104 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
Indian Affairs, etc. Under him, is the Commis¬ 
sioner of Patents, who employs a so-called “Ag¬ 
ricultural Clerk.” All business matters done, and 
Documents issued relating to agriculture, are in 
the name of the Commissioners of Patents, who 
is himself a secondary officer. His attention is, 
however, mostly given to subjects connected with 
Patents, and his agricultural clerk really manages 
and controls all matters connected with agricul¬ 
ture. 
Mr. Thompson, is the present Secretary of the 
Interior. Mr. Holt was, until recently, the Com¬ 
missioner of Patents, but he has just been ap¬ 
pointed P. M. General, and the office of Com. of 
Patents is vacant at the time of this writing. 
This tacking agriculture as a sub-department on 
to still another sub-department, is not only placing 
it below its proper position in point of importance, 
but this very fact so depreciates its dignity, that 
little attention is given to placing at its head a 
man of acknowledged superior abilities. This is 
abundantly proved by the fact, that for ten years 
past, the really important station of “ agricultural 
clerk,” or chief manager of agricultural affairs, 
has been occupied by a man of only ordinary abil¬ 
ity (D. Jay Browne, who is the present incum¬ 
bent of the office). 
When we say “ordinary ability,” we only repeat 
what is the general opinion of the great mass of 
intelligent men in the country, that is of those who 
take interest in the subject of agriculture. In 
all agricultural transactions connected with the 
Patent Office while under his control, there has 
been shown a lack of system, of valuable re¬ 
search, and of broad comprehensive views, which 
has brought the department to its present low 
standard in the estimation of the people at large. 
Said Commissioner Holt to us : “I do not un¬ 
derstand this apparent opposition, or at least this 
want of sympathy with a department so deserv¬ 
ing of the cordial support of all classes as that of 
Agriculture.” The real cause of it we endeavor¬ 
ed to set forth to him, viz. ; the want of an effi¬ 
cient man at its head to conduct and guide its 
affairs in such a manner as to command the re¬ 
spect and confidence of the country. We found 
that the Commissioner has himself known very 
little of the criticisms of at least three-fourths of 
the Agricultural Press, and of the more in¬ 
fluential agricultural individuals and societies. 
His information in this respect has come to him 
through his agricultural clerk, and of course he has 
been permitted to know only the favorable side. 
[We suggest to our agricultural cotemporaries, 
that hereafter when they have occasion to cen¬ 
sure the agricultural operations at Washington, 
they send a marked copy sealed up and directed 
personally to the Commissioner of Patents.] 
So far as we could learn, whenever anything 
unfavorable to the agricultural clerk has chanced 
to come to the Commissioner’s notice, it has been 
promptly attributed by his clerk to the influence 
of interested seedsmen, or to personal aspira¬ 
tions, or personal enmity of editors. While at 
Washington, we heard for the first time that the 
last named motive had been attributed to this 
journal. We beg to say to the Commissioner and 
to Mr. Browne himself, that there is not the 
slightest ground for this supposition. We heard 
(at Washington) for the first time, and at only 
second hand from Mr. Browne himself, that he 
had, at some former period, a personal difficulty 
with one of the former publishers of this journal. 
With that wc have nothing to do—and care noth¬ 
ing. Until he published his famous “autobio¬ 
graphy ” and sent it over the country under the 
government frank, we did not even know that he 
had so much as set foot in the office of this paper. 
The truth is, we do not know Mr. Browne per¬ 
sonally, but from the day we read his Book on 
Manures, and his Book on Trees, we set him 
down as a man of very moderate ability, native or 
acquired, and when we heard of him as “ agri¬ 
cultural clerk ” at Washington, we could not but 
regret that that important station had not been 
better filled. Still we hoped for the best, and did 
what we could to uphold him and the department. 
But after long trial and waiting, the feeble, ineffi¬ 
cient character of all that has been done, the 
wishy-washy reports that have annually emenated 
from that department, the character of the seeds 
collected and distributed, and the way the thing 
has been carried on—all these matters have led 
us to the irresistible conclusion, that without a 
change in the administration of affairs, no good 
will come of the money expended by govern¬ 
ment in trying to promote the interest of agricul¬ 
ture in our country. This department, even in 
its present third-rate position, if properly conduct¬ 
ed, might be productive of great good, and we 
earnestly hope that the in-coming Commissioner 
of Patents, whoever he may be, will place it in 
such a position, and under such control that we 
can unite with our cotemporaries in extending to 
it the strongest sympathy and support. It is in the 
power of the Commissioner to make this the most 
efficient, the most popular branch of government. 
We hope he will appreciate this, and take hold of 
it with a strong determination to make it what it 
should be. 
With these statements we leave the subject 
now, intending soon to give some specific 
illustrations of the way things are and have been 
managed at the Capital. These will in part refer 
to : how the money goes ; what salaries are paid 
and to whom ; what special favors are conferred ; 
how the articles for the Patent Office Report are 
obtained or made up ; how seed has been know¬ 
ingly put up and sent abroad wrongly labeled; 
some of the nonsensical “ official instructions ” 
e. g. in regard to alligator’s blood for orange tree 
insects, etc.; who helped the clerk to his position 
and how he is still rewarded for it; etc., etc. The 
developments will be interesting and instructive. 
