cxx repoet of the secretary of agriculture. 



Farmers' Bulletins. 



Of Fanners' Bulletins, four-tifths of which are by law set aside for 

 the use of Senators, Representatives, and Delegates, there were printed 

 6,150,000 copies, of which the Congressional distribution absorbed 

 4,289,126. While Senators, Representatives, and Delegates have 

 failed to avail themselves of the full number of Farmers' Bulletins 

 allotted to them, on the other hand, the number at the disposal of 

 the Department has been inadequate. 



Growth in the Publication Work. 



The growth in the publication work of the Department during the 

 past decade has been phenomenal. Eveiy enlargement of the scope 

 of the work of any one bureau or division, or the adoption by the 

 Department of any new line of investigation or inquiry, inevitably 

 brings about an increase in the work of publication. The develop- 

 ment of the Department itself can therefore be accurately traced in 

 the records of the Division of Publications. 



Ten years ago the total appropriations for printing for this Depart- 

 ment, including the salaiy roll of the Editor and his assistants, were 

 less than $100,000. The total number of publications was 210, and the 

 aggregate number of copies issued was 2,689,084. Last year the total 

 appropriations for the same purposes exceeded $380,000; the number 

 of publications issued was 757, and the aggregate number of copies 

 10,586,580. This increase, amounting to nearl}^ 300 per cent in appro- 

 priations and number of copies issued and to over 250 per cent in the 

 number of publications, obviousl}^ supplies an accurate measure of the 

 growth and development of the Department itself. 



Cost of the Department Printing. 



The amount appropriated for printing for the use of this Depart- 

 ment is, however, far from being the total amount expended for the 

 publication work of the Department. The Yearbook and several other 

 reports issued annually are paid for ])y special appropriations, and no 

 session of Congress passes without special provision being made for 

 the publication of several important reports for which the regular 

 printing appropriation is inadequate. The cost of the publication 

 work of the Department thus does not fall short of $800,000 a j^ear, to 

 say nothing of the fact that this enormous mass of published matter is 

 carried free through the mails to all parts of this country, to Canada,^ 

 and to Mexico, at an expense to the Government which can not be less 

 than $200,000 yearly at the least. 



The diffusion of the information acquired by the Department, there- 

 fore, represents an annual expenditure of about $1,000,000, a compar- 

 atively small per cent of the amount required to defra}' the total 



