AGRICULTURAL OPERATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES 

 PATEXT OFFICE. 



U. S. Patent Office, ? 

 Jlpril 2, 1855. ] 



R.:L. Pell, Esq., President 



of the American Institute. 

 Bear Sir: — Agreeably to your solicitation, herewith I furnish 

 you with the principal facts connected with the agricultural ope-^ 

 rations of this office, and with some of the plans contemplated to 

 be carried into effect in future. It may be interesting first to 

 state tliat, prior to the time I was called to the office in June, 

 1853, the following sums had been appropriated by Congress for 

 collecting agricultural statistics, &c , the idea having originated 

 with Commissioner Ellsworth : in 1839, $1,000; in 1842, $1,000; 

 in 1843, $2,000; in 1844, $2,000; in 1845, $3,000; in 1847, 

 $3,000; in 1818, $3,500; in 1849, $3,500; in 1850, $4,500; in 

 1851, $5,500 ; in 1852, $5,500 ; in 1853, $5,000. Since that time 

 the appropriations have been increased, those of 1854 and 1855 

 having been $25,000 each, besides $10,000 as a deficiency for 

 1853, amounting in the aggregate to $94,500 within the period of 

 seventeen years. The cost of paper, printing, engraving and 

 bidding of the agricultural reports within that time is not in- 

 cluded in the above named sum, and cannot therefore be ascer- 

 tained, as those of the Commissioners previous to 1849 were pub- 

 lished each year conjointly with the mechanical reports in one 

 volume. The number of copies of the last agricultural report 

 ordered to be printed by Congress is 108,000, which will cost 

 about $1 10,000. This, together with the appropriation of $25,000 

 for the collection of agricultural statistics, and the procurement 

 and distribution of cuttings and seeds, probably makes a larger 



