Some valuable specimens of fibres have been received, the most important of which is the China Grass, or Boehmeria nivea, a complete series of which, from the raw material to the manufactured fabrics, has been contributed by manufacturers in England. It is a fibre of great beauty and strength, and the plant, it is believed, being native of a warm climate, might be introduced with advantage into the southern States. It has succeeded well in the garden of the department, by taking up the tubers in the autumn, and might be grown to advantage in higher latitudes by a similar mode of treatment.

Two mounted specimens of the Angora goat have been added to the museum, together with samples of the wool and various fabrics made of the same. The importation and breeding of these animals have attracted much attention in certain sections of the country; their fleeces command a high price, and the value or their manufactures would seem to warrant the encouraging attention of the department.

Type specimens of the different sorgo and imphee seeds, classified and arranged according to a diagram prepared by the botanist, are kept in the museum for the purpose of reference and comparison. Some very fine samples of sorghum sngai have been received from the western States, where the cultivation of the plant and manufacture of its products seem greatly on the increase.

California has contributed some thirty bottles of native wines, with samples of the soil on which the vintage is grown, and over one hundred varieties of California vegetable seeds and other interesting products.

The necessity of urging Congress to make an appropriation for the purchase of the entomologist's collection is again pressed upon your attention, as it is of the greatest importance to continue the work by adding to the models of fruits already made those of new and important varieties, in order that the many calls for lists adapted to different States may be promptly met. The present inability to supply these demands is a cause of much embarrassment.

In the laboratory a large number of analyses have been made, and numerous assays of iron, copper, and silver ores; examinations of ochres, quartz, and metamorphic rocks for industrial purposes; determination of the amount of oil in petroleum, shale, and crude components of distillation.

Some examinations of grapes and domestic wines, and of plans susceptible of forming the basis of a wine manufacture, have been made.

The examination of maple sap and the expressed juice of sorghum has occupied much time. The varieties of sorghum used were those grown in the experimental farm of this department, from seed of recent importation from China.

These new varieties, four in number, were submitted to a series of experiments, with a view to determine the value of each variety so far as regards the capabil ity of producing sugar in the crystallizable form and their consequent application in the manufacture of that article. The particulars are not necessary to give in detail here; it may be stated, however, that the result showed that these varieties yielded small amounts of crystallizable sugar, but the quantity of sirup yielded was large and of excellent quality, and these varieties rank, therefore, very high, and are useful additions to the numerous varieties of sorghum at present in use. One variety, especially, of these four, is deserving of particular attention on this account.

It is very desirable that this laboratory should be devoted to the prosecution of an extensive series of analyses upon growing crops useful for food or manufacture, and steps have been taken to connect it more closely with the experimental farm and garden, by the examination of certain crops at every successive stage of their growth, to determine their exact chemical composition from week to week until fully ripe, carefully noting the character of the soil, manures, and variations of heat and moisture, climate and winds-conditions which are continually altering the constitution of the plant. An amount of information capable of aiding in the culture of the plant will thus be obtained with more accuracy than when performed by agriculturists on their own lands.

To carry out these experiments on a scale commensurate with the importance of such labor and the great extent of country interested in such results, more room is needed for the laboratory; two rooms, each of larger size than the one at present occupied are required. It is injurious to fine chemicals and instruments of precision to be subjected to the corrosive vapors and varying temperature of a laboratory of one room. It is desirable that more ample and suitable accommodations should be enjoyed at the earliest possible day.

A reference to the condition of the. crops of 1866 may properly be made at this time, though it is too early to obtain complete returns of corn and cotton and a few other products.

The regular monthly crop returns of the statistical division of this department. have hitherto included only the States east of the Rocky mountains and north of Virginia, Tennessee, and Arkansas. Hereafter all will be included, except the Pacific States, from which returns cannot be received in season to go into current monthly exhibits with the other States. Due attention will be given, however, to the collection of agricultural statistics of these new, productive, and progressive States, with their peculiar and exceptional industries, from which so much is expected in the future development of the country's resources.

The wheat crop of 1863, in the twenty-two States reported, was very large; in 1864 the estimate was, in round numbers, 13,000,000 bushels less, or 160,000,000; in 1865, 148,000,000; and the present estimate is still further reduced to 143,000,000. Returns from the eleven southern States, so far as received, warrant an estimate of 17,000,000 for that section. Texas has produced a large crop; the other southern States less than half the average product. The crop of the Pacific States is very heavy, leaving a far greater surplus for export than the entire amount of the crop of 1860. From all the data received in the department, the total amount of wheat produced in 1866 may be estimated at 180,000,000 bushels. The crop of 1859 was 173,000,000, and that of the present year, at the ratio of increase from 1850 to 1860, should have reached 242,000,000. The supply is about five bushels to each inhabitant, or half a bushel less than in 1859.

