LXXVI REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. 



and who at the time was getting a larger salary than the Chief of the 

 Bureau who was directing the work, was induced to leave by the offer 

 of compensation about three times as great as he was receiving in the 

 Department. Quite recently his successor has been approached in 

 the same way by a corporation intending to operate in the Connecticut 

 Valley, and it is likely that he will leave the Department to accept a 

 much more remunerative position outside. Two years ago I had to 

 note the loss to the Department of a gentleman who had made some 

 important discoveries in tobacco fermentation, and who was called to 

 Japan at a salary about four times as great as he was receiving in the 

 Department. 



It is gratifying to feel that the Department's experts are looked upon 

 with such favor in the commercial world, ])ut these experts are so dif- 

 ficult to obtain, and to train them requires so long a time, that the 

 Department is very greatly embarrassed when they are thus removed 

 because of lack of opportunity to pay them what their services are 

 worth in commercial lines. As this work has been developed by the 

 Department, it seems strange to think that the very success of the 

 work is hindering, if it does not prevent, the successful extension of 

 the investigations. 



EXTENSION OF THE TOBACCO INVESTIGATIONS. 



The tobacco investigations of the past two years have been carried 

 on with three Held parties, at a cost of about $5,000 each, or an aggre- 

 gate of $15,000 per annum. On account of the great success of this 

 ' work, and the extraordinary interest taken in its extension to other 

 areas, I recommended last year that the appropriations for the Bureau 

 of Soils be increased so that the allotments- for this work could be made 

 sufficient for seven parties of tobacco experts. The appropriations as 

 passed, however, did not allow of this increase, and the allotment this 

 year has been the same as for last. The demands for the services of 

 these tobacco expeits have been verj great, and I would recommend 

 that three additional parties be organized for work in Pennsj^lv^ania, 

 Wisconsin, and North Carolina. This will mean an increase of $15,000 

 in the allotment, making in all the sum of $30,000 for the tobacco 

 investigations. I feel that the economic results of the work so far 

 done, and the lines of work that are at present being dcA^eloped, fully 

 justify this recommendation. The reports from the Connecticut Vab 

 ley alone indicate that nearly $1,000,000 worth of Sumatra tobacco 

 will be grown in the State this year. This has largely Increased the 

 price of land; has furnished a market for thousands of chestnut posts 

 from adjacent ridges which have lain idle and unproductive for years; 

 has given employment in a healthful occupation and at remunerative 

 wages to large numbers of men and women; has brought about the 

 production of millions of square yards of cloth by the cloth manufac- 



