538 APPENDIX. 



OFFICE OF FIBER INVESTIGATIONS. 



Fiber investigations were begun in the Division of Statistics in 1889, and in 

 1890 the Office of Fiber Investigations was established. It collects and dis- 

 seminates information regarding the cultivation of textile plants, directs 

 experiments in the culture of new and hitherto unused plants, purchases seed 

 and plants for limited distribution for experimental purposes, and investigates 

 the merit of new machines and processes, for extracting the fiber and preparing 

 it for manufacture. 



DIVISION OF PUBLICATIONS. 



The Division of Publications was establi.shed in 1889 as a section of the 

 Division of Statistics, which had originally been charged with the work of 

 editing the department reports. In 1890 it was organized and separately 

 appropriated for as the Division of Records and Editing, becoming the Divi- 

 sion of Publications in 1895. This division has entire supervision of the 

 editing, printing, and publishing of the department, and the distribution of 

 all publications, being especially charged, furthermore, with the preparation, 

 publication, and distribution of Farmers' Bulletins. The division issues 

 advance notices and a monthly list of publications, and prepares for publica- 

 tion any information of special interest to agriculturists. 



OFFICE OF ROAD INQUIRF. 



The Office of Koad Inquiry, established in 1893, collects information con- 

 cerning the system of road management throughout the United States, conducts 

 investigations into methods of road making, directs the building of sample 

 roads at the agricultural colleges and experiment stations, and prepares publi- 

 cations on the subject of roads and road laws. 



DIVISION OF AGROSTOLOGY. 



The Division of Agrostology, formerly in the Division of Botany, was 

 established as an independent division July 1, 1895, under the present chief, 

 F. Lamson-Scribner. It is charged with the investigations of the natural 

 history, geographical distribution, and uses of grasses and forage plants, their 

 adaptation to special soils and climates, the introduction of promising native 

 and foreign kinds into cultivation, and the preparation of publications and 

 correspondence relative to these plants. 



DIVISION OF SOILS. 



The Division of Soils (formerly Division of Agricultural Soils in the 

 Weather Bureau) was establi-shed as an independent division of the Depart- 

 ment in 1894. It has for its object the investigation of the texture and other 

 physical properties of soils and their relation to crop production. 



SECTION OF FOREIGN MARKETS. 



The Section of Foreign Markets was instituted March 20, 1894, under a 

 clause in the act of appropriations for the Department of Agriculture setting 

 aside $10,000 for thu purpose of making "investigations concerning the 

 feasibility of extending the demands of foreign markets for the agricultural 

 products' of the United States." The work (If the section consists chiefly in 

 the preparation of bulletins and circulars designed to convey information 

 regarding such opportunities us exist for the extension of nur export trade in 

 American farm products. 



