X REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF AC4RICULTURE. 



iiiiirincrs. I'ruit i>Towors. uiid others, uiid, in udditiuii to its services to 

 shippiiio- and eoinniorce, will beeoine .still more servieeable to rural 

 eomnuuHtie.s as free-mail delivery facilities enable us to reach isolated 

 homes more promptl}^ and more frequently. 



Our meat inspection insures the public- health at home and keeps 

 open doors for us in foreign countries that are satisfied with the excel- 

 lence of our meats, and have no purpose to serve beyond that. 



The orange industrj" of California and Florida owes its beginning 

 and preservation to this Department. The sugar and tea industries 

 are very promising. Pathological investigations of plants prevent 

 in many localities losses that would otherwise be very serious. 



The services of the Entomologist are annually worth more to the 

 people than the total expense of the Department; new industries arise 

 that will dominate our markets, as in the case of the Smyrna tig secured 

 to us because our Entomologist met the fertilizing emergency. 



Our tobacco inACstigations have already given much new light that 

 can not be computed in money values. The same may be said of all 

 our agencies to help producers. 



This work will grow and expand from the foundations laid so wisely 

 and well in the past by our farseeing lawmakers until the power of the 

 man and the acre to produce will greatly exceed anj^thing with which 

 we are now familiar, and place within the reach of our rapidly increas- 

 ing population the necessaries and luxuries of the life that has distin- 

 guished us as a people in the past. 



A brief smiimar}' precedes more extended consideration of the work 

 regular!}^ carried on by the several Bureaus, Divisions, and Offices. 



SUMMARY. 



Weather Bureau.^ — The Weather Bureau is experimenting success- 

 fulh^ with wireless telegraphy. Messages have been sent over ,50 miles 

 of rough country. The prospect of f urthei' improvement is very prom- 

 ising. Storm forecasts have been arranged for the North Atlantic, 

 made possible by location of observers in the West Indies, the Baha- 

 mas, Bermuda, and those arranged for from the Azores and Portugal. 

 We have also arranged for observations from Great Britain and France. 

 It is intended to make forecasts for the lirst three days of outgoing 

 steamers, and the same for those leaving European ports that place 

 themselves in communication with us. 



Bureau of Animal Industry. — This Bureau deals with our animals; 

 it inspects meats for interstate and international trade; it inspects pork 

 with the microscope for countries requiring such inspection; it inspects 

 vessels that carr}^ animals to foreign countries, looking to their adap- 

 tability; it inspects imported animals to protect our herds; it experi- 

 ments with swine diseases through serum treatment; it experiments 

 with blackleg in cattle through distribution of vaccine with prospects 

 of eradication, and with sheep scab with like prospects. Rabies exists 

 among dogs and other animals in the District of Columbia and adjoin- 



