REPORT OF THE BOTANIST. 



Sir : There is in agriculture a conservative tendency to follow in the 

 beaten j)ath of precedent. Hence it is that so small a number of plants 

 are known in cultivation. Very few of the great mass of laborers can 

 afford the time for and the risk attending experiments on a large 

 scale, yet there are very few who cannot devote a little care to the trial 

 of new plants, especially in localities where the ordinary kinds do not 

 prove wholly satisfactory. For instance, the common red and white 

 clovers came to us from Europe, and are almost the only kinds known 

 in cultivation, whereas we have many native species which seem to 

 have the qualities of hardiness, vigor, and size, which would probably 

 render them valuable for the purpose of cultivation. 



In those parts of the country where these clovers occur it would 

 not be difficult for farmers or others to make an extended trial of one 

 or more of such kinds, and report the result to this Department or to 

 some agricultural paper for the benefit of others. As a help to such 

 trials, we present herewith a paper on some promising native species 

 of clovers, with such figures and descriptions as will serve to identify 

 them. 



As much loss and injury to crops result from the presence of per- 

 nicious weeds, as a guide to their recognition and destruction, we j)re- 

 sent a paper on some of the more important and common weeds of 

 cultivated grounds, with instructions as to the means of eradicating 

 them; this practical part of the information being from the pen of 

 Mr. A. A. Crozier, the Assistant Botanist. 



A history of the Division of Botany and an account of its work is 

 also presented, for the information of the public and of all such as 

 are interested in knowing what are its purposes and aims. 



HISTORY OF THE DIVISION. 



Soon after the completion, in 1868, of the building for the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture it was found necessary to have an experienced 

 Botanist to complete the working force of the Department. It was 

 recognized, also, that one of the first requisites for the use of the 

 Botanist was a herbarium, in which should be represented, as far 

 as possible, botanical specimens of all the plants of the country. An 

 appropriation for a Botanist was made by Congress, and an arrange- 

 ment was made between Hon. Horace Capron, then Commissioner of 

 Agriculture, and Prof. Joseph Henry. Secretary of the Smithsonian 

 Institution, by which the botanical collections then in the possession 

 of that Institution were transferred to the Department of Agricult- 

 ure as a beginning toward the formation of an herbarium. Those 

 collections were chiefly made under various surveys and explorations 

 of the Government, as those of Commodore Wilkes, those of the 

 Mexican boundary, and of the Pacific Railroad surveys, together 

 with large contributions from foreign Governments. To these have 

 been since added the plants collected under the different Geological 



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