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Annals of Horticulture. 



that we may then be more certain of furnishing to our farmers in the 

 various sections represented by these institutions the seeds best adapted to 

 their wants and most certain to insure them good returns. With a view to 

 securing the best seeds, I have made a departure from the methods hereto- 

 fore in vogue, by engaging the services of a special agent whose whole duty 

 is to visit, personally, different sections of the country, and inspect, as far 

 as possible, the product of seeds offered to the Department, and to look up 

 such as seem to possess specially desirable characteristics. The work done 

 in this line has more than justified the expediency of undertaking it. The 

 results which may be secured by wise dissemination of seeds are of great 

 value. By the substitution of superior varieties for such as have become 

 deteriorated or diseased, and by the introduction of the seeds of new 

 plants, through the cultivation of which the resources and wealth of our 

 people may be largely increased, the producers of this country can not fail 

 to reap very great benefits." 



The Division of Gardens and Grounds has in charge the care 

 of the grounds of the Department, the management of the con- 

 servatories, and "the introduction, propagation and culture 

 of economic or useful plants, and the distribution of such 

 plants in localities where climatic and other conditions seem 

 favorable to their growth." 



"As a main purpose of the Department, " through this Division, ' ' is that 

 of introducing, or assisting the introduction, of new or but little known use- 

 ful plants, it will have served this purpose when these plants have either 

 merited the attention of cultivators or have proved to be failures ; in the 

 former case their further propagation is taken up by commercial growers, 

 who can supply all demands, so that the services of the Department are no 

 longer important in that particular plant, and its means can be directed and 

 employed for other purposes of a similar character." 



The testing of new varieties was formerly a prominent fea- 

 ture of the work of this Division, but inadequate space has 

 compelled the abandonment of the enterprise. A movement 

 is now making to revive this investigation upon a new site. 



But it is through the Division of Pomology that horticultur- 

 ists hope for most direct results. This Division was instituted 

 August i, 1886, by the appointment of H. E. Van Deman, of 

 Kansas, as Pomologist. There are now in the employment of 

 the Division, aside from the Pomologist, three clerks and one 

 artist, besides several special field agents who serve as oc- 

 casion requires. The first work undertaken was to acquaint 

 the horticulturists of the country with the fact of the organiza- 

 tion and to secure their co-operation. The Pomologist visited 

 in an official way nearly all of the State Horticultural and 

 Pomological Societies as well as those of a national character. 



