. Vat 
4 
REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE, oe 
woo! rather than for mutton. The latter production has been so 
neglected as to render scarce Re of superior Luis tending to 
: prevent the desirable increase of mutton consumption. In many sec- 
. tions ié is unpopular because the popular taste has had no opportu- 
nity to appreciate fine quality. There is a wide field for improve- 
ment in quality and cost of this healthful and nutritious flesh, and 
_ the additional product of the fleece should render mutton sheep profit- 
_ able, however wool may fluctuate in value. 
To the solution of these and many other problems of husbandry 
_ the effort of the Department is 8 persistently and zealously directed. 
The Department of Ag italiane to-day presents a striking and in- 
structive contrast with its status when established as a separate De- 
' partment in 1862. The organic law but faintly outlines the present 
labors and purposes of the Department. At its organization there 
__ were but three divisions in the Department and but few employés; 
indeed, but one, the seed division, was generally known to exist, and 
to many minds its one object, the gratuitous distribution of garden 
and field seeds to miscellaneous applicants, comprised the beginning 
and the end of its aims and efforts. 
But the Department has been able, under many and trying situa- 
- tions and despite the prejudices which were born of these miscon- 
' ceptions and the banter of cavilers, to keep pace with the develop- 
ment of the rural economies of our people, and it has so well com- 
mended itself to the country and to Congress that it has to-day no 
less than twenty separate and distinct branches, each busy in its own 
specialty and duty, and many of them sending through the country 
thousands of circulars, bulletins, and reports showing what science 
has to teach of the problems of the soil, of the insects which depre- 
date, of the diseases whith devastate, of the various other questions 
which continually confront our agriculturists, and making, asa whole, 
an aggregation of scientific effort suggesting advancement and im- 
provement in agricultural endeavor. 
The position which the Department occupies to-day, then, is that 
of an adviser in those investigations and enterprises which are to 
have an important bearing upon the future agriculture of this coun- 
try. Inthe beginning the Department may have been an experi- 
ment, but its condition now. should leave no doubt as to the precise 
relation which the Department should hold to the Government. The 
development has been natural, and there may be a valuable lesson 
in the history of its evolution. The relation to which I refer needs 
to be recognized, not through the mere changing of a name, not 
through any radical legislation which may meet the favor of one 
_ Class and the disfavor of another, nor yet through any entangling 
_ alliances which would only serve to distract attention from the ono 
great and leading thought which should always possess those who 
administer the affairs of the Department, but rather through a well- 
