14 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



the Departmeut organization at the beginning of Secretary Wilson's 

 term, page 33 of this publication. 



In his first report the Commissioner recommended that the number 

 of copies of the annual report for gratuitous distribution be greatly 

 reduced, and that the remainder be deposited ^yith the Public Printer 

 for sale at the cost of printing and postage. "« 



The cultivation of ramie on an extensive scale had been undertaken 

 in the South, and Commissioner Watts urged that planters should push 

 this industry together with the raising of jute. 



New work undertaken.— The Division of Microscopy was established 

 in 1871 by the appointment of Thomas Taylor, Microscopist. Early 

 among his services was an investigation of the cranberry rot in New 

 Jersey. He also soon made a study of mushrooms, and suggested 

 the cultivation of them as a profitable business. Other subjects 



investigated by him were mil- 

 dews on grapes, yellows in 

 peaches, and black knot on 

 plums. 



Commissioner Watts was the 

 first to give much attention to 

 timber interests. He had sec- 

 tions of the most valuable trees 

 of the country on exhibition at 

 the Centennial Exposition, and 

 in 1877 secured an api>ropriation 

 for a forestry investigation. Mr. 

 Franklin B. Hough, of Pennsyl- 

 vania, was appointed special 

 agent in charge of the work. 

 This was a beginning of the For- 

 estry Division which was fully 

 organized several years later. 

 The Centennial Exposition brought large donations from foreign 

 governments for the museum, so that the space allotted to it had to be 

 nearly doubled. Contributions were received from Great Britain, Aus- 

 tralia, Japan, Egypt, Norway and Sweden, the Netherlands, Brazil, 

 Argentina, Chile, and Mexico. Large additions were also made about 

 this time to the herbarium. Charles Eichards Dodge, then assistant 

 entomologist, estimated that the museum collections were worth 

 $100,000. Models of fruits and water-color drawings formed an inter- 

 esting part of the display. 



"Weather reporting transferred to the War Department. — Commissioner 

 Watts objected to the publication in the monthly reports of the meteor- 

 ological summary and notes furnished by tlie Smithsonian observers 

 without analysis and explanation, and suggested that the work be 

 turned over to the Signal Service of the Army. In response Congress 

 made an appropriation with which the War Department was directed 



Frederick Watts, 

 Commissioner of Agriculture. 



1871-1877. 



