under the contract, upon the completion of the work; and I have no reason to doubt that it will be sufficient for those purposes.

FINANCES.

The declining health of the late Commissioner greatly interfered with the prompt rendering of his quarterly accounts during the last year of his administration, none having been rendered for that period until after I had assumed control of the Department, since which time they have been duly submitted to the proper accounting officer of the government. In the settlement, all moneys drawn by him from the Treasury appear to be accounted for; but during the several years of continual appropriations for nearly the same objects, drafts were made upon certain items of appropriations, and paid out upon others in amounts beyond the appropriations to these objects, and in order to a proper adjustment of his accounts upon the books of the Treasury Department, a deficiency appropriation to the amount of $8,606 42 should be made.

There are also, in addition to the above, various unpaid bills for seeds and other naterials, contracted for and used by the Department during his administration, amounting to $35,392 33, to meet which the appropriation for that year was inadequate, and for which a further deficiency appropriation should be made. A schedule of such debts has been submitted to the honorable Secretary of the Treasury for the purpose of being presented to Congress in the usual manner.

The appropriation for the purchase of the Glover museum was promptly applied to that object, and Mr. Glover has duly transferred his collection to the government. This collection continues to be the centre of attraction to all visitors, and its usefulness as an economic museum can scarcely be overestimated. Additions of interesting objects continue to be made, all sections of the country contributing specimens of agricultural products, minerals, and manufactures, or whatever may be considered useful and illustrative of the growth and enterprise of the country.

In reference to the present financial condition of the Department, there has been expended out of the appropriation for the current fiscal year $65,118, leaving a balance of $113,902 to meet the demand for the remainder of the year, which is considered sufficient for the purpose.

Respectfully submitted,

JOHN W. STOKES, Acting Commissioner of Agriculture.

To His Excellency ANDREW JOHNSON, President.

REPORT

OF THE

COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE.

WASHINGTON, D. C., May 5, 1868.

SIR: Although my connection with the department of agriculture did not commence until near the close of 1867, when the operations chronicled in the accompanying reports of the several divisions were nearly accomplished, it appears proper in presenting this annual volume,* to refer briefly to certain visible indications of progress in agriculture, and to record my views of the great principles underlying such advancement, and the practical means of the greatest efficiency in securing it. Among these indications are the facts of production for the past year, comparing favorably with those of the preceding years, and giving evidence of the blessing of Heaven upon the industry of the farmer, and the continuance of the ancient promise that "while the earth remaineth, seed time and harvest shall not cease."

The base of agricultural operations, within the last few years, has been materially enlarged by the increased area of land brought under cultivation; and much breadth of tillage has been rendered possible by the practical application of mechanical science in farm machinery, while in limited but increasing degree the soil in cultivation has been made more productive through the scientific use of the various agencies employed in fertilization. By such means in the hands of intelligent, thoughtful, and earnest men-a class yearly becoming more numerous and influential in the practical agriculture of this country-the strength and efficiency of this foundation interest are certainly and surely finding development, and its importance as a competitive branch of human industry is becoming better understood and more fully appreciated.

The census returns of 1860 show that there were engaged in agricultural pursuits a greater number of persons than in those of manufactures and commerce combined; and that the value of farming lands had more than doubled within the preceding ten years. It has become the wonder of the world, that, during the period of a destructive civil war, the demands of consumption and waste should be fully met, and in many respects a steady advancement continued, even amid circumstances of discouragement, and with a manifest deficiency of labor. That this improvement is progressive is shown by careful estimates of the production 1867, which present an aggregate increase of 10

*It is my intention hereafter to secure greater promptness in the publication of the report— A reform beyond my power to initiate in the issue of this volume, for which no preparation was made upon my accession to the office, owing to the death of the former Commissioner.

per cent. over the valuation of the yield of 1866, and by the suggestive fact that the cotton production of the United States has again resumed its operation at the head of the cotton-growing countries of the globe.

A comparison of the total productions of the more important staples, as returned by the census of 1850 and of 1860, with the estimates of 1867 for the same products, indicates a fair progression, under the adverse circumstances connected with a civil war which devastated one section and withdrew a heavy percentage of agricultural labor from the other. In the following table, which makes this exhibit, the items of corn and potatoes of 1867 are unusually small, those crops having suffered greater injury than for several years previous:

THOROUGH DRAINING AND DEEP CULTURE THE BASIS OF IMPROVEMENT IN

AGRICULTURE.

