256 



trial acliieveuients, toiictlicr "uitli fuiniture, utensils, and all the other 

 mechanical accompaniments of our bnsines.s, social, and domestic life. 

 He will be assisted by a corps of scientific gentlemen, includiuj^ two of 

 tlie olticials of tlie Department of Agriculture — Dr. Thomas Antisell, 

 chemist, and Dr. Stuart Eldridge, librarian, both of whom have re- 

 signed the offices they resi)ectively held. After the 1st of August the 

 address of the commission will be Yokohama, Jai)an. 



General Capron's mission cannot fail to result in many and enduring 

 benefits to the people of Japan, who, through its instrumentality, will 

 learn the arts that have made us a might}' nation, while the people of our 

 own country will be benefited in return by the deuiand for the jjroducts of 

 our mines, manufactories, and farms, to which the industrial develo])ment 

 of Japan will slirely lead. It will strengthen the friendly relations 

 W"hich now exist between the two nations, and it Avill aid greatly in 

 extending the influence of our civilization to the neighboring empire of 

 China. 



General Capron bears with him to Japan letters of the most compli- 

 mentary character from the President, the General of the Army, the 

 Secretary of War, the Secretary of the Navy, the Acting Secretary of 

 State, and Her Britannic Majesty's minister at Washington. The em- 

 ployes of the Department of Agriculture have also formally united in 

 the following testimonial, presented at a meeting called for the purpose 

 on the afternoon of July 13 : 



"Whereas, the Hon. Horace Capron, Commissioner of Agriculture, having resigned, 

 for the inir|M)se of accex>tiug a liigh position under the Japanese government : There- 

 fore, 



Besolved, That we congratulate him upon the distinguished compliment he has re- 

 ceived in heiug selected by the government of Japan to guide and aid in the develop- 

 ment of the agricultural resources of that country. 



Jlesolved, That, in the retirement of Hon. Horace Capron from the Department of 

 Agriculture, the people of the United States have lost an honest, faithful, and ai)le 

 public servant, and the agricultural interest of the country one of its most intelligent, 

 zealous, and progressive advocates. 



Besolved, That, as enijiloyds of the Dejiartment of Agriculture, we hereby testify our 

 sincere i"egi"et at the severance of those genial relations, otticial and jiersonal, which 

 we have hitherto sustained to Commissioner Capron ; tiiat we' will ever cherish a warm 

 remembrance of his uniform courtesy and kindness, and that we tender to hini our best 

 wishes for liis entire success in the important mission to which he has been called. 



Besolved, That a copy of these resolutions, properly engrossed, be jireseuted to the 

 retiring Commissioner. 



Hon. Frederick Watts, of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, has been appointed 

 successor to General Capron as Commissioner of Agriculture, to date 

 from the 1st of August. Judge Watts is a native of Carlisle, and was 

 educated at Dickinson College, "where he was graduated at the age 

 of nineteen. Immediately after his graduation he went to Erie County, 

 Pennsylvania, and there lived three years with an uncle, working daily 

 on his farm. It was while residing with this uncle that the taste for 

 farm life, which has characterized his whole career, Mas fully formed, 

 and "ft practical knowledge of its essential reijuirements thoroughly 

 learned. Returning to Carlisle, he studied law with Andrew Carothers, 

 and was admitted to the bar. He practiced his profession until 1848, 

 when he was commissioned by Governor William F. Johnston as presi- 

 dent judge of the ninth judicial district of Pennsylvauia, composed of the 

 counties of Cumberland, Perry, and Juniata. This office he held for 

 three years, when, it having been made elective, and the district being 

 under the control of the political party with which he was not in sym- 

 pathy, he retired from the bench and returned to the bar. He did not, 

 however, actively engage in his profession, a large i>ortion of his time' 

 being devoted to the personal superintendence of a farm near Oar- 



