No. 4.] REPORT OF SECRETARY. xvii 



doned farms reported to this office, 978 ; numl)cr of owners 

 or agents making reply to our inquiries, 599 ; numl)cr of 

 descriptions of property received, 383 ; numl)er of owners 

 or agents not desiring to advertise in catalogue, 98 ; num- 

 ber of owners or agents reporting farm sold in reply to our 

 request for description, 42 ; number of owners or agents 

 reporting assessors or others to have been misinformed 

 al)out the property, 7G ; letters returned by post-office de- 

 partment as unclaimed, 64. 



The circulation of the iirst edition of the descriptive cata- 

 logue of abandoned or partially abandoned farms began 

 Dec. 5, 1891. Requests for the catalogue came from nearly 

 every State in the Union, and within two months the entire 

 edition was exhausted. About one-third of the edition was 

 sent to owners or agents of the property described, to 

 assessors, to members of the Board of Ao:riculture and to 

 officers of agricultural societies. The remainder were sent 

 or given onl}' upon request. 



The circulation of a second edition of 1,500 copies of 

 the catalogue l)egan Feb. 1, 1892. Nine new descriptions 

 were included in this edition, making a total of 339. Re- 

 quests for the catalogue were received from time to time, 

 until by the middle of Septeml)er the edition became ex- 

 hausted. The distribution of this edition was very largely 

 by requests by mail and at the office. 



Requests for the catalogue still continuing to come, it was 

 decided to publish a third edition. Efforts were put forth 

 to ascertain the results of the work. In the latter part 

 of August a circular was prepared and sent to each person 

 having a description in the catalogue, asking if the farm had 

 been sold, and, if sokl, the name and address of the buyer 

 and also the use he proposed to make of it ; if not sold, 

 whether it was desired to have the description appear in the 

 third edition. This request w^as in some instances made 

 three times. Up to November 10, returns were received 

 concernino: 251 of the 339 farms described in the catalosfue. 

 Of these, 51 were reported sold; 22 owners wished to have 

 description withdrawn, and 178 owners wished description 

 continued in the third edition. Nothing was heard con- 

 cerning 88 farms. Of the 51 farms reported sold, 5 are in 



