Amount disbursed from 4th to 31st December, 1867, (less United States revenue tax)....... 438 05 Amount unexpended January 1, 1868.. 3,923 37 Propagating and distributing plants, cuttings, &c.: Amount unexpended December 4, 1867................ $7,729 25 Amount disbursed from 4th to 31st December, 1867, (less United States rev Amount disbursed from 4th to 31st December, 1867, (less United States revenue tax)................. 408 24 Amount unexpended January 1, 1868... Erection of a Department of Agriculture: Amount unexpended December 4, 1867..... Amount disbursed from 4th to 31st December, 1867.. Amount unexpended January 1, 1868 .... Total amount unexpended December 4, 1867 ... Total amount disbursed from 4th to 31st December, 1867, (less United States 3,322,22 $51,092 61 7,725 81 43,366 80 $148,424 70 revenue tax)....... Total amount unexpended January 1, 1868................ 17,933 69 130,491 01 In conclusion, I would call upon men of thought and action, who are so zealous and active in promoting agricultural progress, to continue their labors, individual and in co-operation with organized societies and with this Department, until the country shall teem with abundance and the tillers of the soil shall attain a high condition of independence and intelligence. HORACE CAPRON, His Excellency ANDREW JOHNSON, President. CONDITION OF THE DEPARTMENT. The following special report, in response to a resolution of the House of Representatives, presents the views of the Commissioner upon the internal economy of the Department: DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, Washington, D. C., January 13, 1868. SIR: In conformity with the resolution adopted by the House of Representatives on the 9th ultimo, viz: "Resolved, That the Commissioner of Agriculture be instructed to report to this house the condition of the Department of Agriculture, and what legislation is necessary to enable him to so reorganize the department as to place it upon a footing commensurate with the vast interests committed to its charge," the Commissioner respectfully submits his report thereupon. The great importance of the interests involved in this department causes me to approach my reply to the resolution with feelings of weighty responsibility. With the agricultural interests all others of our country are immediately connected. In its prosperity and its embarrassments the different departments of business more or less share. Besides the fact (which, though so patent to observation, is liable to be overlooked, and requires to be frequently pressed upon our notice) that not only the whole of mankind, but all animated existence, are entirely dependent upon the soil for their life and support, and mostly upon the growth of the latest season, many of the fabrics of industry, as cotton, wool, silk, leather, sugar, &c., have the origin of their supply in the soil. Hence, the more productive a soil can be made, the more abundant is food and the greater the supply of those materials upon which so large an amount of human industry is employed, resulting in untold additions to the comforts and conveniences of the human family. The great object of this department, in accordance with the true principles of politi cal economy, is, therefore, to arrive at a knowledge of practical means and purposes by which the greatest amount of the most valuable products can be continuously produced with the least amount of labor and expense, and thus adding in the greatest degree to the wealth of the country. To this end my humble efforts shall be directed. The immense capital invested in the varied agricultural pursuits, and the great proportion of the population engaged in that interesting employment, render necessary the closest attention that can be given, to add to the incomes of that capital and to the efficiency of the labor of that population. By the census of 1860, the whole number of persons in the United States engaged at that time in manufactures and kindred branches was 2,017,653, and of those engaged in commerce and connected pursuits, 757,773; while the number engaged in agricultural operations was 3,881,583, exceeding the combined number engaged in both the other pursuits by over 600,000. แ The cash value of the farms in 1850, as given in the census, was $3,271,575,426, and in 1860, $6,650,872,507, the value being more than doubled in the intervening decade. As remarked of the farmers by Mr. Enfield, in his valuable treatise on Indian corn, their numbers are rapidly increasing, and their achievements do not flag. The annual fruits of their industry have reached a prominence and magnitude everywhere seen and felt, and everywhere acknowl edged to be without a parallel. American husbandry has made its mark in the world, not only by the intrinsic value, but equally by the quantities of its products. The unexampled amounts of grain and provisions which it has annually poured into the channels of commerce have justly challenged the attention and the amazement of mankind." Such is a slight view of the interests to be guarded and promoted by the department which has been intrusted to my charge. This department has been comparatively recently instituted. The act of Congress for its establishment, a copy of which I have prefixed to this report, was approved May 15, 1862. It could not reasonably be expected that a new institution, of very important and extensive operations, could spring into existence entirely