in this college.
4 In addition to the work of the Prepara-
tory Department he is given charge of the
subjects of Bookkeeping and Bee-culture,
both belonging to the college course.
Bookkeeping is pursued In manner de-
signed to qualify the farmer or mechanic to
keep such books as are needed in his bust.
ness. No attempt is made to give complete
course in Bookkeeping, such as would be
required in banks, wholesale houses and the
like. but enough to enable one to keep
common set of books. The student is made
familiar with both single and double entry,
a few business forms and short methods of
calculation.
systematic record of his financial transac.
tions cannot be too highly insisted upon. 1t
IS often the means of saving disputes. be-
sidss having an economical value.
/ Owing to Prof. Bristow's thorough scien-
tific as we'll as practical know.edg of Bee
culture he is given this subject to teach.
! The textbook used is "Bees and Honey"
by Thos. G. Newmln For reference the
student has access to "Bee-keepers' Guide"
by Prof. Cook and 'Langstroth on the
Honey5ee" as revised by Dldant, also
'tRoot's A. B. G., of Bee-culture'' and other
books
| Lessons from the text book are had in the
schoolroom combined with practical work
with the bees. For this purpose the college
is supplied with hives of bees and necessary
4 apparatus.
Special attention is given to quee n rear
ing Italianizing native bees, introducing
queens, transferring bees, and natural and
artificial swarming
| Nothing is produced on the farm with as
little labor, comparatively, as honey.
colony of bees requires attention hut once
+, year, during swarming time. All that is to
be done is to take out the honey when
wanted. Another advantage is the increase
which is in geometrical ratio, so that in a
few years one has all the bees required with
| some to sell.
| The old stock never dies from old age.
By this it is not to be inferred that bees
never die. The average life of a queen is
three to four years and that of a worker
three to six months. The queen has but
one duty, that of laying eggs for the propa-
CATION of the species, of which she lays
about 1000 per day from February to Octo-
ber. The drones are the males and are al
lowed to live until the young queen has be-
come fertile, once becoming such she re-
mains SO for life, then they are mercilessly
killed by the workers. The workers are
undeveloped females. Should colony
loose its queen they will rear another by
taking an egg, which would have produced
a worker, building it queen cell and feed
ing it on the royal jelly. Should she die
without leaving eggs that could be used,
then, unless queen is introduced, the
colony will soon die.
Formerly it was thought necessary to kill