--—.«>«—--- 
JLa§t Published Patent Office Agri¬ 
cultural ISepoi't (1857). 
We recently saw an unpublished picture, rep¬ 
resenting a large cabbage—the different leaves 
of the plant being labeled with the names of sun¬ 
dry agricultural works such as, Farmer’s Encyclo¬ 
pedia, Loudon’s Works, etc., etc. By the side of 
this cabbage stood a man with a monster pair of 
shears clipping off the ends of the leaves, which 
dropped into a basket labeled ,l Patent Office, Agri¬ 
cultural Report ” This picture was an admirable 
and truthful satire upon the volume named at 
the head of this article. 
Here is a volume of 552 pages got up at an ex¬ 
pense of some $50,000, of which 240,950 copies 
have been printed and bound at an additional ex¬ 
pense to the U. S. Treasury, of some $150,000, 
and distributed free through the mails, taxing 
them perhaps $50,000 more. 
And what has the country in return for this 
outlay of a quarter of million of dollars, professedly 
expended for the promotion of Agriculture. Let 
us look into the volume. We find, first, some 
fifty pages on the “ Progress of Agriculture,” ev¬ 
idently made up from an English Encyclopedia 
and a Prussian public document, save twenty 
pages of old statistics from former Census reports ; 
the whole without especial value even as a work 
of reference. Then we have eighty pages on an¬ 
imals, such as : English draft horse (brief,) Lla¬ 
ma, Asiatic Goat, Hares, Canadian Porcupine, 
Shrews, Weasels, elementary chapters on Bees, 
(condensed from Swammerdam?) etc. Most oi 
these pages might appropriately appear in a work 
on Natural History, if well written—the only 
practically useful thing being an investigation on 
Cotton plant insects by Townend Glover which is 
condensed into the smallest possible space, and 
like most other things in the book is signed 
D. J. B. A little further on we have 20 pages on 
the manufacture of salt—we can not find that 
this has the slightest connection with agriculture. 
Then come 14 pages on Bread crops, 8 pages ol 
it condensed from the London Farmer’s Maga¬ 
zine (signed D. J. B., of course,) followed by some 
analyses by Dr. Jackson, who is retained in the 
pay of the Patent Office, we suppose, in return for 
his influence in securing a berth for D. J. B. 
Next follow 16 pages on Tea Culture, mainly 
from Robert Fortune’s report to the French Gov¬ 
ernment in 1853! (This was translated for and 
published in the Agriculturist some five years 
since!) We then have 46 pages on Sorghum 
Canes, not originated for this work but taken 
from a report to the U. S. Agricultural Society, 
and consisting chiefly of statements of individu¬ 
als—now so far behind time as to be of little 
use, except to flatter the writers. We have fol¬ 
lowing this, short chapters on Wine, and Hedge 
Plants, succeeded by 34 pages on Horticulture, 
confessedly condensed from two English works. 
Next, short chapters on Asparagus in Spain, and 
Hops in England, “ condensed from authentic 
sources”—nothing said about hops in this country. 
Next under the imposing head of “ Textile anu 
Forage Crops” we find 125 pages entirely devoted 
to Cotton, and made up mainly of European com¬ 
mercial statistics. There is nothing practical said 
on the culture of Cotton, and not a word is said in 
the Book of other textile crops, such as Hemp, 
Flax, etc., while the great forage crops of the 
country, only second in importance in our agri¬ 
culture, are entirely ignored. 
The work then closes with 138 pages on me¬ 
teorology by Prof. Henry, a valuable thing in its 
line, though one which will hardly be read by one 
person in fifty of those into whose hands this re¬ 
port will fall. So much for the Official Document 
on Agriculture, nominally got up by the General 
Government of a great agricultural people, and 
distributed at home and abroad. In another ar 
tide (see preceding page,) we have indicated, in 
part, some of the causes of the inferiority of 
these Reports. 
The “ Honey-blade Grass Seed.” —From ex¬ 
change papers, we learn that the sale of this ar¬ 
ticle is still going on in some sections of the 
country, but not very extensively, probably, as 
the Agriculturist goes to at least two-thirds of the 
Post Offices in the United States. We have al¬ 
ready received a host of letters heartily thanking 
us for the expose last month, and enumerating 
thousands upon thousands of dollars, in the ag¬ 
gregate, that have been saved to our readers by 
its publication. We can hardly wonder that mul¬ 
titudes of honest thinking, trusting farmers were 
taken in by the specious manner in which this 
matter was brought before the community. 
While in Washington we learned that an agent 
was there in February, and succeeded in selling a 
large number of $3 bags, (of 15 lbs each,) many 
of them even to Members of Congress. The ex¬ 
tensive purchases of “ Hungarian Grass Seed ” by 
the “Honey-blade Seed operators,” has actually 
raised the price of the Hungarian Grass or Millet 
Seed, from $1<®$2 per bushel, to $3 per bushel, 
at which price it is now held by regular dealers. 
