APPENDIX. 539 



LIIiRAlty 



The librarj' of the department was first otficially recognized by the appoint- 

 ment of J. B. liussell a.s librarian in 1871. The collection of books had its 

 origin in the transfer in 1896 of the works on agriculture from the library of 

 the Patent OtKce. Additions have been made from time to time by exchange 

 and purchase. The library now contains 58,000 volumes, and is undoubtedly 

 the best separate collection on agriculture and allied subjects in the United 

 States — probably the best in the world. It comprises complete sets of state 

 agricultural publications and files of many of the agricultural journals from 

 the beginning; a large collection of the official reports on agricultural subjects 

 issuedby foreign governments; important collections in botany, horticulture, 

 forestry,' zoology, and entomology; numerous sets of scientific serials; a well- 

 selected collection of encyclopedias, atlases, and other general reference works, 

 and a small collection of biography, history, and general literature. A quar- 

 terly list of the additions to the library is published, and several lists of books 

 on agricultural subjects have been issued. 



THE MUSEUM. 



The museum had its beginning in the old agricultural bureau of the Patent 

 Office, the nucleus of the collection being a large series of fruit models and 

 stuffed birds, the work of Prof. Townsend Glover, of that Bureau. When the 

 Department of Agriculture was organized, in 1862, ]Mr. Glover became its 

 entomologist, and the museum was established under him in 186-4 as a recog- 

 nized institution. From this time forward its collections were steadily increased 

 by donations and purchases, and when the plans were being drawn for a sepa- 

 rate building for the Department of Agriculture, the large hall now used for 

 the library "was planned, to be devoted to museum purposes. The building 

 was occupied about the beginning of 1868, and the muspum moved from the 

 Patent Office. About this time 1,he Glover collection of fruit models, birds, 

 and insects was purchased by a special appropriation of $10,000, the govern- 

 ment having had the loan of it for over ten years. 



LANDS FOR AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES. 



The day following the establishment of the Department the law granting 

 public lands for the establishment of agricultural colleges was approved by 

 President Lincoln. The original bill for this purpose was introduced in the 

 House in 1857 by Hon. Justin S. Morrill. It was passed, but was vetoed by 

 President Buchanan. In December, 1861, Mr. Morrill introduced his bill 

 again, but on May 2, 1862, Senator Wade offered a similar bill in the Senate, 

 and in June it passed both houses. 



The act passed through the efforts of Hon. William Hatch, the Morrill 



law of 1890 (p. 50), and this act constitute the largest government aid to 



education in the history of this country. 



[Act of July 2, 1862.] 



AN ACT donating public lands to the several States and Territories which may provide 

 colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts. 



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

 of America in. Congress Assembled, That "there be granted to the several states, 

 for the purposes hereinafter mentioned, an amount of public land, to be 

 apportioned to each state a quantity equal to thirty thousand acres for each 

 senator and representative in Congress to which the states are respectively 

 entitled by the apportionment under the census of eighteen hundred and sixty : 



