DIVISION OF PUBLICATIONS. 



125 



g-reatlj' augmented. The absolute necessitj^ now imposed upon us by 

 the condition of the printing fund to greatly restrict the distribution 

 to miscellaneous applicants of all publications (with the exception of 

 Farmers' Bulletins and circulars), should be recognized by providing 

 for a more liberal distribution through the official mentioned. In con- 

 nection with a complaint of the Superintendent of Documents that 

 "much difficulty has been experienced in obtaining a sufficient sup- 

 ply of documents issued by the Department of Agriculture," it may be 

 stated that, in many cases, the jjrinting fund would not permit the 

 reprinting of i^ublications, notwithstanding the urgent requests made 

 for them. This again emphasizes the importance of an amendment 

 to the printing law, recommended in previous reports, by which the 

 funds received by the Su]3erintendent of Documents for the sale of 

 Department publications, should, in lieu of being turned into the 

 Treasury, be held by the Public Printer suljject to the order of the 

 Secretary, to defray the cost of reprinting such publications as may 

 be called for in excess of the original edition. 



The sales of the i:)ublications of the Department of Agriculture for 

 the three years are shown in the following table, for the information 

 contained in which we are indebted to the courtesy of the Superin- 

 tendent of Documents : 



Number of publications sold and amount received. 



111 180G, the first year that .documents were sold by the Superin- 

 tendent of Documents, the number of publications of this Department 

 sold by that officer was 2,818, for which he received 1353.10. 



ILLUSTRATION WORK. 



The total number of original drawings prepared in the section of 

 illustrations was 1,767, of which 630 were reproduced and appeared 

 in i)ul)lications issued during the current year. There were, besides, 

 prepared by the engraver 60 wood engravings. The cost of the origi- 

 nal drawings and engravings was $6,400, being for the pay of artists. 

 The cost for reproduction was $1,528.21:, of which $105.49 was charged 

 to the apj)ropriation for this Division and $1,032.75 to the funds of 

 other Divisions. There was expended for artists' suijplies $568.47. 

 The following i)resents full details of the work: 



Work of the section of illustrations. 



Drawings, retouching photographs, etc., made by the artists in the Division 



of Puiilicat:ons during fiscal year 1899-1900 _ - 1,767 



Wood engravings .,_ .._ . ._ 60 



Duplicates furnished to correspondents on requests 1, 398 



Requisitions and authorizations .. -. . 81 



Illustrations printed or published during fiscal year 1899-1900 (not including 

 reprints) 3, 197 



