accommodation, being located, in part, in the Patent Office building, with other rooms in buildings disconnected from it. The increasing demand of the Bureau of Patents for additional room must shortly render it a matter of necessity to surrender the rooms now occupied by this department. For the better arrangement of the increasing collection of specimens in the museum, or object-library, and for greater convenience in the transaction of the business cf the office, additional and more contiguous accommodation is highly desirable. I trust, therefore, that Congress will take measures for the erection of a suitable building, at as early a day as possible, for the use of the department. Large quantities of new and valuable seeds, cuttings, and plants have been distributed during the last year throughout the country, in order to test the adaptability of such varieties to the various soils and climates of the different sections. These experiments, whenever they have proved a success, have been of inestimable value, not only improving qualities, but also increasing the crop productions per acre, and inciting to emulation in the introduction of new varieties. In the distribution of seeds, 234,945 packages have been delivered to senators and representatives in Congress, 119,693 to agricultural and horticultural societies, and 408,593 to regular and occasional correspondents, and in answer to personal applications-making a total distribution of all varieties of seeds of 763,231 packages. The distributions from the experimental and propagating garden during the past year have been mainly confined to varieties of the small fruits, such as grapes, strawberries, gooseberries, raspberries, and currants. Of these about 35,000 plants have been distributed through the usual channels. The process of testing the respective merits of varieties of fruits is in active progress, so far as the capacities of the garden will permit. Additions are constantly being made to the list of plants selected for the above purpose. It is my constant endeavor to preserve the distinguishing feature of the garden for the propagation and dissemination of specialties, under intelligent supervision, and avoid its degeneration into a commercial nursery. A new propagating house has been erected, substantially fitted with the most improved facilities, and is now in successful operation. For the purpose of ascertaining whether among the many valued fruits of tropical regions there may be any worthy of artificial culture, I have had an apartment in one of the green-houses arranged in a suitable manner for their growth, and have opened a correspondence towards securing as complete a collection of these plants as practicable. The assignment to his department of reservation No. 2, lying immediately west of the Smithsonian grounds, for the purpose of an experimental farm, has afforded an opportunity for the initiation of a series of experiments designed to test the value of foreiga cereals, forage plants, and garden vegetables. The grounds, with an unbroken soil of somewhat tenacious clay, came into my possession about the middle of April, quite too late to admit of being put in proper tilth for obtaining the best results during the present season. A few acres, duly fertilized and suitably pulverized, were planted with 346 varieties of seeds, including 18 kinds of Indian corn, 34 of beans, 13 of peas, 77 of potatoes, (52 of which were seedlings,) 33 of melons, and many varieties, respectively, of tomatoes, beets, and other vegetables. Specimens of cotton matured quite perfectly with the aid of fertilizers and high culture. Some of the foreign seeds promise to be acquisitions to our agriculture, either by virtue of excellence in quality, productiveness, or adaptation to special uses, soils, or climate. Further experiments will develop more completely and accurately their peculiar characters and values. During the autumn the remaining portion of the grounds has been seeded with grasses and cereals, especially with wheats, embracing sixty-two varieties, from France, Prussia, Russia, Great Britain, Chili, and China. results are confidently expected to accrue eventually from these experiments. An office and stable have been erected, at small expense, and a supply of Potomac water brought upon the premises. The donations and additions to the museum have been increased to such an extent during the past year that the two small rooms appropriated to that purpose have been completely filled, and many of the most interesting specimens of fibres, sugars, seeds, &c., cannot be exhibited for want of space, and are therefore unavailable to those desiring to study them. The museum has been enriched by specimens of sheep and domestic poultry, showing the true types of the various breeds, and to what purpose each breed is specially adapted. In my former report it was recommended that the collection of insects, birds, and model fruits belonging to Mr. Townend Glover, entomologist of the department, should be purchased by the government, and made the nucleus of a national agricultural and economic museum. This subject is earnestly pressed upon the attention of Congress. The sum of five hundred dollars has been expended in sending Mr. Glover to Paris, to represent the interest of this department at the exposition of insects useful or injurious to the crops, which was held at the industrial palace, under the patronage of the minister of agriculture of France; where I am happy to say he received the first premium of the large gold medal of the Emperor Napoleon for his yet unfinished work on the insects of America, a work as original in its plan of arrangement as it will prove to be valuable in its proposed remedies for the destructive insects. He was nearly four months absent, and on his return brought specimens of the various silk cocoons and silk-producing insects, together