perfect. Errors of judgment attach to humanity; and sometimes frailties exist that permit us to be swayed from following our better judgment by outside pressure, by policy, and by other influences. While, therefore, it may be admitted that the department has accomplished much good for the country, in collecting and distributing valuable information on agricultural subjects, and awakening an increased interest in the important subjects intrusted to its vigilant regard, it becomes a serious and important consideration and inquiry now, in view of all the past facts, and with the experience we are in possession of, whether the department has done all the good it is capable of accomplishing, and whether changes cannot be inaugurated in its practical working which will render it more efficient in promoting the vast interest committed to its charge. It would be gratifying to the Commissioner, as it undoubtedly would be to Congress, were the operations and existing condition of this department such as would, in every respect, fulfil the design contemplated in its establishment. Representing, as it ought to do-as it must do, indeed, if it is to be of any worth to the country-the vast interests of a constantly expanding nation, the Commissioner is constrained to say that thus far it has come short of the purposes which are legitimately within its embrace, and which, indeed, belong to itpurposes intimately associated with the national wealth and prosperity of a preponderating class of our people. While the Commissioner has been made fully sensible, during the brief period which has elapsed since he assumed the duties of his position, how much has remained undone toward meeting these requirements, he is not disposed to animadvert upon the errors of the past, as concerns the direction given to its work; nor would he underrate or depreciate the efforts of those occupying subordinate positions in the department, who, with praiseworthy diligence and assiduity, devoted their talents and zeal in its service. In order to bring the department into a healthy activity, and an efficient working condition, the present Commissioner, on entering upon his duties, found 'that immediate changes must be made-changes demanded alike by necessary economy, in husbanding the very limited resources at command, and that reform which was essential in order to place the department in a condition to work out its proper ends and aims. It is frequently a difficult matter, as it is an ungracious task, to institute any reform; for there seldom can be reform, which has for its object the advancement of the public interest, which does not, in some way, act oppressively upon private individuals. The Commissioner could not but feel the force of this in bringing about the particular changes determined upon, inasmuch as there was involved in them the deprivation of employment to quite a number of both sexes heretofore, and for some considerable time, employed in the two branches of the department, known as the seed-room and experimental farm. The seed establishment had, practically, grown into a sort of fungus, of little value in itself, while it absorbed largely of the nutriment required to sustain the vital functions of the department. The experimental farm was to be classed under the same head, and liable to the same objections. These needed to be removed in order to give vitality to the system. The Commissioner felt compelled to stop these drains upon the resources of the department, which were without any corresponding benefit to the country. But the practical failure of the good results contemplated from the distribution of seeds is no ground for discouragement of the capabilities of the department in this respect. With the experience that has been acquired, and the opportunity afforded of observing wherein the system which was pursued has failed to meet the wants and equal the expectations of the people, and to be of that national benefit which would warrant the attendant expenditure, the department is the better prepared to inaugurate a system from which more propitious results may reasonably be expected. By the terms of the act establishing the Department of Agriculture, its duty in this matter is "to procure, propagate, and distribute among the people, new and valuable seeds and plants." Those seeds distributed under the law must be "new and valuable." By the term "new" it is not to be understood merely that they are fresh grown, but that they are of a kind that has not been in use in the district or neighborhood to which they are sent; and by "valuable" it is to be understood that they possess some important quality above those of similar variety in ordinary use-as great productiveness, superior nutrition, more early or seasonable ripening, or some peculiar property which renders them worthy of being a gift from the nation to a neighborhood, including all the leading and most valuable cereal productions, such as wheat, corn, rye, oats, barley, &c. And, moreover, it is very desirable and important that the reciprocal obligations of the recipient of such seeds from the department be properly and practically understood: that they are not given to him simply as an individual, but that they are forwarded to him as a member of the community in which he resides, who is confidently selected by the department to co-operate with it by bestowing careful and intelligent cultivation upon the seed intrusted to