22 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



"before any recommendation can be made. It is believed that in one 

 respect an interesting fact has ah-eady been developed, viz., that silk 

 produced from osage-orange-f ed worms is in every way equal, and in 

 some respects superior, to that produced from mulberry-fed worms, 

 both in quality and quantity. Tho general result of these experi- 

 ments is, indeed, so satisfactory, that I have asked Congress to in- 

 crease the appropriation for the coming year by adding the $5,000 

 given to the Women's Silk-Culture Association of Philadelphia, 

 which, though appropriated in connection with the appropriations 

 of this Department, is virtually in the nature of a gift, over which I 

 have no control, the association being neither responsible to me nor 

 to any one else for the disbursement of the same. 



DIVISION OF STATISTICS. 



This branch of the Department organization has a corps of corre- 

 spondents, representing over 2,300 counties, four in each county, a 

 duplicate service for unification and special investigation, under the 

 direction of State statistical agents, and a European statistical agent 

 connected with the United States consular system. 



Its work receives high commendation from the press of this country 

 and unstinted praise from foreign publicists for the prompt and 

 intelligent effort to keep abreast of the statistical progress of the 

 age, to improve its machinery of crop reporting, to advance its 

 standard of accuracy, to enlarge its practical utilities, and to assist 

 in broadening the scope and unifying the methods of international 

 statistics. 



Its service is called in requisition by every branch of the Govern- 

 ment, by the representatives of foreign courts, by home and foreign 

 agricultural and industrial organizations, by writers and compilers, 

 the representatives of commercial guilds, and the people generally. 

 Its printed reports of the year, in which the utmost brevity has been 

 sought, comprise nearly one thousand pages, in addition to its exten- 

 sive manuscript reports, statements, and correspondence. 



This division is becoming yearly a more efEicient defense of pro- 

 ducers against the speculative commercial class, who are unscru- 

 X)ulous in their selfish statements of the amount of production. The 

 saving to farmers of a single mill on each bushel of grain amounts 

 to nearly $3,000,000 per annum. The possibilities in protection of 

 producers are enormous, and the accomplished results are believed 

 to be very considerable. It has also done good service during the 

 past year in collecting information exposing the numerous organized 

 efforts to defraud the agricultural class on cunningly devised pre- 

 texts. From the isolation of farmers, and the large numbers of for- 

 eign birth little acquainted with the English language, a wide field 

 is opened for the operation of sharpers and confidence-men. 



