774 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



has grown nohibly. It has been possible to supply many publica- 

 tions not stricdy called for in)der the limitations of the work, and 

 an eH'ort has been made to furnish copies of available books likely 

 to be needed for reference in tlie future to the general library of the 

 department and to the bureau libraries. 



Under the present system, by careful watching, most of the docu- 

 ments of interest to persons in the department can be secured; yet 

 it is frequently impossible to foresee that a certain document is likely 

 to be wanted by several ofhcials, bureaus, or divisions of this dcj)art- 

 ment, as is sometimes the case. Wlien the calls come in it is too late 

 to get publications from the printer, and frequently too late to obtain 

 any copies at the Capitol document rooms. It would be much bet- 

 ter if an arrangement could be made by which the Public Printer 

 would send to tliis olhce four copies of these documents along with 

 the bills, reports, etc. After they were examined here, if it was 

 deemed unlikely that they would be needed, they could be returned 

 to the Government Printing Ofhce. In this way few documents 

 that could be wanted here could be missed. 



The fact that the office is overcrowded is too well known to require 

 comment. The health inspector from the Marine-Hospital Service, 

 w^ho came in soon after the close of the period for which this report 

 is made, called attention to this condition immediately after he 

 came into the room and some relief can not long be deferred. 



ILLUSTRATING. 



During the year 1,784 drawings were prepared by the three drafts- 

 men, as compared with 1,566 in 1911 and 1,460 in 1910. This 

 increase of output was not because the drawings were either small or 

 simple. On the contrary, many of them were both large and intri- 

 cate, taxing the energy and industry of the men to the utmost. 



The following table shows the number of drawings made for each 

 independent office of the department : 



Number of drawings made during fiscal year 1911-1912. 



Office of Secretary 107 



Bureau of Plant Industry 521 



Bureau of Animal Industry 153 



Bureau of Chemistrj'- 106 



Bureau of Biological Survey 38 



Bureau of Statistics 459 



Bureau of Soils 54 



Bureau of Entomology 97 



Office of Experiment Stations 83 



Division of Accounts 109 



Division of Publications G 



Office of Public Roads 15 



Total 1,784 



The total output of the photographic laboratory was 89,881 pieces, 

 but these figures only suggest the amount of labor and skill necessary 

 to produce such technically and artistically correct illustrations as 

 are demanded by the department's publications. 



The office is handicapped because of the lack of proper ventilating 

 and cooling facilities in the dark rooms. Although the work of this 

 office is primarily intended for the publications of the department, 

 there are also constant demands for photographic prints and lantern 

 slides of these illustrations for use by both the officials of the department 

 and other scientific investigators, who pay the expenses of reproduction. 



