Appendix A, 



ORGANIZATION OF U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, 



AND LEGISLATION IN AID OF AGRICULTURAL 



COLLEGES AND EXPERIMENT 



STATIONS. 



[The descriptive matter in Appendix A is from a Department publication. 



LAW CREATING THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The Department of Agriculture was established by an act of Congress ap- 

 proved by President Lincoln, May 15, 1862. The full text of the act is as 

 follows: 



AN ACT to establish a Department of Agriculture. 



Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States 

 of America in Congress assembled, That there is hereby established at the seat 

 of the Government of the United States a Department of Agriculture, the gen- 

 eral designs and duties of which shall be to acquire and to ditl'use aniong the 

 people of the United States useful information on subjects connected with agri- 

 culture in the most general and comprehensive sense of that word, and to pro- 

 cure, propagate, and distribute among the people new and valuable seeds and 

 plants. 



Sec. 2. And be it farther enacted, That there shall be appointed by the 

 President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, a " Commissioner 

 of Agriculture," who shall be the chief executive officer of the Department 

 of Agriculture', who shall hold his office by a tenure similar to that of other 

 civil officers appointed by the President, and who shall receive for his compen- 

 sation a salary of three thousand dollars per annum. 



Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the Commis- 

 sioner of Agriculture to acquire and preserve in his department all infornnition 

 concerning agriculture which he can obtain by means of books and correspond- 

 ence and %y practical and scientific experiments (accurate records of which 

 experiments shall be kept in his office^ by the collection of statistics, and by 

 any other appropriate moans within his power; to collect, as he may be able, 

 new and valuable seeds and plants; to test by cultivation the value of such of 

 them as may require such tests; to propagate such as may bo worthy of propa- 

 gation, and" to distribute them among agriculturists Ho shall annually make 

 a general report in writing of his acts to the Presidentand to Congress, in 

 which he may recommend the publication of papers forming parts of or accom- 

 panying his report, which report shall also contain an account of all moneys 

 received and expended by him. He shall also make special reports on partic- 

 ular subjects whenever required to do so by the President or either House of 

 Congress, or when he shall think the subject in his charge requires it. He shall 



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