APPENDIX. 537 



DIVISIONS OF ACCOUNT AND DISBURSEMENTS. 



The Division of Accounts and Disbursements, established July 1, 1880, 

 audits and pavs all accounts and adjusts claims against the department; decides 

 questions involving the expenditure of public funds; prepares advertisements, 

 schedules, contracts for annual supplies, leases, and agreements; issues requisi- 

 tions for the purchase of supplies, requests for passenger and freight transpor- 

 tation; prepares the annual estimates of appropriations, and attends to all other 

 business relating to the financial interests of the department. 



DIVISION OF FORESTRY. 



The Division of Forestry, organized by order of the Commissioner m 1881, 

 and reorganized by Congress as a division in 1886, is occupied with experi- 

 ments, investigations, and reports dealing with the subject of forestry, and 

 with the dissemination of information upon forestry matters. 



DIVISION OF BIOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



The Division of Biological Survey (established as the Division of Ornithology 

 and Mammalogy in 1886) studies the distribution of animals and plants, and 

 maps the natural life zones of the country; it also investigates the economic 

 relations of birds and mammals, and recommends measures for the preserva- 

 tion of beneficial and the destruction of injurious species. 



DIVISION OF POMOLOGY. 



The Division of Pomology, established in 1886, collects and distributes infor- 

 mation in regard to the fruit interests of the United States, investigates the 

 habits and peculiar qualities of fruits, their adaptability to various soils and 

 climates, and conditions of culture, and introduces new and untried fruits from 

 foreign countries. 



DIVISION OF VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY AND^ PATHOLOGY. 



This division was originally established in 1886 as a section of mycology in 

 the Division of Botany under F. Lamson-Scribner; the following year it was 

 changed to a section of vegetable pathology, and in 1891 became a separate 

 division. In 1895 the scope of its work "was enlarged and name altered to 

 Division of Vegetable Physiology and Pathology. 



The division has for its object a study of normal and abnormal life processes 

 of plants. It seeks by means of both field and laboratory investigations in 

 plant physiologv, plant breeding and selection, and the morphology and classi- 

 fication of fungi, to determine the causes and methods, of prevention of plant 

 diseases, the amelioration of economic plants, and rational methods of growing 

 commercial crops. 



OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



The Office of Experiment Stations, established in 1888, represents the Depart- 

 ment in its relation to the experiment stations, which are now in operation in 

 all the States and Territories. It seeks to promote the interests of agricultural 

 education and investigations throughout the United States. It collects and 

 disseminates general information regarding the colleges and stations, and pub- 

 lishes accounts of agricultural investigations at home and abroad. It also 

 indicates lines of inquiry, aids in the conduct of cooperative experiments, 

 reports upon the expenditures and work of the stations, and in general 

 furnishes them with such advice and assistance as will best promote the pur- 

 poses for which they were established. It is also charged with the investigation 

 of the nutritive value and economy of human food. 



