XXXVITI REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. 



In the distribution of the vegetable seed through a contractor three 

 important essentials are provided for; that is, (1) the seeds must be 

 true to name; (2) they must have a high vitalit3% and {?>) they must 

 be free from mechanical impurities. The scientific staff of the Bureau 

 of Plant Industry is charged with the important duty of seeing that 

 these conditions are complied with, and for ever}^ failure the con- 

 tractor must abide the consequences. 



In order to increase the value of the work, several changes have been 

 made, which may be briefl}' referred to here. It has been arranged 

 to send out the cotton seed, tobacco seed, sorghum seed, and sugar- 

 beet seed, and the grasses and forage plants under the direct auspices 

 of the officers of the Department and not through a contractor. By 

 following this plan we have been able to adopt a number of innova- 

 tions which it is believed will add greatly to the value of the work. 

 The cotton seed, for example, will be selected from high-yielding and 

 compai'atively new sorts. The Department has been working foi- sev- 

 eral years improving cottons by breeding and selection, and gradually 

 the seed of these new forms will l)e worked into the distribution. 

 Furthermore, the adaptation of certain varieties to peculiar condi- 

 tions of soil and climate will be considered, and this, together v\dth the 

 gradual extension of better grades, will, it is believed, do much to 

 improve the cotton industry in the South. Tobacco seed will ])e han- 

 dled in very nuich the same way as the cotton seed, selected seed being- 

 used and varieties sent into districts where the conditions of soil and 

 climate are favorable for their highest development. 



With the grasses and forage plants the object will be to demonstrate 

 what varieties are of special promise for different regions, and to this 

 end the country will be properly districted and such seed sent into 

 each district as the experience gained through the work of the scien- 

 titic ))ranches of the Department may suggest. 



It has long been m}^ belief that much good might be accomplished 

 by using a part of the appropriation in a judicious dissemination of 

 some of the more vahiable trees. Plans have therefore been made to 

 place at the disposal of each Senator, Member, and Delegate in Con- 

 gress a limited number of selected trees, the object being to encourage 

 a love for tree planting and all that this work involves. It will, of 

 course, be entirely beyond the scope of the Department to send a large 

 number of trees to any one place, l)ut it is believed that the action 

 contemplated will eventual!}' lead to extensive planting through the 

 educational effects of the work. Commercial establishments are well 

 prepared to supply trees in nearly all parts of the country at reason- 

 able cost, and the ])laii of our work will, it is believed, eventually 

 advance their interests. Already there has been secured for distribu- 

 tion a choice collection of nut trees, principally pecans, and these are 



