COMMISSIONER NEWTON's TERM. 11 



and prospects of crops was begun. A Maine farmer wrote soon after 

 this was well under way : " Your monthly rei)orts give me just tbe infor- 

 mation I have wanted for years. Knowing the supply and demand I 

 am able to sell at my own price." 



"Weather service and beet sugar inquiry suggested. — The Study of the cli- 

 mate and storms of this country had long been fostered by the various 

 Departments of the Government, and by the Smithsonian Institution 

 as well as by several individual States before the act of 1862 establish- 

 ing the Department of Agriculture. Commissioner Xewton in his first 

 and second annual reports dwelt on the vital importance of the weather 

 and climate, and in his third report (1864, p. 10) said: 



" I would renew my suggestion of last year that if under the direc- 

 tion of the Government the state of the weather at different points of 

 the country could be daily communicated by telegraph, so as to be 

 immediately spread over the whole country, very important and bene- 

 ficial results might follow." 



The publication of meteorological data gathered by Smithsonian 

 observers was continued in the monthly reports of the Dej)artment 

 from 1863 to January, 1872 ; but the suggestion of Commissioner ISTewton 

 and special efforts made by many to induce the Government to estab- 

 lish a practical service for the prediction of storms and floods, resulted 

 in the organization of a meteorological division in the office of the Chief 

 Signal Officer of the Army, and finally, after thirty years, in the estab- 

 lishment of the Weather Bureau as it exists to-day. 



In his third annual report. Commissioner Newton also called attention 

 to the beet-sugar industry, as it had been developed in France, and 

 suggested its adaptability to this country. 



Death of Commissioner Newton. — The following summer (1865) he got 

 possession of the land at Twelfth and I> streets SW., and started the 

 experimental farm. His son, Isaac Newton, jr., was placed in charge 

 of this work. Tests were made that summer of new and j)romising 

 varieties of corn, wheat, rye, oats, barley, rice, sorghum, peas, beans, 

 grasses, clover, cabbage, lettuce, onions, tomatoes, potatoes, and melons. 

 Seventy-seven varieties of potatoes were tried. A large quantity of seed 

 was saved from the farm and distributed during the winter and spring. 



Id July, 1866, Commissioner Newton suffered a sunstroke while in 

 the field on the experimental farm. A large number of varieties of 

 wheat — Tappahannock, Mediterranean, and others now in general use — 

 were being tried. The grain had been cut and was lying on the ground 

 when a thunder shower suddenly appeared. Commissioner Newton 

 was in his room at the Patent Office. He hastened over to the farm, a 

 mile away, to instruct the workmen how to save the wheat free from 

 any injury. The sun was hot and he was wearing a high silk hat. In 

 moving hurriedly about the grounds he became overheated. His son 

 took him to the little office on the farm and summoned medical assist- 

 ance. Eestoratives were applied and he partially recovered, but was 

 never well again. He died from the effects of the injury on June 19, 1867. 



