662 The Smithsonian Institution 



agriculturist to judge with some degree of certainty whether 

 any given article can be profitably cultivated." l 



It was with this congenial cooperation that in 1855 a new 

 set of blank reports were prepared by, and distributed under, 

 the frank of the Patent Office. They were also returned, 

 when filled out, to Washington, under a similar frank, thus 

 accomplishing a large saving in the item of postage. From 

 the Smithsonian Institution the registers were sent to Profes- 

 sor James H. Coffin, of Lafayette College, and by him they 

 were reduced and discussed. According to the annual Re- 

 port of 1857 "from twelve to fifteen persons, many of them 

 females, have been almost constantly employed, under the 

 direction of Professor Coffin, in bringing up the arrears, and 

 in reducing the current observations." 2 Some idea of the 

 enormous amount of work involved may be gathered from 

 the following statement contained in the Report for 1857: 

 "During 1856 the records of upwards of half a million of 

 separate observations, each requiring a reduction involving 

 an arithmetical calculation, were received at the Institution. 

 Allowing an average of one minute for the examination and 

 reduction of each observation, the amount of time consumed 

 will be nearly 7,000 hours, or, at the rate of seven hours per 

 day, it will be 1,000 days or upwards of three years, or, in 

 other words, to keep up with the reduction of the current ob- 

 servations the whole available time of three expert comput- 

 ers is required. This is independent of the labor expended 

 in the correspondence, preparation and distribution of blank 

 forms, and the deduction of general principles." 3 This was 

 subsequently increased quite materially, and while in 1854 

 there were 234 stations, in 1856 there were 320 and in 1859 

 the number had increased to 531.* 



1 Quoted in "Smithsonian Report," 1860, 2 "Smithsonian Report," 1857, page 28. 

 page 34, where the entire subject is fully 3 Ibidem, 1857, page 27. 

 discussed. * Ibidem, 1861, page 36. 



