DIVISION OF PUBLICATIONS. 



273 



The following table shows the number of publications, both original 

 and reprint, and the aggregate number of pages and copies in each 

 class, for the fiscal years 1899, 1900, and 1901: 



Number of publications, original and reprint, and number of pages and copies of 

 each class, fiscal years 1899, 1900, and 1901. 



The above table shows the great activity of the Department in the 

 matter of publications. In the first place the original ijublications 

 for the year number 262, exclusive of the Weather Bureau, a figure 

 far higher than that of any previous year. The total number of pages 

 in these new publications was also, as was to be expected, greater 

 than ever before, aggregating 14,656. It may be noted that had the 

 printing fund been adequate these figures would have been considera- 

 bly increased, as there were held over, from want of funds to print, 

 during the last two months of the fiscal year, more than twenty dif- 

 ferent publications. One feature of the above table deserves particu- 

 lar notice as illustrating the policy adopted with a view to greater 

 economy. A comparison of the number of publications for each of 

 the three years covered bj?^ the table with the number of cojDies shows 

 the tendency toward smaller editions. This is particularly marked 

 in the year just elapsed, where the total number of copies covered by 

 the 263 new i)ublications is considerably less than the total number 

 for 1899, representing only 191 publications. This is the only method 

 available by which this Division can exercise any restriction over the 

 expenditures for printing. 



In the case of reprints composed largely, it may be stated, of Farm- 

 ers' Bulletins, this restriction in the size of the edition is not possi- 

 ble. We find that although the number of reprints in 1901 exceeded 

 the number in 1900 by less than 50 per cent, the increase in the num- 

 ])er of copies in 1901 was largely in excess of 50 per cent, aggregating 

 over .3,100,000 copies. 



For purposes of comparison, a table is appended showing the total 

 number of copies of all the Department publications, together with 

 the aggregate number of copies issued, for the nine years ended with 

 the 30th of June last. In view of the fact that all the work of the 

 Department is reflected in its publications, this table affords a very 

 interesting illustration of the growth and development of the Depart- 

 ment during the last decade. The increase from 210 publications 

 aggregating something over 2,500,000 copies in 1893, to 606 publica- 

 tions aggregating nearly 8,000,000 copies in 1901, bears eloquent tes- 

 timony to the constant increase in the work of the Department of 

 Agriculture. 



AGR 1901- 



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