if
f
THE BATTALION. 23
vision of an able professor, but
the student is required to do his
own work and make his own ex
periments.
EQUIPMENT.
As the agricultural features grow
and the equipments are improved
the time of the student is econo
mized, and he is therefore fitted
for the work he has on hand. In
this manner the new Agricultural
building, with its improved equip
ment, will be of vast assistance to
students of this course. Further
growth is promised, in that ap
propriations have been asked by
the Honorable Board for the pur
chase of additional pure breeds
of live stock, and for the estab
lishment of several sub-experi
ment stations throughout the
state, and these will probably be
granted in the near future. The
United States Experiment Station
here at College gives the agricul
tural student the opportunity to
familiarize himself with methods
and results of experiments con
ducted with livestock, field crops
and horticultural products. In a
future issue I shall try.to show in
what ways the agricultural and al
lied departments, under the pres
ent administration, are doing a
most important work for Texas,
agriculturally and commercially.
NEW FEATURES.
To give some idea of how much
the school has improved since its
foundation and more especially
how much the agricultural course
has improved, I will quote Judge
Charles Kogan, one of the first
graduates of the college and now
State land commissioner under
Governor Sayers. He says, when
he arrived at College, “The only
buildings on the grounds were the
Main Building and the Mess Hall.
The campus extended from the
Main Building to the Brazos
river. Sage grass and broom
weeds took the place of lawns,
walks, drives, shrubs and orna
mental trees. There was no en
closure to turn trespassing stock
or jack-rabbit hunter. The Me
chanical department was equipped
with a grindstone and the Agri
cultural department with a hoe
and a broken rake. The state’s
showing for a gymnasium was an
axe and a wood pile; the broom
weed was the stock in trade for
botanical instruction; aud the ma
terial for improved stock culture was
a Tex as ma verick.' ’
In marked contrast with this
last statement the students now
receive the benefit of a well or
ganized live stock and experimen
tal farm, with all of the new im
provements used in connection
with a farm of this character.