616 



ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Tlie following is a comparative statement of the appropriations 

 expended under the supervision of the division for the fiscal years 

 1908, 1909, 1910, and 1911: 



Appropriations under the supervision of the Division of Publications for the fiscal years 



190S-1911. 



WORK OF THE YEAR. 



In reviewing the operations of the Division of Publications for the 

 year 1911, it is desirable to recall the fact that so far as the work is 

 concerned there is no control possible by the editor save under the 

 arbitrary limitation imposed by the appropriations. The extent of 

 the work to be performed in the division is absolutely dependent 

 upon the growth of the department and the activity of its various 

 agencies, and this activity depends upon so many extraneous condi- 

 tions that no cliief of any single bureau, division, or office can approxi- 

 mate at the beginning of the year the amount of printing which he 

 will require during the year. The volume of printing may therefore 

 be accepted as an accurate index of the department's work. 



It is the function of this division to meet the department's require- 

 ments for printing and binding, and accomplish this within the 

 almost invariably inadequate appropriation. Hence the economies 

 of the division tend in the editorial work to the condensation of state- 

 ment and improvement in form, and in the distribution work to closer 

 organization and increasing the efficiency by the use of macliinery 

 wherever possible. 



In 1910, 1,983 separate and distinct pubfications, containing 42,503 

 pages, were issued, the total number of copies being 25,190,4C9. As 

 the appropriations for the two years 1910 and 1911 for printing were 

 identical and the number of employees in the division only slightly 

 increased during the last year, it will be readily observed from the 

 following pages how efficient were the efforts to meet the depart- 

 ment's increasing demands. 



Even with the increase in the number of copies of publications 

 secured with the appropriation for 1911 it was impossible to supply 

 the popular demand which comes from every section of the United 

 States. The distribution of the enormous amount of reading matter 

 widely disseminates information along agricultural lines and is pro- 

 ductive of a higher yield of all kinds of crops, better breeds of stock, 

 new varieties of fruits, and improved conditions on the farm, the 

 financial value of which alone amounts to millions of dollars annu- 

 ally; but the increase in comfort, contentment, and cheer can not be 

 estimated. 



