260 



priation from the fund was coiitiiiued, but in the latter year it was ag'ain 

 omitted. In 1847 it was revived, and afterwards annually renewed up 

 to 1854, when the policy of api)r()priating' money from the fund was 

 abandoned ; the whole aiaount (8o(),000) drawn from it was reimbursed 

 in 1855. After 1853 ap]iro[)riations for agriculture were made every 

 year directly from the Treasury. In no one year, up to 1854, did the 

 annual appropriation exceed $5,500, and it was generally below that 

 sum. 



In his report of 1843 the Commissioner recommended "the consti- 

 tution of an agricultural bureau, or at least an agricultural clerkship, 

 at a moderate expense." He further recommended "a sufficient appro- 

 priation to allow a personal examination of the various parts of the 

 country, by some one well qualified for such duty." Acconi})anying the 

 report was an elaborate essay by the Commissioner, sixty pages long, 

 on the condition and prospects of American agriculture; also, a tabular 

 estimate of the crops of 1842, occupying two pages, the data for which 

 were obtained from tlie sources i^reviously relied upon. The i^repara- 

 tion of the table was stated to have been "no easy task." Several com- 

 munications, from farmers and others, on practical questions relating 

 to agriculture, were printed in an appendix, and some of them were 

 illustrated by cuts. From them may be dated the practice of publish- 

 ing details of individual experience and elaborate essays in the annual 

 agricultural reports. 



The report of 1844 was still more voluminous than its predecessor. 

 The tabular estimates, letters from correspondents, and remarks by the 

 Commissioner were continued. The statement was made that the labor 

 of the Commissioner in compiling agricultural information was chieily 

 performed out of office hours. The remarks on the condition of the 

 crops and the growth of agriculture challenge aduiiration by their 

 comprehensiveness, (120 pages,) their minuteness of detail, and the 

 thorough acquaintance manifested by the writer with the agricultural 

 resources of the country. A more extended system of investigation was 

 recommeiuled. The distribution of foreign seeds had been continued 

 during the preceding- j'ear, and 12,000 packages would be distributed 

 during the year then current. 



The report of 1845 showed increased industry and enthusiasm by the 

 Commissioner. It was more voluminous than any of its i)redecessors. 

 The potato-rot, which began in 1843, the ravages of the Hessian lly and 

 other insects, and the various diseases to which wheat and other grains 

 are subject, were referred to at length in the general review and in the 

 papers contained in the appendix, aud remedies were suggested. Some 

 of the most valuable papers in the appendix were reproducetl from the 

 agricultural and news journals of the day. 



On the 30th of April, 1845, Mr. Ellsworth resigned the office of Com- 

 missioner of Patents. We have given in some detail the facts in his 

 official career, because he was really the founder of that branch of 

 the (xovernment now embraced in the Department of Agriculture, and 

 as such entitled to honorable mention in these pages, and because 

 the first successful steps in the work of securing Government recogni- 

 tion of agricultui-e deserve to be recorded. The patience, enthusiasm, 

 and industry of Mr. Ellsworth in this work entitle his name to the grate- 

 ful remembrance of Amt^rican farmers. 



Hon. Edmund Eurke, of New Hampshire, succeeded Mr. Ellsworth 

 as Commissioner of Patents. During the four years (1845-1849) of his 

 administration of the office, the efforts of his predecessor for the advance- 

 ment of agriculture Avere most ably seconded. The report of the Com- 



