8 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



will cost about $2,500, by an estimate which I have caused to be made 

 by a competent architect. 



Japan, Sweden, Spain, Portugal, Venezuela, the Australian colonies, 

 and others, have donated a great part of their native products, as grain, 

 roots, fibers, &c., to our museum. The cases for these productions are 

 already i^rovided out of the centennial fund, and were constructed with 

 a view of their being placed in the proposed gallery. The constant 

 work of the entomologist is adding daily to this interesting f^nd valu- 

 able collection in our museum ; and when it shall have received the dona- 

 tions of which 1 have spoken from the Centennial Exhibition, it will 

 present such a display as will not be found elsewhere. 



At the last session of Congress, out of the sum appropriated for the 

 purchase of seeds I was directed '• to expend $2,000, as compensation 

 to some man of approved attainments, who is practically well acquainted 

 with methods of statistical inquiry, and who has evinced an intimate 

 acquaintance with questions relating to the national wants in regard to 

 timber, to prosecute investigations and inquiries with a view of ascer- 

 taining the annual amount of consumption, importation, and exporta- 

 tion of timber and other forest products, the probable supply for future 

 wants, the means best adapted to their preservation and renewal, the 

 influence of forests upon climate, and the measures that have been suc- 

 cessfully applied in foreign countries, or that maybe deemed applicable 

 in this country, for the preservation and restoration or planting of forests, 

 and to report upon the same to the Commissioner of Agriculture, to be 

 by him, in a separate report, transmitted to Congress ;" in pursuance of 

 which I have commissioned Franklin B. Hough, of Xew York, to per- 

 form these duties, the discharge of which, i^s seems to have been con- 

 templated by the act of Congress, will involve an expense for the print- 

 ing of circulars and their distribution, for which no provision has been 

 made. The sum of $2,000 is certainly quite a meager compensation for 

 the performance of the duties devolved upon the gentleman api^ointed, 

 without requiring him to pa3' the expenses which he must necessarily 

 incur in collecting the information, which he will naturally seek from 

 the knowledge of others. There is not such an appropriation for print- 

 ing made to this Department as would justify me in using any part of 

 it for the purpose of facilitating the inquiries which Mr. Hough may 

 deem it necessary for him to make. 



The Statistical Division of the Department, charged with the impor- 

 tant duty of i^resenting the current facts of agricultural production and 

 distribution, both domestic and foreign, has borne an increased burden 

 of labor and responsibility during the present year. With an enlarged 

 field of eftbrt, and increasing efficiency, the demand for information not 

 elsewhere attainable is greater and more persistent, and beyond the 

 limited facilities for adequate supply. The saving to ])roducers and con- 

 Bumers, and the protection against the organized misrepresentations of 



