REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 9 



the defence of their country ; in the change of so many from producers to 

 mere consumers ; in immigration ; in the unusual increase and consvimption 

 of some productions and diminution of others, that I found other and additional 

 sources of information necessary. 



A system of correspondence was .attempted with reasonable success. The 

 secretaries of the various agricultural societies and farmers' clubs are the 

 proper persons to furnish, themselves or by others, the desired facts. In many 

 cases they have done this fixithfully and earnestly ; others having neglected it, 

 intelligent and active farmers and business men of all professions were prompted 

 to supply the deficiencies. 



Societies and clubs should be formed in every part of the country, with 

 competent and efficient officers, and all such organizations which now exist 

 should be officered by such men. The societies and the farmers composing 

 them would then be brought in direct connexion with the department, with 

 results beneficial both to themselves and the government. 



About two thousand circulars, with questions plainly put, and requiring but 

 simple answers, have been sent monthly to correspondents in every State and 

 almost every settled county, the replies to which, requiring much labor in 

 their compilation and arrangement, have been, with reports on the weather from 

 observers of the Smithsonian Institution, and with other timely suggestions 

 from the department, published monthly, ten to fifteen thousand in number, 

 and spread over every portion of the country. 



The success attending the first attempt of our government to collect the 

 agricultural statistics of the country is attested by the newspaper j)ress all over 

 the land, commercial and political, as well as agricultural, and is an indication 

 of what might be done in a well-arranged plan, provided for by Congress and 

 carried out by governmental aid. There have been issued, in all, about twenty 

 thousand circulars of inquiry, and sent out about seventy thousand monthly 

 reports. 



It may be proper to remark here that my first annual report, embracing a 

 vast amount of valuable and timely agricultural information and statistics, 

 furnished by able contributors, has been published and distributed during the 

 year for the benefit of farmers generally. 



The meteorological reports published by the department have been furnished 

 through the kindness of Professor Henry, of the Smithsonian Institution, taken 

 from the registers of more than a hundred observers, at various points in almost 

 every loyal State, and have been read with deep interest by the people. 



It is believed that immense benefit? wovild accrue to the country, if, from 

 various stations, the condition of the weather could, under the direction of the 

 <^overnment, be daily reported by telegraph to this department. 



In this connexion I beg to allude to one of the difficulties in the Avay against 

 the successful working of the department. Under the postal law of March, 

 1863, this department is debarred from receiving any article, or communication 

 even, except the postage be prepaid. The 42d section provides that " all cor- 

 respondence addressed to any executive department, or any officer in it, must now 



