10 



Agriculture. Divided into rnany Bureaus and Divisions, 

 many of those receive more apropriations to day and are 

 doing more work than was done a few years ago by the 

 whole Department of Agriculture. It was but a few years 

 ago that the whole appropriations to this branch of the Go- 

 vernment reached but a few hundreds of thousands of dollars, 

 whereas at present the annual appropriations amount to more 

 than seven million dollars. 



The Department of Agriculture through the office of 

 Experiment Stations not only controls to a certain extent 

 operations in the experiment stations of every State and 

 Territory but is actually carrying on researches in agricul- 

 tural science in every State of the Union. It is spending vast 

 sums of money in examining the beef supply, in attempting 

 to eradicate the gypsy moth from New England, the cotton 

 boll-weevil from Texas, and maintains a quarantine line 

 against the cattle ticks from Virginia through the Southern 

 and Western States to California. It investigates the pnrity 

 of foods and maintains a standard of purity, it makes soil 

 surveys, locating types of soil suited for special industries; 

 it investigates food supplies and establishes irrigation sys- 

 tems, it investigates and «reports upon the organizaron and 

 progress of farmers institutes, and agricultural schools in 

 the several States and Territories and upon similar orgaui- 

 zations in fereign countries with special suggestions of plans 

 and methods for making such organizations more eífective 

 for the dissemination of the results of the work ofthe De- 

 partment of Agriculture and the Agricultural Experiment 

 Stations, and of improved methods of agricultural practice». 

 It investigates the nutritive valúes of various human foods, 

 and makes recomendations as to the most wholesome and 

 healthful diets, it is assisting to develop the dairying indus- 

 tries of the Southern States «by conducting experiments, 

 holding institutes, and giving object lessens in cooperation 

 with individual dairymen and State Experiments Stations». 

 (Extracted from the appropriation bilí). 



