REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 27 



land and soil suited to its growtli. My trees are now attracting considerable atten- 

 tion. Many persons come to see them and ask for seed. 



I have given some seed and I will try to eiiconragc its cnltivatiou, to improve tlio 

 country thereby. That is why I tried it, and now I feel satisfied it will be a success, 

 if fairly tried. I came to this State some tliirty years ago, and am one of the first 

 settlers in Manatee. I would like to see you and tell you my experience in Florida. 

 I would not exchange my home for any other State I know of. Florida needs nothing 

 but energy and industry to make its people independent. 



The department has supplied Mrs. Atzeroth with a number of young 

 trees with which to enlarge her experiment, and also furnish other i^er- 

 sons in the same locality and further south with plants which should, if 

 carefully planted and successfully cultivated, bear coffee within five 

 years. 



It is something to know that a lodgment has been effected on the 

 coast of Florida, and though four trees, so far, are known to have been 

 successfully grown and fruited, yet whether the coffee will rii)en thor- 

 oughly and prove as profitable here as it has in other countries is yet 

 (o be determined. 



TEA. 



The efltorts of the department to introduce the culture and manufac- 

 ture of tea have been steadily continued and with a fair prospect of ul- 

 timate success. Of the 69,000 plants distributed last year, the reports 

 indicate a loss of about one-half, owing to carelessness and failure to 

 protect them from the hot summer sun ; but the applications of the far- 

 mers are numerous and the distributions of the department during the 

 fall of 1879 and spring of 1880 will be continued. 



The kaki, Spanish chestnuts, English walnuts, olives, camphor-trees, 

 and other plants and vines distributed the past year are uniformly re- 

 ported upon as thriving and doing well. 



There have been distributed from the garden during the past year, 

 28,000 strawberry-plants, 9,748 grape-vines, 69,154 tea-plants, 13,921 

 plants of orange, olive, fig, and semi-tropical fruits and plants of vari- 

 ous kinds, 5,000 plants of Japan persimmons, 70,000 scions of Eussian 

 apples. 



A letter from an intelligent correspondent, Mr. Weaver, of Bogota, 

 South America, vrhose opportunities of observation have been amx^le, 

 and whose opinions upon the cultivation of coffee and cinchona are en- 

 titled to considerate attention, is produced in the appendix for the en- 

 couragement of those who are inclined to help the department to make 

 this interesting experiment. 



The clerks and working force of the department, under the able direc- 

 tion of the chief clerk, have accomplished an unusual amount of valu- 

 able labor; but if the force of the department were doubled every 

 year for tbe next five years it could be employed with great profit to 

 tlie country. 



The following table exhibits in a condensed form the appropriations 



