20 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Jan. 



REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OP 

 AGRICULTURE. 



BY JUDGE FRENCH. 



An act of Congress to establish a "Department 

 of Agriculture" was approved May 15, 1862, and 

 this is the first report of the "Commissioner of 

 Agriculture," whose office was created by that act. 

 It comprises 632 octavo pages, and is published in 

 the general style of the agricultural reports from 

 the Patent office, entirely free, however, from the 

 typographical blunders which have so often tor- 

 tured contributors to those volumes. The volume 

 seems to me, who am not a printer, to be superi- 

 or, in point of mechanical execution, to any Pa- 

 tent office report ever published ; which may or 

 may not be attributable to the fact that it is pub- 

 lished by the "Government Printing Office," in- 

 stead of being jobbed by some Government fa- 

 vorite. Let us be thankful, at least, that the 

 names of the best agriculturists are not so mis- 

 spelled, as they were last year, that their nearest 

 friends could not recognize them. 



The volume opens with the general report of 

 the Commissioner, whose name — Isaac Newton — 

 is synonymous with wisdom and philosophy. 

 Therein he discusses wisely and well of the con- 

 ditions essential to progress and prosperity in ag- 

 riculture, which he deems to be these — Peace, de- 

 mand at home and abroad for our products, in- 

 creased respect for labor, a better knowledge of 

 agriculture, and a better general education of our 

 farmers. He then refers to some of the subjects 

 which are treated of in the present volume. These 

 subjects are, for the most part, discussed in es- 

 says, by individuals who have made them their 

 specialties, and it is fair to say that it would be 

 difficult to find in the country an equal number of 

 writers, who could and would treat the various 

 subjects more satisfactorily. They are so numer- 

 ous that an index, even, would fill a large space. 



The International Exhibition of 1862 •, Some 

 Outlines of the Agriculture of Maine ; The soil, 

 climate and productions of Florida j The Wheat 

 Plant ; Wheat Growing in New Hampshire ; Cot- 

 ton, Flax and Flax-Cotton ; Tobacco Culture ; Im- 

 phee and Sorghum Culture ; Shelter and Protec- 

 tion of orchards ; Descriptions of the Leading Pop- 

 ular Varieties of the Apple and Pear, with plates ; 

 Grape Culture ; Remarks on the Physiology of 

 Breeding ; Sheep Husbandry ; The Kerry Breed of 

 Cattle ; Poultry ; Entomology ; Farm Implements 

 and Machinery ; Coal Oil ; Vermont Marbles ; 

 Health of Farmers' Families ; Timber on the 

 Prairies ; and the Agriculture of Morocco, are 

 some of the leading topics discussed. 



This diversity of subjects appears almost ludi- 

 crous at first, and one looks curiously for the sys- 

 tem which groups together the agriculture of 

 Maine, Florida and Morocco, and omits the rest 



of the world. This want of system is, however, 

 no fault of the new Agricultural Department, 

 which was compelled to do its best with such ma- 

 terial as it inherited from the Patent office, which 

 has heretofore had charge of our agricultural af- 

 fairs, and such other as could be hastily gathered 

 together. Any one who knows how little the out- 

 goersfrom office in Washington love the incomers 

 to their places, may guess how much aid and com- 

 fort Mr. Newton and his worthy chief clerk, Mr. 

 Grinnell, whom we take to be the soul of the De- 

 partment, probably derived from the Patent office 

 in this matter. 



Besides the essays, we find in the volume re- 

 ports from the Chemist of the Department and 

 the Superintendent of the Garden, and reports and 

 tables of statistics, compiled mainly from the cen- 

 sus of 1860, showing among other things the com- 

 parative productiveness of the loyal and disloyal 

 States the year before the rebellion. 



Great as was the prosperity of the country from 

 1850 to 1860, we see, by these tables, that the 

 South not only fully shared it, but actually out- 

 stripped the North in its percentage of gain in 

 agricultural products. Yet, with all this prosperi- 

 ty, Mr. Howard, of Georgia, said in the Patent 

 office report for 1860, "La no part of Christen- 

 dom, enjoying a good government, and settled by 

 an intelligent population, does land sell for so 

 contemptible a price as in the plantation States. 

 In Georgia, for instance, land does not command 

 an average price of five dollars an acre." 



And yet, those sage Southern gentlemen, blind 

 to the fact that only free labor was wanting to 

 make their lands saleable at high prices, seceded 

 for the sake of making slave labor perpetual I 



If, now, we can keep an Agricultural Depart- 

 ment permanent, so that it can gain materials for 

 comparison and illustration, and so can systema- 

 tize existing facts, and eliminate truth from sta- 

 tics constantly accumulating, we shall find its re- 

 ports yearly of increasing value. The present is 

 a valuable and interesting volume to any lover of 

 agriculture, and its distribution cannot fail to add 

 greatly to. the knowledge of our agricultural read- 

 ers. Many extracts from its pages are well worth 

 transferring to the columns of the N. E. Farmer, 

 when its publishers find convenient space. 



Wool Growers' Convention. — The Ohio 

 Wool Growers' Association meets at Columbus, 

 Jan. 5th. The Cleveland Farmer says the flock 

 masters of that State ore fully determined to at- 

 tend to their own business in their own way, and 

 anticipates the most interesting gathering of the 

 kind ever attempted in this country. lion. Hen- 

 ry S. Randall, author of the "Practical Shepherd," 

 has accepted an invitation to be present and ad- 

 dress the association. 



