REPORT 



THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE 



Department op Agricuiiture, 



Washington, B. C, Xovemher 15, 1872. 



Sir : A siugle year's experience at the head of this Department con- 

 vinces me of its importance as an executive branch of the Government. 

 There is none other whose relations to the whole people of the country- 

 are so intimate and so constant. The several divisions of the Department 

 are in their operations and uses so naturally connected with the diversi- 

 fied pursuits of practical life, that they cannot fail to greatly aid and give 

 a right direction to the farmer, the gardener, the merchant, and the miner, 

 in all those points of interest which concentrated knowledge is enabled 

 to impart to those whose means of information are limited to the nar- 

 row sphere of their individual operations. The minds of men, all over 

 the world, are constantly employed in the search after human knowledge 

 in all that concerns the fruitfulness of the earth as well as the philo- 

 sophical principles which govern its mysterious operations ; and it is 

 the province of this Department to mark well the progress that is made 

 and keep its constituents advised of its value, and how they may avail 

 themselves of advantages to be gained. With the immense and almost 

 measureless extent of this country as a field for agricultural employ- 

 ment, we must not fail to watch, learn, and carefullj' examine whatever 

 may i)romise to add to the sum of that human happiness which springs 

 from the carefully cultivated earth. When we call to remembrance the 

 large proportion of the world's inhabitants who depend upon agricultural 

 pursuits for their support in life, it gives us encouragement to believe 

 that the work we do reaches further and strikes deeper into the interests 

 of mankind than comes within the scope of any other human effort. It 

 behooves this Government to be foremost in teaching those lessons of 

 progressive, practical, and scientific agriculture, in accordance with the 

 measure of the great opportunities which we j)ossess to learu them as 

 they occur. 



In my last annual report I took occasion to congratulate the country 

 that Congress, bj" the act of July 2, 1S02, had provided for " the estab- 

 lishment of colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic 

 arts," thereby recognizing the necessity and laying the corner-stone of 

 a system of education which would tend to elevate the farmer to the 



