30 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



to the grounds at a cost of $1,050.66. It famishes safe storage for 

 important books and records. The majority of the other structures on 

 the ground were built by the carpenter, Mr. Halley, from the Depart- 

 ment contingent fund. In all not more than $210,000 appears to have 

 been expended for the Department buildings. 



When the main building was erected there were four divisions of 

 the Department work, employing, all told, 50 persons. There are now 

 employed at and near this original structure about 550 persons. They 

 are accommodated, as far as possible, in the Government buildings, 

 but for those that are crowded out, private houses are rented in the resi- 

 dence portion of the city adjacent, at an annual cost of $4,020. This 

 represents at least $80,000, which might be economically applied to a 

 new building. 



■Weather Bureau— Department grounds.— The buildings for the Weather 

 Bureau at Twenty-fourth and M streets NW. were purchased, along 

 with the site, in 1891 for $112,000. Additions were made to adapt the 

 place for its use at a cost of $38,000. The grounds contain 54,000 

 square feet. 



The reservation at Twelfth and B streets SW. continued to be used 

 as an experimental garden till after the erection of the Department 

 buildings. Tt was then agreed that for anything in the way of an 

 experimental farm a much larger tract ought to be provided, and that 

 Mr. Saunders, the Department horticulturist, should be directed to lay 

 out and improve the grounds as an arboretum, to contain all the trees 

 and shrubs which will grow without protection in this climate. They 

 were to be grouped according to their families. The old canal was still 

 in existence in front of the grounds and had to be filled. At the same 

 time Mr. Saunders was converting the swampy reaches of the reserva- 

 tion into the present handsomely rolling grounds, covered with fine trees 

 and surmounted at the front of the building by a terrace, with a beauti- 

 ful display of flowers. The work of filling the canal and laying out 

 and beautifying the grounds was completed in 1871. 



COST OF THE DEPARTMENT; ITS VALUE TO THE COUNTRY. 



The Department of Agriculture up to July 1, 1807, cost the people 

 of the United States, all told, $26,915,088. This is much less than 

 $500,000 a year. The question naturally presents itself: In what man- 

 ner and to what extent has it made a return for this outlay? For in 

 this respect does the Department of Agriculture differ from all the 

 other departments of the Government; namely, that its services are 

 more susceptible of being measured in actual money value. Its duties 

 are not confined to the collection of taxes nor to police protection ; it 

 spreads information by which the people are better able to pay taxes 

 and to develop their property and increase its value. About the time 

 the work of the Department began it was necessary to import con- 

 siderable quantities of agricultural products. This was partly due to 

 bad crop seasons, but partly also to careless and ignorant methods of 



