54 THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



reclaimed under the projects have all been assigned to the 

 Department of Agriculture. 



Here, as elsewhere, the degree and form of cooperation 

 are determined by the nature of the task to be accomplished 

 .in each case. 



Numerous additional examples might be given to show at 

 least some of the difficulties in organizing and distributing 

 the multiplicity of functions which are performed by the 

 modern government. No matter how finely the division 

 lines may be drawn, there are certain to be many points of 

 contact and overlapping. As previously indicated, the im- 

 portant task of the organizer, whether it be Congress or de- 

 partment head, is to secure the desired ends with the least 

 duplication and expenditure of effort. 



Cooperation with State Institutions 



Years before the first appropriation of federal funds for 

 the encouragement of agriculture was made in 1839, sev- 

 eral of the States had made important progress in this direc- 

 tion. As early as 1791 New York had begun to issue annual 

 reports on agriculture; and in 1820 had made provision for 

 a state board of agriculture, including appropriations for its 

 farming interests.® It was largely because of the work 

 already being done by state institutions that many Congress- 

 men failed to see the need of federal aid, when the matter 

 was first urged upon them. The results of the efforts of the 

 states, thus early begun, had reached considerable propor- 

 tions when the Department of Agriculture was established 

 in 1862. Much of the work done was. of course, purely of 

 local interest and value, and of a non-scientific character. 

 However, this and the achievements of private societies and 

 associations constituted the principal sources for the early 

 federal agricultural publications prior to 1862. 



These state agricultural institutions continued to grow, 



• Elkanah Watson, History of . . . the Rise, Progress, and Existing 

 State of Modern Agricultural Societies, on the Bershire System, p. 

 152, Albany, 1820. 



