320 EXPERIMENT STATION KECORD. 



any other year. In all. '.>88 publications were issued, as against 757 

 in any previous year, and 375 of these were new publications. The 

 total number of copies of all the publications issued aggregated nearly 

 12,000,00(1, 7,000,000 of which were Farmers' Bulletins and were dis- 

 tributed quite largely through members of Congress. It is a striking 

 evidence of the general appreciation of the publications of the Depart- 

 ment that over 30,000 copies were sold by the Superintendent of 

 Documents, in the face of the enormous free distribution, the supply of 

 copies for sale being inadequate to the demand. 



Plans for the new buildings authorized by the last Congress have 

 been adopted and are being worked up in detail. These plans provide 

 ultimately for the erection of a series of ten buildings, connected by 

 pavilions in such a wa}^ as to make practically one harmonious struc- 

 ture. The central feature of this series is an administrative building, 

 and grouped about it are the laboi-atory buildings to be used by the 

 various bureaus in their research work. The amount authorized by 

 Congress ($1,500,000) will suffice for the erection of three of the 

 laboratory buildings, which will provide a floor space of about 100,000 

 square feet, and will enable compliance with the terms of the appro- 

 priation act in housing those branches of the Department that are now 

 pacing rent. The erection of the administrative structure will require 

 further appropriation. 



Some interesting facts bearing upon the working force of the 

 Department of Agriculture and the development which has taken 

 place in this respect are presented ih the annual report of the appoint 

 ment clerk for the past year. 



The Department was established July 1, 1862. Its immediate pred- 

 ecessor w^as the Agricultural Division of the Patent Office, the force 

 of which included 9 persons the year that the transfer w^as made. In 

 1863, the second year of the Department, the number of emplo3^ees 

 had reached 29, and four years later it was about a hundred. This 

 number was not exceeded until 1881, and in 1889, soon after the Depart- 

 ment was raised to the first rank, the total number of employees was 

 less than five hundred. 



With the transfer of the Weather Bureau to the Department in 

 1891, the number was increased to 1,577 persons. Since that time the 

 force has increased several hundred in number every year. During 

 the administration of the present Secretary, from 1897 to 1903, the 

 growth has been especially rapid, showing a net increase of 1,756 per- 

 sons. In the past two years over -100 persons a year have been added 

 to the force. 



The present enrollment (July 1. 1903) is -1,200 persons. Of these, 

 1,-110 are in the Weather Bureau, 1,386 in the Bureau of Animal 

 Industry, 324 in the Bureau of Plant Industr^^, 297 in the Bureau of 



