348 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Aug. 



their eggs fit to be sat on ; and the eggs of such 

 fowls, after being kept a long time, would contain 

 a large proportion Avell preserved. 



Reaumur quotes some experiments of other 

 persons which were attended with similar results. 

 I think, therefore, we have reason to believe that 

 the eggs which are laid by hens kept entirely apart 

 from the male bird, are not liable to corrupt, un- 

 der ordinary circumstances, before the contents are 

 almost entirely evaporated. Eggs, on the other 

 hand, which contain a germ, will begin to coiTupt 

 immediately after the germ has perished ; and the 

 germ seldom retains its vitality more than seven 

 or eight Aveeks, unless some extraordinary atten- 

 tion is paid to the eggs for their preservation. In- 

 deed, I have no doubt that if a series of careful 

 experiments were performed with the two differ- 

 ent kinds of eggs, to ascertain their comparative 

 keeping properties, it would prove that the un- 

 impregnated eggs laid in the spring, would be 

 found as good in January as other eggs laid at 

 the same time, would be in September. But this 

 is conjecture : the exact difference between their 

 keeping properties can only be ascertained by fur- 

 ther experiment. Wilson Flagg. 



UNITED STATES AGRICULTUBAL 

 DEPARTMENT. 



This is the act establishing a National Agricul- 

 tural Department at Washington. The Commis- 

 sioner has not yet been appointed : 



Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Rep- 

 resentatives of the United States of America in 

 Congress assemljled, That there is hereby estab- 

 lished at the seat of Government of the United 

 States a Department of Agriculture, the general 

 designs and duties of which shall be to acquire and 

 diffuse among the people of the United States use- 

 ful information on subjects connected with Agri- 

 culture, in the most general and comprehensive 

 sense of that word, and to procure, propagate and 

 distribute among the people, new and valuable 

 seeds and plants. 



Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That there 

 shall be appointed by the President, by and with 

 the advice and consent of the Senate, a "Commis- 

 sioner of Agriculture," who shall be the chief ex- 

 ecutive officer of the Department of Agriculture, 

 who shall hold his office by a tenure similar to 

 that of other civil officers appointed by the Presi- 

 dent, and who shall receive for his compensation a 

 salary of three thousand dollars per annum. 



Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That it shall 

 be the duty of the Commissioner of Agriculture to 

 acquire and preserve, in his department, all infor- 

 mation concerning Agriculture, which he can ob- 

 tain by means of books and correspondence, and 

 by 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 means M'ithin his power ; to col- 

 lect, as he may be able, new and valuable seeds 

 and plants ; to test, by cultivation, the value of 

 each of them as may require such tests ; to propa- 

 gate such as may be worthy of propagation, and to 

 distribute them among agriculturists. He shall 

 vmnually make a general report in writing of his 

 acts, to the President and to Congress, in which 

 ke may recommend the publications of pai)ers 



forming parts of, or accompanying his report, 

 which report also shall contain an account of all 

 moneys received and expended by him. He shall 

 also make special reports on particular 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 re- 

 ceive and have charge of all the property of the 

 agricultural division of the Patent Office, in the 

 Department of the Interior, including the fixtures 

 and property of the propagating garden. He shall 

 direct and superintend the expenditure of all 

 money appropriated by Congress to the Depart- 

 ment, and render accounts thereof, and also of all 

 money heretofore appropriated for Agriculture, 

 and remaining unexpended. And said Commis- 

 sioner may send and receive, through the mails, 

 free of charge, all communications and other mat- 

 ter pertaining to the business of Iris department, 

 not exceeding in weight thirty-two ounces. 



Sec. 4. And be it further enacted. That the 

 Commissioner of Agriculture shall appoint a chief 

 clerk, with a salary of two thousand dollars, who, 

 in all cases, during the necessary absence of the 

 Commissioner, or Avhen the said principal ofiSce 

 shall become vacant, shall perform the duties of 

 Commissioner ; and he shall appoint such other 

 employees as Congress may from time to time 

 provide, with salaries corresponding to the sala- 

 ries of similar officers in other Departments of the 

 Government ; and he shall, as Congress may from 

 time to time provide, employ other persons, for 

 such time as their services may be needed, includ- 

 ing chemists, Ijotanists, entomologists, and other 

 persons skilled in the natural sciences pertaining 

 to Agriculture. And the said Commissioner, and 

 every other person to be appointed in the said 

 Department, shall before he enter upon the duties 

 of his office or appointment, make oath or affirm- 

 ation truly and faithfully to execute the trust com- 

 ted to him. And the said Commissioner and the 

 Chief Clerk shall, before entering upon their du- 

 ties, severally give bonds to the Treasurer of the 

 United States, the former in the sum of ten thou- 

 sand dollars, and the latter in the sum of five 

 thousand dollars, conditional to render a true and 

 faithful account to him or his successor in office, 

 quarter-yearly accounts of all moneys which shall 

 be by them received by virtue of the said office, 

 with sureties to be approved as sufficient by the 

 Solicitor of the Treasury ; which bonds shall be 

 filed in the ofliice of the First Comptroller of the 

 Treasury, to be by him put in suit, upon any 

 breach of the conditions thereof. 



Approved May 15, 1862. 



THE WORKMANSHIP OF IVOBT. 



None of our manufacturers have yet reached 

 the consummate skill of the Chinese artists in the 

 workmanship of ivory, chiefly remarkable in their 

 concentric balls, chess pieces and models. Yet 

 the adaptation to useful purposes of this valuable 

 substance is fully understood by those who do not 

 undertake to rival the exquisite minuteness of 

 Eastern art. The manufacturers of surgical in- 

 struments are in the habit of rendering ivory flex- 

 ible for use as tubes, probes, etc., by acting on the 

 well-known fact that, when bones are sulyected 

 to the action of hydrochloric acid, the phosphate 

 of lime, which forms one of their component parts, 



