2G2 



or other coniineiit. In November, 1852, Mr. Ewbniik retired, and was 

 succeeded by Hon. Silas H. Hodges, of Vermont, Mr. Lee remaining. 

 In the report of isr)3 no attempt was made to add to the value of the 

 cwisus figures, and the reader was left in ignorance wliether the agri- 

 cultural ijroductions of lSo'2 were greater or less than those of the cen- 

 sus year. In the report of 1850 Mr. Lee introduced meteorological 

 statistics, and the space accorded to this specialty annually increased 

 during' his editorshij) of the reports. 



On the 25th of March, 1853, Mr. Hodges was succeeded as 

 Commissioner by Hon. Charles Mason, of Iowa, and soon after- 

 wards Mr. Lee, as editor of the reports, was succeeded by Mr. 1). J. 

 Browne. In Mr. IMason's four reports, appearing in the years 1854, 

 '55, '56, '57, agricultural statistics have no place, the editor enter- 

 taining the' same views as his i)redecessor concerning the value of 

 statistics not collected by the iState or through an annual visit 

 from the census marshal. lii these views he was sustained Ijy the Com- 

 missioner. Mv. Browne, however, greatly systematized the arrangement 

 of the matter of the reports, and during the four years above named 

 greatly changed its quality. Fewer letters from correspondents were 

 given, and more essays. A series of valuable papers on climatology 

 and meteorology, by Lorin Blodget, esq.. Professor Joseph Henry, and 

 others, extended through the whole four reports. From Mr. Mason's 

 first report (1854) may be dated the declension of the crop corres- 

 pon(h'nt and the ascendency of the essayist in the annual re])orts. 



The agricultural and industrial cabinet, meditated by Mr. Ellsworth, 

 seems to have received some attention iirior to the accession of Mr. 

 Mason, who i-efers in his first report to the variety and value of the col- 

 lection of seeds, fibers, insects, «&c., contained in it; but this collection 

 must have been very insignificant when compared with the i)resent 

 museum of the Department of Agriculture. 



The annual appropriation, which, up to and including 1853, had never 

 exceeded $5,500, was, in 1854, increased to $35,000, and it has never 

 since been less than that sum. Tlie annual distribution of seeds, cut- 

 tings, and reports had so stimulated agricultural enterprise and the de- 

 velopment of the resources of the nation, that Congress was led to ado])t 

 a more liberal policy of disbursement as a means of securing yet more 

 bountiful results. In the first year of his administration, Commissioner 

 Mason was thus enabled to extend his purchases of seeds and plants 

 far beyond those of any of his predecessors. 



In the list of plants ordeved in 1854 to be imported, and which 

 were imported in that and the following year, were two plants of Chinese 

 origin — the Chinese yam and the Chinese sugar-cane. In 185(5 a portion 

 of the Government grouiuls in Washington, lying between Four-and-a- 

 half and Sixth streets arid Missouri avenue and the canal, embracing 

 five acres, was set apart for the propagation of the seed of the sugar- 

 cane, otherwise known as sorghun*i. Large quantities of the seed pro- 

 duced on this ground were distributed in 1850 and 1857, after Avhich, 

 the country being well supplied by iiulividual euteiprise, general distri- 

 bution by the Patent Office ceased. Thus originated the propagating 

 garden now attached to the department of Agriculture, and wiiich, it is 

 proper to add, has not now and never has had any connection with the 

 botanical garden established during Mr. Adams's administration, but 

 with which it has often been confounded. 



The subjectof entomology as related to agriculture had received some 

 attention from the Commissioners of Patents prior to 1854. In that year 

 Commissioner Mason employed Mr. Townend Glover, present entoni- 