The corn crop is moderately large in quantity, but deficient in quality, and may be estimated at 880,000,000 bushels-about 40,000,000 more than that of 1859. It would have been an excessive product but for the retarding influence of cool and rainy weather, and the consequent damage by frosts. In some southern States a very small yield is reported, while in Texas the quantity is more than

an average. In the northwestern States the injury from early frosts was severe. While there will be a sufficiency of food for man, the supplies for the domestic animals will be unusually abundant. The hay crop, slightly deficient in some sections, is large in others, and of more than average quality; and the estimated total product of oats is sixty per cent. greater than in 1859. The products of gardens and the yield of potatoes and other roots are also in excess of former

years.

The cotton crop has suffered from labor derangements, alternate rains and droughts, insects, and the previous neglected condition of the lands. Before the picking commenced, the indications, from official data, pointed to somewhat more than one-third of the crop of 1859. Ravages of insects and other causes have since rendered probable a reduction to 1,750,000 bales of 400 pounds each.

A special effort has been made to secure an estimate of the farm stock of the south for 1866. Returns have been sufficiently. full to warrant a preliminary estimate with some degree of confidence, which would give a result in comparison with the census of 1860, as follows: Horses, 68 per cent.; mules, 70 per cent.; cattle, 65 per cent.; sheep, 80 per cent.; hogs, 56 per cent. These estimates for States are as follows:

The following is a summary of department estimates of farm stock, in January of each year for two years past, for the northern States cast of the Rocky mountains:

The following is the department estimate of the amount of the following principal crops, their average and total value in the northern States, embraced in current crop estimates of the past three years:

Total value.. 955, 764, 322 1,504, 543, 690 1,047, 360, 167

457, 183, 523

The meteorological portions of the reports of this department, at first objected to by many, are beginning to be widely appreciated. The connection of that science with agriculture is clearly perceived by intelligent farmers; and the frequent references to and use of meteorological phenomena by the best agricultural writers is drawing attention to and increasing general interest in the details these

observations reveal. A further acquaintance with the already known laws of the science will enable us to remedy many evils which depend on atmospheric causes. But more particularly will information on meteorological changes, gathered from many points and for a number of years, prove highly important and beneficial when extended and national efforts are made, as I trust they soon will be, to plant large belts and forests of timbers and extensive shelters of forest trees on the prairies and deserts of our public lands. Not only agricultural productions, but the comforts and appliances of civilization and even population itself, over a great length and breadth of the national domain in the west, will be found to be dependent on such belts and shelters, as the shelters themselves will be dependent for efficiency on the proper application of meteorological principles in their location and propagation.

It is, therefore, deemed important that this department should continue to publish, monthly and annually, the most immediately valuable and interesting · portions of the observations furnished to the Smithsonian Institution for the use of the farming interest. I have, therefore, continued the arrangement made with that institution, by which the first use of the monthly reports made by its numerous observers is obtained by the department. This arrangement saves the expense of a double set of observers, and is a mutual advantage. The observers, like the regular monthly correspondents of the department, serve without pay, from interest in the labor and a generous public spirit; and the department, therefore, includes them among those to whom it regularly distributes its documents and seeds of most valuable vegetables, flowers, and cercals. As the most of these observers are personally engaged, more or less, in raising fruits and vegetables, they are among the best persons to whom such a distribution could be made.

Since making my last report, I have returned to Congress the trust confided to my care relative to improvements in processes for preparing flax fibres for manufacture, and to the treasury of the United States the sum of $10,500, the unexpended balance of the appropriation for that purpose. While complete success in cottonizing flax was not obtained, practical results of great economic value have been accomplished, and improved fabrics have been placed in the market by manufacturers who have been most successful in their experiments, and who are still continuing their efforts in that direction.

The balance of the appropriation for the service of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1866, remaining unexpended on the 1st of December, 1865, was $98,584,81. There was appropriated for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1867, $149,100.

The expenditures from December 1, 1865, to November, 1866, amount to $162,600 43, leaving an unexpended balance of $85,084 38.

I desire to renew my acknowledgments to United States consuls in foreign countries for continued favors of great value to this department, and to express my appreciation of the courtesy of the Secretary of State in forwarding promptly the correspondence, official documents, and statistical data received from foreign Similar acknowledgments are due to intelligent and public-spirited

sources.