officers (1) the Entomologist, (2) Chief of the Bureau of Animal Industry, (3) Chemist, (4) Botanist, (5) Chief of the Section of Vegetable Pathology, (6) Statistician, (7) Ornithologist, (8) Director of the Office of Experiment Stations, (9) Microscopist, (10) Pomologist, (11) Chief of the Forestry Division, (12) Chief of the Seed Division, and (13) Weather Bureau.  The enumeration of these titles indicates the general nature of the work of the department.  Here are investigated the habits of injurious insects and birds and the best means for their destruction; the causes of and remedies for vegetable and fruit diseases.  The Chief of the Bureau of Animal Industry inspects herds of cattle and causes to be slaughtered those suffering from a contagious disease.  Under a law passed in 1890, he also inspects all cattle and meat intended for export to foreign countries.  He investigates causes of and remedies for cattle diseases, the best method of breeding, etc.  The Statistician publishes monthly and annual reports concerning statistics of the condition, prospects and harvests of the principal crops, the wages of farm labor, etc.  The Chemist analyzes fertilizers, soils, etc.  By the act of March 2, 1887, $15,000 per annum was appropriated by Congress to each of the States and Territories which have established an agricultural college or an agricultural college department, for the establishment of experiment stations.  The Department of Agriculture has general oversight over these stations.

The Department carries on experiments regarding the feasibility of profitable silk reeling in this country, for which purpose there is a separate division; it also makes experiments in the manufacture of sugar from sorghum and from beets grown in this country.  The best qualities of seeds are tested and distributed gratuitously among the farmers.  Efforts are made to introduce and foster the cultivation of new kinds of agricultural products, and in various ways to advance agricultural interests.

Congress, by an act passed during its last session, 1890, created a weather bureau under the Agricultural Department and transferred to it the business of weather prognostication which had been tinder the Chief Signal officer in the War Department.  The service remains unchanged.  It has stations at the military stations in the interior of the continent, at life-saving stations, and at other points in the States and Territories.  Meteorological observations are taken at each station, and the information forwarded to the central office at Washington, where weather predictions for the succeeding day or days are made.  The predictions are given gratuitously to the public through a system of flag signals, by the distribution of weather maps, and by publication in the daily papers.  The percentage of successful forecasts of the weather during 1890 was 84.4.

The Department publishes the result of the scientific investigations carried on by its officers in “Annual Reports” of the Secretary and Chiefs of Divisions; in a series of “Circulars” on special subjects, in regular “Bulletins;” and in a series of studies on “Insect Life.”  These documents are distributed gratuitously.