use." While it is not doubted that this index was of great service, it 

 still left the problem of the niiseellaneoiis publications unsolved, and 

 it was therefore gratifying when, toward the latter end of the same 

 3'ear, the first list including these publications was issued. 



This checklist, including all the pul)lications from IS-tl to fJune 80, 

 1895 (A17.3: 11), and giving a decimal classification for the convenience 

 of those who wished to " keep their files of Government publications 

 apart from their general collection of books," served to emphasize the 

 necessity for a complete catalogue of the pu])lications therein enumer- 

 ated, and formed a working basis in collecting the set of publications 

 of the Agriculture Department in the library of the office of the 

 Superintendent of Documents, which is now the most complete set of 

 such publications in existence. 



In 1898 an author index to all the publications of the Department, 

 1841-1897, was printed (A21.3:'l). Much valuable information was 

 necessarily omitted from this work on account of the limitations of a 

 strictly "author index," which debarred some important publications 

 that failed to bear their authors' names. 



The latest attempt to supply the much-needed reference list was a 

 "List ])y titles from 1840 to June, 1901," issued in 1902 (A21.3:6). 

 It was but an elaboration of the checklist of 1896, and while more 

 complete, presented the matter in an equally awkward form for quick 

 reference use. 



It is hoped that the present list, combining both methods used by 

 its predecessors, the checklist and the index forms, will prove a satis- 

 factory reference work and lead the searcher quickly to the desired 

 publication. 



CLASSIFICATION EXPLAINED. 



With the establishment of the office of the Superintendent of Docu- 

 ments, by the provisions of the printing act of January 12, 1895, a 

 new era in the historj'^ of public documents was inaugurated. Not 

 only did the office at once undertake the tasks of cataloguing and index- 

 ing imposed upon it by law, but in its establishment as a great clear- 

 ing house for the publications of the Government it became necessary 

 to keep a file of the publications for reference use. In the beginning 

 no definite idea could l)e formed of the extent of such a collection, 

 and no one" dreamed of the magnitude of the work undertaken when 

 it was decided to collect and classif}^ a library strictly governmental 

 in character. 



As it was seen to be impossible to arrange such a large and uncer- 

 tain collection of special publications by either the "decimal" or 

 "expansive" svstem of libi-ar}^ classification in general use, a govern- 

 mental author arrangement was adopted, corresponding in the main 



8 



