5 



The decrease in amount, altlioiigh not in value, wliicli this table cxliilnts. is 

 cliieHy owing to an advinco of prices here. How far there is hope of an im- 

 proved or an equal demand that will prevent a farther decrease cannot now be 

 determined positively; but, as remarked, the indications do not favor a demand 

 equal to the present. 



6. The losses to the wheat crop from injurious insects are fjir greater than is 

 generally supposed. It is only when they become widespread, causirg a par- 

 tial abandonment of the crop, as was the case in New York and the New Eng- 

 land States on the advent of the aphis, tint these insects attract observation. 

 But this Department receives too many letters, such as that from which an extract 

 has been mule, to be insensible to the necessity of aiding the farmer against 

 losses of this character. Congress, too. has deemed them too important to be 

 disregarded, and has directed this Department to engage the services of a skillful 

 entomologist. This has been done, and, that his services may be rendered as 

 efficient to the farmers as possible, his instructions to them will form a part of 

 the monthly reports. They will tind that these injurious insects have their 

 inatural enemies, and to preserve and protect the latter is the duty of all. 



7. Fruits. — In the tables will be found inquiries in regard to fruits. They 

 constitute a great element of agricultural wealth. Although they are scarcely 

 known in the tables of our foreign exports, yet they constitute an important 

 article in the home trade, and, what is still better, a most healthful food to every 

 citizen. AVhilst individual energy has done much towards the multiplication of 

 them, yet much more remains to be done, for the extremes of our climate, and 

 ts numerous destructive insects, call for concerted public action, that the injuries 

 arising from both may be alleviated. To aid this work is a duty of this De- 

 partment ; and both its entomologist and botanist, as will be seen from this 

 report, are discharging this duty of the Department. But co-operation by 

 all is also essential. 



We have refeiTed to the fact of having received no intelligence from the 

 grape districts of Cincinnati, l^his has been done, not so much to complaia of 

 the remissness of oiir correspondents there, as to show that there is no union of 

 action in tbe extensive and diversified horticulture of the United States. The 

 grape rot is still a mystery. Opinions as to the cause are abundant, but true 

 progress towards its explanation and cure depends on a systematic observation 

 of all the conditions of atmosphere and soil and cultivation attendant on its 

 coming, its action, and cessation, in every prominent locality where the gi'ape 

 is grown. 



Local natural evils must be viewed through the telescope, and not through 

 the microscope. As in astronomy there are numerous observers in every part 

 of the world constantly in communication with each other, so there must be 

 like observiers and correspondence over the world of American agriculture and 

 horticulture. This Department should be the centreing of these observations 

 and correspondence. 



The grape rot will illustrate the practical bearings of these remarks. It does 

 not exist in California ; it has a partial existence in Europe ; it is fatal in most 

 parts of the Atlantic States. Why this difference? Clearly because there is 

 a difference of climate, for like soils are common to all. In what does this dif- 

 ference consist is the first inquiry, because it is the true starting point in the 

 investigation of the causes of the rot. And this is a much more comprehensive 

 one, needing the aid of many observers, than a local investigation of local 

 phenomena. 



The following table of the fall of rain embraces much of this difference of 

 climate It is prepared, partly from the meteorological tables of Mr. Blodget, 

 and partly from those of the Smithsonian Institution : 



