DIVISION OF ACCOUNTS AND DISBURSEMENTS. 509 



fication of cotton and used as a revolving fund to pay for the cost of 

 this work; $1,388,194.40 collected from farmers to whom seed grain 

 loans had been made in 1921 and 1922, not available for further dis- 

 bursement but deposited in the Treasury to the credit of the appro- 

 priation; $500,000 allotted by the President from national defense 

 act funds for fixed-nitrogen research by the department; $25,000 

 for the expenses of the National Forest Reservation Commission, 

 and $12,623 in allotments transferred from other departments under 

 the act of May 21, 1920, for work to be done at their request by the 

 D^artment of Agriculture. 



In addition to tnese appropriations made for the fiscal year 1923, 

 unexpended balances of appropriations for prior years totaling 

 $195,165,739.50 remained available for expenditure during this 

 year. By far the largest portion of these balances consisted of $178,- 

 703,521.43 in Federal aid road construction funds and $6,408,586.52 

 in forest road and trail building appropriations, available until 

 expended and almost fully obligated through cooperative road 

 building agreements with States, counties, and communities. The 

 remainder of the unexpended balances from prior years available for 

 expenditure during the fiscal year 1923, consisted of $4,720,027.44 

 under the various appropriations in the Agricultural act for the 

 fiscal year 1922, and $1,410,196.82 under other appropriations for 

 that year; $963,317.01 remaining from appropriations provided by 

 the Agricultural act for the fiscal year 1921, and $880,701.61 from 

 other appropriations for that year, and $2,079,388.67 in unexpended 

 balances of continuing appropriations available until expended. 



The total amount available for expenditure during the fiscal year 

 1923, including these balances from prior years, was, therefore, 

 $284,435,356.73. 



During the year the disbursements by the disbursing clerk, fiscal 

 agents, and temporary special disbursing agents of the department 

 amounted to $127,137,345.71, of which $31,388,336.97 was dis- 

 bursed from the appropriations provided by the agricultural act for 

 the fiscal year 1923, $14,448,990.02 from the supplemental, per- 

 manent annual, special and indefinite appropriations and funds for 

 that year and allotments from other departments, and $81,300,018.72 

 from the unexpended balances remaining available from annual 

 and continuing appropriations for prior years. 



At the close of the fiscal year, June 30, 1923, $157,298,011.02 

 remained unexpended. Of this sum, $5,385,836.03 represented 

 unexpended balances of appropriations in the agricultural act for 

 1923, $38,046,454.21 unexpended balances of supplemental, per- 

 manent annual, special and indefinite appropriations, and funds 

 and allotments from other departments for 1923, and $113,865,720.78 

 unexpended balances of annual and continuing appropriations for 

 1922 and prior years. On June 30, 1923, $1,702,859.80 of these 

 balances was transferred to the surplus fund of the Treasury and 

 $502.03 in allotments no longer available for expenditure was re- 

 turned to the departments from which the allotments originated, 

 leaving $155,594,649.19 to be carried forward as available for ex- 

 penditure in the fiscal year 1924. The bulk of this amount consists 

 of $132,101,768.71 in Federal-aid road building funds, and $11,- 

 279,523.79 in forest road and trail construction appropriations, 

 almost fully obligated through cooperative road building agreements. 



