8 



REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



deftness in manipulation, and mental alertness in management. Pro- 

 duction has dispensed with half the muscular effort required by iiie 

 former generation of farm-ers, and the result is less of drudgery and 

 mora of physical comfort and mental culture. The future is likely to 

 witness a more rapid progress than has yet been recorded. 



The results of production in the present season are favorable to the 

 well-being of producer and consumer. The year has been one of me- 

 dium fruitfulness. Drought, a specter which stalks so frequently 

 over many a league of productive area, has this season been confxued 

 mainly to portions of two or three States west of the Mississippi, and 

 even there has generally left an ample sufficiency for supply of local 

 wants and avoidance of absolute distress. The cotton crop, wheat, 

 and small grains are all of medium dimensions;* corn is ample for all 

 needs, while below an average yield; fruits and vegetables are of mod- 

 erate abundance, and the grasses and forage crops, tlie most impor- 

 tant source of our^/gricultural wealth, have in most sections been fairly 

 productive. There is no scarcity either in the home supply or in the 

 surplus necessary for any foreign demand, so that "no curtailment of 

 agricultuTal exports is expected. Thus the year to the husbandman 

 has been one of average fruitfulness, of good markets, comparatively 

 low prices, and moderate profits. 



Such is the condition of that indtistry which this Department 

 strives to foster, and such the relation which the farming class sus- 

 tains to the stability, progress, and prosperity of the country. Surely 

 it should furnish abundant reason for generous legislative support of 

 all attempts made to increase production, to diversify croi3s, to pre- 

 serve and enhance the fertility of the soil, to plant, to cultivate, to 

 keep and reap more intelligently than those who have gone before, 

 and to leave for those who follow us those methods and processes out 

 of which are to be evolved the ultimate solutions of the problems of 

 agriculture. 



During the year it has been my privilege to inaugurate new and 

 improved methods in the general administration of the Department ; 

 to give due attention to new and improved processes ; and to intro- 

 duce, from time to time, through the various special reports, what- 

 ever the scientific and experimental investigations carried on under 

 my direction have suggested as being worthy of attention and trial 

 by the progressive agriculturist. It is the aim of the Department 

 under the present administration not only to extend the benefits of 

 scientific and enlightened inquiry among the farmers and agricult- 

 ural workers of our country, but also to induce a habit of thought 

 among them which v/ill lead to that practical experimentation in local 

 soils and climates which is always necessary to prove the value or 

 worthlessness of new theories in agriculture as applied under special 

 conditions. 



That the Department has been unusually active in this regard will 



