REPORT ON THE CULTURE OF SUGAR. 375 



I might depute competent persons to the remote parts of 

 the field, while I would myself examine the central por- 

 tions. In a letter of October 19, the Secretary assented to 

 my proposal. To Professor O. P. Hubbard, I committed 

 the Eastern States, especially Boston ; to Mr. Charles U. 

 Shepard, the Southern States, particularly Louisiana and 

 Georgia. In the course of the ensuing winter, we resorted 

 to our respective fields of labor. The gentlemen associated 

 with me in the enterprise were active and zealous in their 

 efforts, and they received kind and generous aid on the 

 part of the proprietors and manufacturers in the several 

 places which they visited. I also experienced similar treat- 

 ment in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York ; and in 

 the last-named city, I was aided by my brother, Gold Sel- 

 leck Silliman. I omit the details of our investigation, as 

 the results were embodied in a report to the Hon. Louis 

 McLean, Secretary of the Treasury, in which we blended 

 and assimilated our information into a harmonious whole. 



I finished the report at Washington, May 27, 1833, and 

 communicated it to the Secretary on the following day, May 

 28. It was approved by him, and was printed in a pamph- 

 let of 121 pages, with all necessary wood-cuts and copper- 

 plate engravings. After reading my introductory letter 

 addressed to himself, the Secretary said that he reposed 

 entire confidence in me, and should at once accept my re- 

 port. He then directed Mr. Dickens, the Secretary of the 

 Senate, to pass the document through the forms of office 

 half a dozen offices in number which occupied three 

 hours ; but it was all accomplished before dinner, and to 

 my entire satisfaction. My intercourse with Mr. McLean, 

 who was an honorable and very intelligent man, was en- 

 tirely agreeable. He introduced me to President Jackson, 

 who received me with the courtesy and dignity for which 

 he was distinguished. He did not appear to have been in- 

 formed of the duty in which I had been engaged, and when 

 it was mentioned to him by the Secretary, he said he was 