with prepared skins of animals and game birds. which are susceptible of domestication, and may with advantage be introduced and acclimated in this country. It is sincerely to be hoped that a portion of the propagating grounds, or some other convenient place, may be set apart for purpose of commencing a garden of acclimation, from whence the llama, cashmere goat, and the improved breeds of domestic fowls, might be distributed to different parts of our country. The ailanthus silkworm, which has succeeded so well in France, has been reintroduced this year from Paris. This insect may now be considered as perfectly acclimated, and the silk produced by it is very strong and of good quality. Since my last report the laboratory has been fitted up and provided with apparatus and other means of investigation. In.regard to the practical results obtained I would refer to the report of the chemist, as showing that some original investigations have been made, and many questions answered which have been propounded by farmers, technologists, sugar-producers, and others, in all parts of the country. Minerals, ores, and geological specimens have been received by mail and otherwise, in considerable quantities. Such as proved valuable, and could be properly identified as to locality, were retained as a nucleus for a mineralogical cabinet. The field open for chemical science never was so great as at the present time. Chemistry being indeed the life and soul of an intelligent, rational agriculture, the governments of Europe-Germany taking the lead-impressed with this unquestionable fact, have established experimental agricultural stations, consisting of an experimental garden and a complete analytical laboratory. The chemist, provided with assistants, institutes on the spot such original experiments, and tests such theoretical problems in reference to agriculture, as would seem most prolific of benefit to the farming community and the world at large. To instruct the farmer as to the difference between robbing and tilling the land, to teach him to understand and take a lively interest in the practical experiments above alluded to, travelling teachers have been appointed, connected with these agricultural stations, whose office it is to impart useful knowledge to the masses by lectures and conversations. Thus every one may gradually be prepared to receive and profit by the rich stores of science open to every intelligent farmer. Such is the appreciation of chemical science in Germany, where schools and private laboratories so abound, that at the present time two large laboratories on the most complete scale, are in the course of construction at Berlin and Bonn, at the expense of the state. In the collection of statistics, during the past year, unusual attention has been given to farm stock. The waste of horses and mules by war, and the army consumption of meats, excited fears of deficient supplies of domestic animals, rendering necessary a reliable exposition of the number, price, and value of each kind in the several States-a labor undertaken with much care, and accomplished, it is believed, notwithstanding its difficulty, with a fair measure of success. The tables of statistics resulting from these labors are applied to important uses-foiling the designs of speculators and correcting their misrepresentations; enabling the farmer to obtain the worth of his cereals, wool, meats, and other agricultural products; and directing the purchaser of store animals in what quarter to obtain most easily and cheaply his needed supplies for fattening. Accurate statistics, affecting commercial dealings in farm products, may thus prove of immediate and almost incalculable service to the agricultural community. I may here remark that this system of collecting, compiling, and publishing farm statistics is attracting the attention and eliciting the commendation of European nations, and that many of their most practical statisticians acknowledge freely its superiority over prevailing European systems. That these statistics, obtained monthly through thousands of intelligent correspondents, upon specific subjects peculiarly appropriate to the season, should be placed before the country at the time, and not be deferred until the publication of the annual report, is indisputable. The leading purpose in their presentation is to furnish a guide to producers in the necessary mutations of crop and stock production, and to act on the markets before the disposition is made of cereals, meats, and fibrous products of the farm. Hence the necessity and the origin of the monthly report. Its publication, at first opposed by several agricultural papers, under the erroneous impression that it might conflict with private interests, excites no opposition since it is seen to avoid ordinary topics pertaining to agriculture, and to consider only those that are national in their character or bearing. The annual and monthly reports are entirely distinct in their character. The first treats of subjects of a permanent nature, in the form of carefully written essays. The second is confined to topics less permanent, and often of transient or passing importance; it considers them briefly, touching upon leading points only, avoiding details, and ignoring the ornaments of style and a labored arrangement. A brief general summary of the more important statistics of this division are as follows: GENERAL SUMMARY RELATING TO FARM STOCK. Showing the total number of live stock for January, 1864 and 1865, the increase and decrease thereof, the general average price of each kind, the value of cach kind, and the total value of all. Number, average price, and total value in January, 1865. GENERAL SUMMARY RELATING TO CROPS Showing the number of bushels, &c., of each crop, the number of acres of each, The above tables of the general summary do not show the exact comparative |