REPORT 



OF THE 



SECRETARY AND LIBRARLiN 



FOR THE YEAR 1896. 



As Secretary I have to report in regard to the Traxsactions 

 of the Society that the first part for 1896 has been printed and 

 distributed to members and correspondents of the Society. Of 

 the preceding Transactioxs, the List of Library Accessions, 

 which has previously been published in the second part for each 

 year, Avas, by direction of the Committee on Publication, omitted 

 in 1895, in order not to delay other matter, and will appear later 

 as Part III. of the Traxsactioxs for that year. This is the 

 most difficult part of the whole, and requires more labor to pre- 

 sent it correctly, but it is now nearly ready for the printer. The 

 Schedule of Prizes for 1896 Avas, as promised, ready at the be- 

 ginning of the year, — indeed a few days earlier, — and it is ex- 

 pected that that, for 1897 will be equally prompt. The various 

 records of the Society and of Committees, and the correspondence, 

 have been kept up, to the best of the ability of those immediately 

 employed on them. 



The List of Library Accessions, though not much longer than 

 last year, shows a steady increase. The work of completing sets 

 has been pursued as heretofore. A special effort has been made 

 to procure such publications of the United States Department of 

 Agriculture as we did not already possess. The ivdl list of these 

 publications, received in March, has afforded much assistance in 

 this work ; and the result is that we have now 123 bound vol- 

 umes and 708 pamphlets of that Department, which was estab- 

 lished in 1862, and of the Agricultural Reports of the Patent 

 Office which preceded it. This is more than three-fourths of the 

 whole number, and it is intended to continue the work of col- 



