AGRICULTURE, UNITED STATES DEPART MENT OF. The department was established as a separate branch of the government in 1S62. It grew out of a voluntary distribution of seeds, begun by the Commissioner of Patents in 1836. In 1839, Congress made an appropriation of 51000 "to be taken from the Patent Office fund for the purpose of collecting and distributing seeds, prosecuting agricultural investigations, and procuring agricultural statistics." Small amounts were thus drawn from that fund annu ally (except in 1840, 1841, and 1840) up to 1854, when the whole amount was reimbursed and a separate appropriation was made for the agricul tural work of the Patent Oilier. That year an entomologist was employed, and in 18.55 a chem ist and a botanist were added to the staff, and a propagating garden was begun. After separa tion from the Patent Office, the chief officer of the department was styled Commissioner of Agricul ture. lie was not a member of the President's cabinet until 18S9, when he became Secretary of Agriculture. The first commissioner was Isaac Newton of Pennsylvania, and the first sec retary, :Korman J. Colman of who was also the last commissioner. The succeeding sec retaries have been Jeremiah M. Rusk of Wiscon sin, J. Sterling Morton of Nebraska, and James Wilson of Iowa. The department is situated in the city of Washington. in a beautiful park of thirty-five acres, between the Smithsonian Insti tution and the Washington Monument, but is at present inadequately housed. As defined in the act of establishment, the duties of the depart ment are, "to acquire and diffuse among the people of the United States useful information on subjects connected with agriculture in the most e'eneral and comprehensive sense of that word, and to procure, propagate, and distribute among the people new and valuable seeds and plants. With the progress of agricultural sci ence. scientific branches have been added. until
the department has become one of the greatest scientific establishments in the world. Its ad ministrative functions also have been materially enlarged in recent years. In 1884, the Bureau of Animal Industry was organized. and in 1888, the Office of Experiment Stations. (See AGRICUL TunAL EXPERIMENT STATION.) In 1801. the Weather Bureau was transferred from the War Department to the Department of Agriculture, and in 1901 a Bureau of Plant Industry was established by combining several divisions whose work related to plants. At. the same time Bureaus of Soils. Forestry. and Chemistry were created to take the place of divisions with the same names. The department issues a great variety of popular, technical, and scientific publications. The Yearbook (edition 300, 000 copies) and the series of Farmers' Bulletins are distributed gratis, largely through members of Congress. A monthly list of publications is sent free to all applicants. Other publications are issued in limited editions for libraries, agri cultural eelleges, and experiment stations. sci entific institutions. and persons co3perating in the work of the department : they are also sold by the Superintendent of Documents. Periodical publications of the department are the Experi ment Station Record, Monthly Review, and Thin Crop Reporter. In 1901 the department issued 600 different publications; the total num ber of copies was nearly S,000.000. For the fiscal year ending. June 30, 1902. the appropria tion for the department was $3,802,420. exclusive of $720,000 for the agricultural experiment sta tions.
The present organization and main lines of work of the department are shown in the follow ing table: