AGRICULTURE 



106 



AGRICULTURE 



ment of Agriculture, and its head was given a 

 place in the President's Cabinet, with the title 

 Secretary of Agriculture. This official thus 

 became the eighth member of the Cabinet. 

 The first secretary was Norman J. Coleman, 

 who had been Commissioner of Agriculture. 

 The fourth secretary was James Wilson, of 

 Iowa; he was appointed by President McKin- 

 ley in 1897 and remained in the office until 

 March, 1913, a period of sixteen years. He 

 served under four Presidents in succession, a 

 record not before, equalled by any Cabinet 

 officer. 



As organized in 1889 the Department in- 

 cluded the bureaus of plant industry, animal 

 industry, chemistry and soils, to which was 

 added in 1891 the weather bureau; it assumed 

 charge of all of the government agricultural 

 experiment stations, and included as well the 

 divisions of forestry, entomology and biological 

 survey; a later division was organized to pro- 

 mote and encourage the national development 

 for good roads, and the division of publications 

 was established to serve all the bureaus. 

 Stated briefly, the work of the various bureaus 

 and divisions is as follows: 



1. Weather bureau; conducts investigations in 

 meteorology and climate ; forecasts weather 

 from twenty-foui hours to three days in ad- 

 vance, warns of floods and announces coming 

 storms. See WE>THER BUREAU. 



2. Bureau of plant industry; conducts re- 

 searches in every department of botany ; reports 

 on the history, distribution and utilization of 

 forage plants; investigates varieties of fruits 

 and grains with respect to their adaptation to 

 particular soils and climates ; collects seeds from 

 every part of the world for testing at the ex- 

 periment stations; purchases and distributes 

 seeds annually through Congressmen (although 

 this practice may be soon abandoned). It also 

 studies and experiments with rotation of crops, 

 a matter of great importance in those localities 

 where farmers are inclined to raise on the same 

 ground the same crops year after year, thereby 

 exhausting the soil of certain elements of plant 

 life. 



3. Bureau of animal industry; studies animal 

 diseases and means of combating them, and in- 

 vestigates methods of dairying; inspects imports 

 and exports ; supervises interstate shipment of 

 cattle, and examines slaughter house products. 



4. Bureau of chemistry; conducts researches 

 in chemistry related to agriculture, particularly 

 with foods, fertilization and soils. See subtitle 

 Agricultural Education, above. 



5. Bureau of soils; conducts studies in physics 

 as related to agriculture; surveys, locates and 

 maps various kinds of soils. 



6. Division of forestry; devotes particular at- 

 tention to the conservation of forests, and the 

 most economic use to which forests and forest 

 products can be put. See FORESTS AND FORESTRY. 



7. Division of biological survey; reports on 

 geographic distribution of plants and animals, 

 furnishing maps of zones ; investigates the food 

 and food habits of birds and all animals ; in- 

 troduces desirable birds and animals into locali- 

 ties where they have not before been known. 



8. Division of entomology; studies the history 

 and distribution of insects, determines which 

 are beneficial and investigates means of ex- 

 termination of those which are injurious. 



9. Good roads movement; conducts experi- 

 ments in road making and reports on economic 

 features of road management. The government 

 is undertaking to assist any state financially 

 in its efforts to provide good roads. In 1912 

 Congress appropriated half a million dollars to 

 help the states in their efforts toward road im- 

 provement ; the act provided that for every dol- 

 lar any state would appropriate for building good 

 roads, the Federal government would give a like 

 amount, up to $10,000. Construction of broad 

 and smooth highways was expected to result 

 from this movement. See ROADS AND STREETS. 



10. Division of publications. The Department 

 prints annually hundreds of books and pamph- 

 lets bearing upon the manifold branches of its 

 work. Usually the latter are distributed free 

 upon request, but a small charge is made in 

 some cases; books are offered at practically the 

 cost of production. The monthly list of publica- 

 tions of the Department will be sent at small 

 cost regularly to any person who applies for it. 

 Requests should be sent to the Chief of the Di- 

 vision of Publications, Department of Agricul- 

 ture, Washington. 



In Canada. The Canadian Department of 

 Agriculture, unlike that of the United States, 

 was one of the original departments of the 

 government. Since the formation of the Do- 

 minion, it has ranked as the equal of any other 

 Department, and its head is a member of the 

 Cabinet. 



The Canadian Department differs from that 

 of the United States in the details of its organ- 

 ization. The principal difference is the absence 

 of the forestry service and weather bureau; 

 the former is a branch of the Department of 

 the Interior, and the latter, officially known as 

 the meteorological service, is a part of the 

 Department of Marine and Fisheries. The 

 branches of the Canadian Department corre- 

 spond to the bureaus in the United States. 

 Thus there are the dairy and cold storage com- 

 missioner's branch, the seed commissioner's 

 branch, the health of animals branch and the 

 publication branch. The Department as a 

 whole has charge of agriculture, experimental 

 farms, immigration, marine and immigrant hos- 

 pitals, public health, patents, copyrights and 

 trade marks. Canada is expanding so rapidly, 

 particularly in the West, that the opportunities 

 for the Department are increasing at a truly 

 marvelous rate. E.D.F. 



