THE LIBRARY. 237 



and Circulars 1 to 7 of the Division of Soils; Bulletins 1 to 24 and 

 Circulars 1 to 30 of the Division of Agrostology; Bulletins 1 to 24 

 and Circulars 1 to 29 of the Division of Botany, and the Contributions 

 from the National Herbarium, volumes 1 to 5. Three hundred and 

 sixty-five sets of these cards are printed, the greater number of which 

 are distributed to the libraries of agricultural colleges and experiment 

 stations and to public libraries which are depositories for Government 

 documents. The contents of the publications of the Department are 

 made much more available for use in these libraries by means of these 

 index cards, and consequently they are valued additions to catalogues 

 for public use. 



BINDING. 



The number of books bound the last year has been unusually large. 

 The number of volumes of i^eriodicals bound was 1,127, the number 

 of separate publications 174, making a total of 1,301 volumes. The 

 number of general works bound has been small on account of the 

 necessity of first providing for the preservation of current periodicals 

 by binding. Until larger funds are available for this work but few 

 publications besides periodicals can be bound. 



RECOMMENDATIONS. 



With the large number of valuable accessions to the Library every 

 year the need of a fireproof building becomes more imperative. The 

 present collection of nearly 75,000 books and pamphlets, forming an 

 invaluable working library for the Department, is in a building 

 unsuited and unsafe for its care and protection. The destruction of 

 any considerable part of the Library would be an inestimable loss, 

 and, in addition, the delay to investigations caused thereby would be 

 most serious. In view of the increasing value of the Library, it is 

 earnestly recommended that special consideration be given to the 

 provision of a safe building for this division of the Department work. 



The new lines of investigation undertaken by the Department, 

 together with the development of those continued from past years, 

 have increased the demands for all available publications relating to 

 the work in hand. Also, the establishment of special laboratories in 

 different sections of the country has necessitated the purchase of 

 expensive reference works for the advancement of these investigations. 

 In order to promote these various lines of research and to meet new 

 demands which can not be foreseen, a more nearly adequate appropri- 

 ation should be made for the general expenses of the Library, from 

 which all books for use in the Department are required to be purchased. 



The bulletins and index cards published by the Library are desired 

 by an increasing number of institutions each year. The editions of 

 these publications are small, and, until a larger sum can be allotted from 

 the general printing fund of the Department for Library publications, 

 this branch of work will continue to fall short of the demands upon it. 

 The requests for the index cards to the publications of the Department 

 are especially numerous, and as many of the applicants express a will- 

 ingness to pay for the cards in order to secure them, I would suggest 

 that a nominal price be placed upon the cards distributed outside the 

 present list of agricultural colleges and experiment stations and deposi- 

 tory libraries, the moneys thus received to be added to the general 

 printing fund of the Department. These receipts would contribute 

 somewhat to defraying the cost of larger editions ot the Library pub- 

 lications. 



