614 AGRICULTURE. 



The eighth census furnished the data for the tables of agri- 

 cultural production. The important feature thus revived was 

 specially required by the terms of the act creating the depart- 

 ment, and it has never since been omitted. A statistical branch 

 was organized early in 1863, and to it was committed the collec- 

 tion and analysis of all statistics. Lewis Bollman, of Indiana, 

 was appointed statistician. 



The first monthly report was issued July 10, 1863. The 

 publication in the monthly reports of monthly and bi-monthly 

 meteorological tables furnished by the Smithsonian Institution, 

 was commenced at the same time. These tables were repro- 

 duced in the ensuing annual report. Up to 1872 the same 

 arrangement concerning these tables continued in force, when 

 their further publication was suspended. 



In the second year of Mr. Newton's administration (1863), 

 the number of packages of seeds distributed was 1,200,000, and 

 of bulbs, vines, cuttings, and plants, 25,750. The annual report 

 for 1863 contained the first attempt that had been made, since 

 the days of Ellsworth and Burke, to ingraft upon the census 

 returns the statistics of the yearly progress of agricultural 

 production. The tables given in its pages, compiled from the 

 monthly reports, showed the average yield per acre of the sev- 

 eral crops of 1863, and the average prices obtained for them in 

 the month of November of that year. 



The annual report of the operations of the department for 

 1864 contained a paper on "Pennsylvania barns," from the pen 

 of Hon. Frederick Watts, third Commissioner of Agriculture. 

 In this and the following year Henri Erni acted as chemist. In 

 1864 government reservation No. 2, lying between Twelfth and 

 Fourteenth Streets, and the canal and B Street south, embrac- 

 ing 35 acres, was assigned to the department for experimental 

 purposes. During 1865, 1866, and 1867, a large force of labor- 

 ers was engaged on this reservation, in testing the merits of 

 many varieties of cereals, grasses, potatoes, tomatoes, and other 

 agricultural products. At one time, 70 varieties of potatoes 

 were in cultivation ; at another, 67 varieties of spring wheat, 

 and 55 varieties of fall wheat. In 1865 a geological and miner- 

 alogical cabinet was commenced, and extensive additions were 

 made to the chemical laboratory and the museum of fibres, cere- 



