Bussey Institution.

Members of the University at large seem to know so little about the Bussey Institution, hardly considering it a part of the University, that an account of the work done there will be of interest.

The Bussey institution is a school of agriculture and horticulture, established in execution of the will of Benjamin Bussey, which gives systematic instruction in agriculture, useful and ornamental gardening, and stock raising. It is, in general, meant for young men who intend to become farmers, gardeners, florists, or landscape gardeners, as well as for those who will naturally be called upon to manage large estates, or who wish to qualify themselves to be overseers or superintendents of farms, country seats, or public institutions.

It is situated near Jamaica Plain, about five miles southwest of the centre of Boston. The farm connected with the school is devoted primarily to the production of hay, which is consumed upon the farm by cattle and horses taken to board.

There are four regular courses given: Agriculture, Mr. Motley; Horticulture, Mr. Watson; Botany, Mr. Kidder; Agricultural Chemistry, Professor Storer. Instruction is given by lectures and recitations and by practical exercises in the laboratories, greenhouses, and fields. Excursions moreover, are made in the surrounding country for studying farms, animals, and dairies; for observing methods and instruments employed for removing rocks and stumps, for draining and clearing land, for preparing cranberry bogs, etc.

Last year there were sixteen students at the school, of whom two were natives of Japan, while this year there are but twelve. The degree of Bachelor of Agricultural Science was given to one student last commencement.

The decision of the Corporation last summer that seventy acres of the Bussey Farm should be transferred to the Arnold Arboretum was a severe blow to the Agricultural Department. Not only was the farm deprived by the act of all the upland which is suitable for tests and experiments but a not inconsiderable source of income to the department was cut off.