REPUliT or THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 21 



MICROSCOlPlST. 



In addition to answering the nunierons correspondents, both in this 

 country and in Europe, the microscopist has during the past year made 

 a number of original investigations in relation tp the best methods of 

 destroying insects and cryptogamic plants which prey on vegetation. 



He has also made microscopic examinations for the different divisions 

 of the department. An illustrated paper ou the subject of edible mush- 

 rooms found growing in gieat abundance in the United States has been 

 prepared, and will be published the coming year if funds for that pur- 

 pose can be olitained. A number of microscoi)ic specimens of morbid 

 tissues for photographic illustrations accompanying the report on the 

 diseases of domesticated animals were also prepared by the microscopist. 



He has .also made investigations relating to the fungus of cotton bolls, 

 measurements of starch granules of sago, causes relating to sweet- 

 potato rot, yellows of the peach, of the fungus known as Eauotcra lacerata^ 

 found gTowing on the leaves of the Russian apple-trees in the depart- 

 ment grounds, &c. 



SEED DISTRIBUTION. 



Resolutions of granges and other agricultiu*al organizations, letters 

 from all parts of the country, favorable comments of newspaper editors, 

 and last, but not least, the hearty indorsement of very many members 

 of Congress to whom seed distribution had become an onerous burden, 

 leaving them little time to give to their duties as legislators, and prov- 

 ing an endless source of annoyance and loss of popularity, indorse the 

 action of the department in the matter of distribution of seeds according 

 to the law, which directs the Commissioner of Agriculture to distribute 

 seeds to agriculturists. 



Through the four thousand regular correspondents and through in- 

 formation obtained from other citizens of the different counties, as well 

 as from tbe prize lists and reports of county and State fairs, lists of the 

 best farmers, numbering at the present time fiom ten to twenty in each 

 county, regardless of political faith or anything else but their standing 

 as farmers, have been obtained and entered on our books, and to some 

 of these individuals, as well as to the agricultural societies in those 

 counties, new and valuable seeds adapted to the localities are sent for 

 experimental purposes. 



While the limited amount appropriated for the purchase and distri- 

 bution of seeds will not suffice for distribution to all the farmers ou our 

 books during any one year, yet something new will be sent to each 

 county in the United States, and with diligence on the part of the re- 

 cipient to cultivate and save seed and distribute among neighbors, any 

 new or improved variety of grain or roots can soon be spread over 

 any given county. The advantages arising from the introduction of 

 improved varieties of seed are better understood by considering the efl'ect 

 in the increased production per acre. The area cultivated in wheat in 



