XII REP0BT OF THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. 



Entomology. — This Division has completed its work with the fig- 

 fertilizing" insect and has written up its history. Probably 75 tons of 

 figs fertilized in this way will be put on the market this year. The 

 original home of the San Jose scale has been found, after long investi- 

 gation in the Orient, to be in northern China. The beetle that preys 

 upon it is being brought in considerable numbers to the United States 

 for distribution to orchards. The scale was found near the Great 

 Wall, where no foreign nursery stock of any kind had ever been intro- 

 duced. Its natural enemy keeps it in such check there that the native 

 fruits grow successfully. After eight years of effort success has been 

 reached in the introduction into the United States of a caterpillar from 

 Italy that preys upon the black scale, a serious enemy to olive and 

 citrus trees in California. This scale is a native of the region from 

 which the caterpillar has been introduced, and along the shores of the 

 Mediterranean the latter keeps the scale in subjection. A beetle has 

 been introduced from Hungary that is a natural enemy to several 

 destructive plant lice which have been accidentally imported into this 

 country from Europe. A fungous disease of grasshoppers has been 

 imported from South Africa and experimentally used in different 

 parts of the United States through the summer of 1900-1901. In 

 some localities it appears to have taken hold successfully. 



Other work of this Division ma} 7 be summarized as follows: During 

 the past year the insects affecting the violet, the rose, and other orna- 

 mental plants have been studied. Work has been done in cooperation 

 with the Bureau of Soils looking to the eradication of mosquitoes. A 

 study of flies has indicated the importance of these creatures in the 

 carriage of internal diseases. Systematic work is being projected to 

 deal with the cotton-boll weevil of Texas. 



Public Roads. — This Office studies the condition of the roads, pub- 

 lishes information with regard to their improvement, the obstacles in 

 the way, and the best means of securing better highways. Object- 

 lesson roads have been built in nine States during the past year. The 

 laboratory for testing the cheinical and physical properties of road 

 materials, conducted under the direction of the Bureau of Chemistry, 

 has been in successful operation during the year. An agent of the 

 Department is located in each of four geographic subdivisions of the 

 United States to study and report upon local conditions. 



Publications. — The work of this Division affords a fair reflex of the 

 activity of the Department. During the year 1901 there were issued 

 606 publications, aggregating nearly 8,000,000 copies. Of these, 

 3,345,000 were Farmers' Bulletins. The Yearbook of the Department 

 continues to be in great demand. Many of the Department's agents 

 throughout the country receive no compensation except copies of our 

 publications. A larger number of the Yearbook should be assigned 

 to the Department. The publications of this Department are in 

 demand among the 'people. The agent who sells governmental docu- 

 ments shows that during 1901, 24,127 copies of publications from this 

 Department were sold, as against 9,458 from all other Departments. 

 Congress at its last session greatly increased the number of Farmers' 

 Bulletins to be printed and furnished to Members. A sufficient amount 

 of money for their publication and distribution was not appropriated. 



Foreign Markets. —Agriculture contributed conspicuously to the 

 expansion of American commerce during the past year. The highest 