The fact is patent to the most superficial observation that the total sum of the vast production of our agriculture is the yield of an average depth of cultivation of the soil not exceeding six inches-comparatively a mere film of the earth's surface. All the inorganic matter needed by plants, and all other elements of their nutrition and full development that come from the earth, must be supplied within this limit, while all the soil below this depth is unemployed and inert. The roots of the grains and grasses do not ordinarily extend much below the depth cultivated; and the average of this in our country is insufficient either for protection against drought, for adequate returns for the labor of cultivation, or for full supplies of farm products for national consumption. We may not be able to calculate the precise amount of increase in production due to an additional inch in depth of cultivation, but experiments have shown that in many soils it bears, relatively, a near proportion to the increase in depth of culture; so that, where the soil is now worked to six inches, an inch greater depth of cultivation would give nearly one-sixth more production. The agricultural produce of 1867, of those articles which would be influenced by depth of culture, has a total value of at least $1,500,000,000. Now, an increase of even onetenth of this amount by an additional inch of culture would add $150,000,000 to the value of the annual agricultural productions of the country.

An erroneous impression exists relative to the depth to which the roots of the cereals and clovers, as well as many other plants, will descend in an aerated and healthy soil. In ravines that have been filled with surface soil, or wherever the

mould is of suitable texture and condition, carrots and parsnips are often found of a length of three feet or more; clover roots from three to four feet; and instances have been given of still greater length of the roots of wheat and oats. With the prevalent mode of culture, in very compact soils, wheat roots are so near the surface as to be thrown out by the mechanical displacement of freezing and thawing, and, if not utterly destroyed, they struggle fruitlessly to pierce the unbroken subsoil, packed, perhaps, by the tread of cattle for a century, and finally yield to the blasting power of an early drought, blighted, shrivelled, light, worthless for seed, and of little value for bread. The drill, planting the seed firmly in the earth instead of scattering it on the surface, already saves half the winter-killing in the fields where it is used; and deep culture, with proper drain age, would procure exemption from most of the remaining liabilities, and, ordinarily, from all danger of loss from drought. The advantage of additional depth of pulverization, therefore, would often be far greater than the proportionate increase of depth, and the profit of the improvement would be increased in corresponding ratio. In this country the average yield per acre of one of the principal staples, wheat, under our system of shallow cultivation, has been gradually lessened, until at the present time it does not exceed 12 bushels per acre, while England, with her deep tillage and rotation system, has raised her average to 28 bushels. Estimating our wheat area at 18,000,000 of acres, and allowing an increase of 16 bushels per acre under a system of thorough and judicious cultivation, the increased production would amount to 288,000,000 bushels; and wheat is but one of the staples to be benefited by such improvement.

Deep cultivation is a prime necessity of root-culture, which forms the basis of English agriculture, and enables the English farmer to pay annual rents equivalent to the fee-simple value of our farms. The growing of these "green crops" results in a more thorough admixture of the food-producing elements of the soil and its prompt permeation by water and the gases, which are so necessary to plant-growth. France, following in our footsteps, or we in hers, in at least one particular-the waut of a proper rotation system-has reduced the average yield of wheat to 15 bushels. The single fact that, while England has two acres in "green crops" for every acre in wheat, France has three acres in wheat for every acre in green crops, and that with us roots are scarcely raised as a farm crop, explains the cause of the great discrepancy in the yield of that valuable cereal in these countries.

In this connection I desire to urge upon the attentive consideration of American farmers a subject of vital importance to the whole country-the cultivation of the sugar-beet and the manufacture of its sugar. I shall refer to this subject in another division of this report.

A feasible plan for effecting this reform in agricultural practice, by which 12 inches might be thoroughly pulverized instead of six, may appear difficult to realize, but it is far less so than many results of invention successfully accom plished, and it is believed that the ingenuity of our countrymen will be fully equal to the undertaking whenever its importance is felt and proper encouragement extended. The free and beneficent institutions under which we live are favorable to the development of inventive genius, as shown in the history of