70 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



Surveys, and large quantities obtained by purchase from various 

 botanical collectors in lifferent parts of the country, and important 

 additions by exchanges and contributions. 



The herbarium has now grown to be one of the largest and most 

 valuable in the country, and contains a representation of nearly all of 

 our 12,000 native phaaiogamous plants, as well as large numbers from 

 Mexico, South America, and other countries. These specimens aie 

 a necessity to the Botanist, in order that he maybe able to distinguish 

 and determine the names of the plants which are constantly i)eii)g 

 sent from all parts of the country to the Department for determina- 

 tion and investigation. It is, in fact, a kind of reference library, to 

 be consulted whenever occasion requires. Well jjrepared botanical 

 specimens are for purposes of comparison almost as useful as the liv- 

 ing plants, so that the herbarium gives nearly all the advantages of 

 an arboretum and botanical garden, accessible at all times, and much 

 fuller in species than it is possible to have a living collection. The 

 rapid development of this vast country is constantly bringing to light 

 new kinds of j)lants, respecting which information is sought, and 

 which has to be obtained through the medium of the herbarium. 



The herbarium is also often consulted by teachers and professors 

 of science, who avail themselves of the opportunity here afforded of 

 studying plants from all parts of the United States, This advantage 

 is also participated in by educated foreigners, who, in visiting the 

 capital of the country, expect to find centered here a full represen- 

 tation of its various productions. Natural history collections are a 

 necessity of the present age, and every country of the world, which 

 is advanced in intelligence and science, makes its capital the head- 

 quarters for information relating to its resources and productions, 

 thus fostering that spirit of research to which the progress of the 

 world is so much indebted. 



EXPOSITION WORK. 



In 1876 the various Departments of the Government were called 

 upon to contribute toward making a suitable display of their func- 

 tions and operations at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. As 

 a proper representation of the work of the Botanical Division _ the 

 Botanist made an extensive exhibit of large sections of the various 

 kinds of forest trees of this country, embracing between 300 and 400 

 different species, brought from all portions of the Union, the largest 

 and best display of the kind that had ever been made in the United 

 States. This collection was afterward returned to the Department 

 and subdivided into smaller sets, most of which were distributed to 

 our agricultural colleges and institutions of learning, and to foreign 

 Governments which desired them. 



The division has also been called upon to assist in making displays 

 at other important expositions, as at Louisville, Cincinnati, and New 

 Orleans, particularly at the last-named city, where a large collection 

 of the grasses of the United States was displayed, intended to show 

 how extensive are the resources of the country in this important ele- 

 ment of wealth. 



WORK ON GRASSES. 



Investigations of the grasses of the country have been conducted for 

 many years by the Botanist, with the purpose of bringingto view and 

 into cultivation new kinds which might prove useful additions to the 



