432 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 

 Accessions to the library for the fiscal years 1916 to 1920. 



According to tlio record of accessions, the total number of books 

 and pamphlets accessioned by the library up to July 1, 1920, was 

 161,704. From this number should bo taken 5,910 volumes, which 

 were discarded during the fiscal year 1915 and 652 which were dis- 

 carded in the last five fiscal years, lca"\dng a bahin^e of 155,142. 



The European book market may be said to have fairly reopened. 

 The libraiy has been able to buy more books this yea,r not only from 

 England but also from Italy and Fran-T'c, and has also purchased 

 several lots from Germany. On account, however, of the fa'^-t that 

 most of the Euro ean dealers have advan-^ed their book prices to 

 offset the depreciation in their money, the opportunities for the pur- 

 chase of foreign desiderata have not been as favorable as it was 

 hoped they would be. 



Among the notable purchases of the year were Barbosa Rodrigues' 

 Sertum palmarum brasiliensium, Bla'^kweli's Curious herbal, Millais' 

 British diving ducks, the long sought "De plantes epitome utilis- 

 sima" (Fran'^'ofurti ad Moenum, 1586) of Mattliiolus edited by 

 Camerarius, Robert Sweet's Gerania'^eae, 1820-1830, complete with 

 the fifth volume, whi' h is almost always lacking, Lanzi's Funghi 

 mangerecci e no(ivi di Roma (1902), and a complete set of Justus 

 Liebig's Annalen der chemie. The library previously had a set 

 from only volume 125 to date. 



Among the manuscripts obtained during the year was a collection 

 of letters addressed to Humphry Marshall by contemporary botanists 

 and horticulturists of the latter part of the eighteenth century, includ- 

 ing Dr. Thomas Farkes, Timothy Pickering, Sir Joseph Banks, James 

 Vaughan, and Hippol3'to da Costa. 



Photostat copies of the following books of which the originals were 

 not available for purchase were acquired by the library': Dumercy, 

 Charles. Bibliographie de la papeterie. 28 p. Bruxelles, 1888; Savi, 

 Gaetano. Osscrvaziono sopra i generi Phaseolus e Dolichos. 3 parts. 

 1 822- 1825. Through Dr . R . H. True, of the Bureau of Plant Industry, 

 photostat copies of the letters of Jared Eliot on agricultural matters 

 were also obtained, made from the manuscript copies in the Yale 

 University library. 