him, distributing a portion of its surplus yield to other members of the community, and, where there are peculiarly interesting and valuable results, communicating the information to the department. In such a reorganization of the seed department, it is believed it can be placed upon a basis of extensive and permanent usefulness. PROPAGATING GARDEN. The importance of a propagating garden has been fully set forth in the report of Mr. Saunders, the superintendent, herewith submitted, marked A. In his report to this department for 1862, he represents the objects and aims of the experimental garden to be, among numerous other things not specified, the following: 1st. To procure and encourage the transmission of seeds, cuttings, bulbs, and plants, from all sources, both foreign and domestic, for the purpose of testing their merits and adaptation in general, or for particular localities of this country. 2d. To procure, by hybridizing and special culture, products of a superior character to any now existing." 3d. To ascertain, by experiment, the influences of various culture on products, and the modifications effected by the operations of pruning, and other manipulations on trees and fruits. 4th. To investigate more thoroughly the various maladies and diseases of plants, and the insects that destroy them. 5th. To provide ample means for thoroughly testing samples of all seeds and other contributions that may be received. 6th. To cultivate specimens of various hedge plants, and exhibit their availability for that purpose. 7th. To cultivate a collection of the best fruit trees and plants, such as apples, grapes, pears, peaches, strawberries, raspberries, currants, &c., so as to compare their respective merits. 8th. To plant a collection of choice shrubs, adapted for decorating gardens and landscape scenery. 9th. To erect glass structures, for the two-fold purpose of affording the necessary facilities for cultivating exotic fruits and plants, and to furnish examples of the best and most economical modes of constructing, heating, and managing such buildings. It will hence be seen, that on the vigorous and skilful prosecution of the arious duties connected with this garden, many of the benefits derived to the country by the aid of this department in great measure depend. EXPERIMENTAL FARM. Among the needed instrumentalities to be made available to the purposes of the department should be the enlarged experimental farm. To accomplish the full purposes of such farm, not less than 200 acres of land should be obtained in a conspicuous locality, upon some one of the great thoroughfares, within easy access from the city; a portion to be appropriated to the propagating garden, and the remainder to constitute the farm proper. This land should present to the public eye its gradual development, and thus stimulate and encourage a spirit of improvement, checking the impoverishing system of agriculture, which is extending its baleful influence over the fertile regions of the west, and, if persisted in, will present in the not distant future visions there of the "barren old fields" so common in those districts where the same deteriorating system of farming has long prevailed. This deterioration of the productiveness of the soil of our country is a great and growing evil, and the energy of the nation is demanded to check it, and to invite and guide those concerned into more healthful and productive methods of cultivation. No matter how fertile a soil may be, and how rich in all the elements promotive of vegetable growth, the removal from it of successive crops, year after year, without the return to it, in some way, of an equivalent, must necessarily exhaust the soil of some indispensable ingredients, and render it sterile. This must be the case, and the fact cannot be too soon recognized and guarded against. The points to which enlightened agricultural attention should be directed to prevent deterioration, are, first, to have all the waste matter on a farm-the bones, ashes, feathers, offal, manures, and excrementitious matters of all kinds, solid and fluid-properly protected and returned to the soil; and, secondly, a plan devised by which all these waste materials may be returned from the cities, where they are a nuisance, back to the soil, to maintain its fertility, to be followed with a judicious system of cultivation and rotation of crops. A fundamental improvement in soil is that of proper drainage. It would therefore be necessary, as well as instructive, to exhibit the benefits of this operation, the best mode of accomplishing it, the comparative merits of deep and of shallow draining, and the gradual amelioration of soils thus operated upon, and its effects upon the crops with regard to their earlier maturity and increased productiveness in comparison with soil of the same quality, similarly situated and treated, but undrained. In farming, if in nothing else, example is more valuable than precept. In the fields, occular demonstration is at once the most silent and the most effective teacher. The subject of farm enclosures, or fences, is one that has always been of vital moment. In many sections of the country the materials for this purpose are difficult and costly to procure, and, when timber is used, frequent repairs and renewals are necessary; consequently, live fences are being extensively introduced. It is still, however, very much a matter of experiment with many. There is yet |