REPORT OF THE STATE BOARD OF VISITORS. To His Excellency John W. Griggs, LL.D., Governor of the State of New Jersey: HONORED SIR-The Board of Visitors to the State Agricultural College herewith present their thirty-third annual report upon the present condition and courses of instruction in that institution, as required by the act creating the Board, entitled "An act appropriating scrip for the public lands granted to the State of New Jersey by the act of Congress approved July second, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two," and approved April 4th, 1864. The members of the Board made their semi-annual examinations of the students pursuing the regular or special courses of instruction, for the present fiscal year, on December 15th, 1896, and June 3d, 1897. They also visited the laboratories, the draughting-room, the military drill hall, the collections of the institution and the farm provided for the State Agricultural College by the Trustees of Rutgers College. The membership of the Faculty of the College is 27, and all but 2 of this number have given instruction in the Scientific School. The enrollment of students was 113-Graduate Students, 2; Seniors, 30; Juniors, 22; Sophomores, 26; Freshmen, 28; and special students not candidates for a degree, 5. There were also 55 students in the Classical courses, and 135 pupils in attendance at the Preparatory School. The degree of Bachelor of Science was conferred upon 29 graduates in June, 1897. Of these graduates, 2 had pursued the course in Agriculture, 10 the course in Civil Engineering and Mechanics, 4 the course in Chemistry, 7 the course in Electricity and 6 the course in Biology. The final examinations of the students in the subjects pursued during the term which closed in June, 1897, were well sustained. At the close of each of the examinations of the students and the inspection of the buildings and facilities for instruction, the members of the Board met in formal session and reported severally upon the observations and impressions of their semi-annual visits. It was voted unanimously that the Trustees and Faculty of Rutgers College are faithfully and liberally carrying out the provisions of their contract with the State. The condition of the School and its progress during the past year are shown in the following brief statement. Each department of the School is in charge of experienced professors, and each has received better facilities for instruction as needed. The subject of Agriculture, both as taught in the School and as practiced at the College Farm, has attracted attention throughout the State of New Jersey and has awakened a deeper interest among the students of the various classes in the School. By a re-arrangement of the recitation schedule, the full time of the Instructor in Mathematics, Electricity and Physics is now devoted to the course in Electricity. The Library, which is well equipped with general and technical literature, is hereafter to be open throughout each week day, instead of during certain hours as before. The regular military drill of the students and the general gymnastic practice in the new Robert F. Ballantine Gymnasium have attained a high degree of excellence. The following is a list of the members of the graduating class in 1897, together with the subject of each graduate's thesis: James Edward Ashmead, Pleasantville, N. J., "A Whipple Truss." Frederick Harvey Blodgett, Washington, D. C., "Some Fungous Diseases of Clover." George Washington Brown, Keyport, N. J., "Broken Stone Roads: Macadam and Telford." John Neilson Carpender, Jr., New Brunswick, N. J., "Echinoderms: Their Embryology and Development." Raymond Van Arsdale Carpenter, Plainfield, N. J., "Stresses in a Double System Warren Truss." Morrison Crosby Colyer, Newark, N. J., “The Construction and Maintenance of Roads." Ralph Brewster Corbin, Metuchen, N. J., "The Ergot and Its Properties and Uses." George Stanley Ferguson, Ocean Grove, N. J., "The Rahway Electric Light and Power Plant." |