\ 8 



destructive some seasons to our young corn. I have continued my examina- 

 tions from year to year, and always witli the same results. About ten days 

 before the grain is ready to cut, the smut-heads invariably show that they have 

 been pierced, and a close examination always reveals the small grub-like worm. 

 I should here state an additional fact, that the punctures or incisions in the 

 grain always close up about the time the grain is ready to cut, so closely in 

 many of the heads that you cannot detect with the naked eye any appearance 

 of them, but with the aid of a glass they are plainly perceptible. 



From the foregoing, I assume that the worm found in the smut-grains produces 

 smut the following year. You sow the smut grains with the worm in them, 

 which lies in the ground during the winter. The pleasant warm weather of 

 spring warms it into active life, and it is changed to the insect, which is soon 

 ready to ascend the stalks of wheat, punctures the grain, producing smut, and 

 then disappears. 



My Tappahannock is looking remarkably well ; it will prove to be one of our 

 most valuable varieties. I would like to know the result of the variety, dis- 

 tributed in 1863, called French white. 



I am looking with much interest for the forthcoming report from your depart- 

 ment. The Bi-Monthly is getting to be one of the institutions of the country. 

 I close with the hope that Congress will extend to your department all efficient 

 help. 



Very truly, 



J. J. HADEN. 



Hon. Isaac Newton, Comynissioner of Agriculture. 



AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN. 



The subject of the education of the industrial classes is now undergoing a 

 discussion in Great Britain, as it is in this country. The cause that has awak- 

 ened this interest in it is found in the fact that a general opinion prevails recog- 

 nizing the necessity of extending the right of suffrage to a greater portion of 

 these classes than now exercise it. To fit them for its proper exercise is regarded 

 as necessary ; but how can this best be done is a question of much controversy, 

 and one which seems to materially influence opinions on the nature of the instruc- 

 tion to be given. 



In referring to the wonderful exercise of universal suffrage in the United 

 States, as seen in the recent election of President, when, under most extraordi- 

 nary circumstances, millions of men cast their votes, decisive of the exciting 

 controversies originating in these circumstances with the same quietness they 

 manifest in the most ordinary transactions of life, and as good-natured after the 

 known result as after eating their dinners, Mr. Bright, the great reformer in 

 the English Parliament, took occasion to restate his demanded reform for uni- 

 versal suffrage in Great Britain, and the means essential to that reform. He 

 holds that the laws of j)rimogeniture, which entail the real estate of the nobility 

 upon the eldest son, should be abolished. His argument, expressed in a statistical 

 form, will be seen in the following table, exhibiting- the division of the profits of 

 the soil between the landlord, (the noble,) the farmer or renter, and the laborer: 



Estimate of the annual product of land in England and Wales in 1860, as 

 divided betioecn the landlord, farmers, and laborers. 



Value of product of land S521, 000, 500 



Landlords' share $214, 779, 815 



Farmers or renters' share 107, 389, 905 



Laborers' share 198, 830, 780 



521, 000, 500 



