VALUE The following table gives the value of our representative crops for significant years since the Civil War, as reported by the Year Book of the Department of Agriculture published in 1921: The following table gives the number of acres devoted to our representative crops for som significant years since the Civil War as reported by the Year Book of the Department of Agriculture published in 1921 Recommended, 2556, 2622, 2663, 2714, 3253. Referred to, 4066, 4947. Experiment stations, recommendations regarding, 5384, 5888, 5980. Food adulteration discussed, 5384. Seed distribution. (See Seed Distribution.) Agriculture, Commissioner of: Reply of, to Senate resolution regarding diseases prevailing among swine, 4435. Reports of, referred to, 4158, 4364, 4428, 4432, 4462, 4578. Agriculture, Department of.-This Department of the Executive Branch of the Government had its origin in the recommendation of Washington. As early as Dec. 7, 1796, in his eighth annual address (page 194) he said that "with reference either to individual or national welfare agriculture is of primary importance," and at the same time urged the importance of the "establishment of boards charged with collecting and diffusing information, and enabled by premiums and small pecuniary aids to encourage and assist a spirit of discovery and improveThe sentiments expressed by Washington were reiterated and enlarged upon by all or nearly all of his successors (pages 3776, 4457, 4530. 4947, 5112). ment. From the very beginning of the Government its foreign representatives had sent home seeds and cuttings of agricultural products to be tried in the United States, and in 1839 Congress made an appropriation of $1,000 for the distribution of material thus collected and for the publication of agricultural statistics. This work was entrusted to the Patent Office, which belonged to the Department of State until 1840, when the Department of the Interior was established and the Patent office became a part of it. Up to 1849 the agricultural work was carried on by the Com missioner of Patents, Henry L. Ellsworth, but from that time until 1861, a special official, under the direction of the Commissioner, was employed for the work. May 15, 1862, an act was approved which created the Department of Agriculture, the duties of which were to "diffuse useful information on subjects connected with agriculture in the most general and comprehensive sense of the word, and to procure, propagate, and distribute among the people new and valuable seeds and plants." It was provided that the head of this bureau should be a Commissioner of Agriculture, to hold office by a tenure similar to that of other civil officers appointed by the President. The bureau was made a full executive department by an act of Congress approved Feb. 9, 1889, and placed under a Secretary, who was made a member of the President's Cabinet. To promote the agricultural interests of the country in the most thorough manner an act of Congress approved March, 1887, provided for the establishment of agricultural experiment stations (see Agricultural Colleges and Experimental Stations), in connection with the agricultural colleges in the several states and territories, and placed the Commissioner of Agriculture over these stations in an advisory and administrative capacity. The Agricultural colleges established in the several states and territories in accordance with the land grant act of Con gress of July 2, 1862, have no organic relation to the Department of Agriculture further than that the agricultural experi ment stations are generally departments of the agricultural colleges, and that the presi dent of each of these colleges is obliged to make an annual report to the Secretary of Agriculture. The Weather Bureau (q. v.), an important branch of the Department, was nu thorized by Congress Feb. 4, 1870. under the direction of the War Department, but by an act of Oct. 1, 1890, it was transferred to the Department of Agriculture. Some other important bureaus are: Bureau of Forestry (1881), which has Bureau of Entomology (1863), which ob- Bureau of Chemistry (1862), whose work Bureau of Statistics, organized as the Di- Investigations. One of the most service- Agricultural Colleges.-Large tracts of ex- College instruction in agriculture is ceiving the benefits of the acts of Congress By an act approved on August 30, 1890, Location of agricultural colleges receiv- Agricultural School of the Tuskegee Nor- Agricultural and Mechanical College for Colorado The State Agricultural College of Delaware-Delaware College, Newark. State College for Colored Students, Florida-College of Agriculture of the University of Florida, Gainesville. Florida Agricultural and Mechanical College for Negroes, Tallahassee. Georgia-Georgia State College of Agriculture, Athens. Georgia State Industrial College, Savannah. Hawall College of Hawail, Honolulu. Idaho College of Agriculture of the University of Idaho, Moscow. Illinois-College of Agriculture of the University of Illinois, Urbana. Indiana-School of Agriculture of Purdue University, La Fayette. Iowa Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, Ames. Kansas Kansas State Agricultural College, Manhattan. Kentucky-The College af Agriculture of the State University, Lexington. The Kentucky Normal and Industrial Institute for Colored Persons, Frankfort. Louisiana-Louisiana State University and Southern University and Agricultural and Malne College of Agriculture of the Uni- Princess Anne Academy, Eastern Branch Massachusetts-Massachusetts Agricultural Minnesota-College of Agriculture of the Missouri College of Agriculture of the Uni- culture and Mechanic Arts, Bozeman. Nebraska-College of Agriculture of the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Nevada-College of Agriculture of the University of Nevada, Reno. New Hampshire-New Hampshire College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts, Durham. New Jersey-Rutgers Scientific School_(the New Jersey State College for the Benefit of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts), New Brunswick. New Mexico-New Mexico College of Ag riculture and Mechanic Arts, State College. New York-New York State College of Agriculture, Ithaca. North Carolina-The North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, West Raleigh. The Agricultural and Mechanical College for the Colored Race, Greensboro. North Dakota-North Dakota Agricultural College, Agricultural College. Ohio-College of Agriculture of Ohio State University, Columbus. Oklahoma-Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College, Stillwater. Agricultural and Normal University, Langston. Oregon Oregon State Agricultural College, Corvallis. Pennsylvania-The Pennsylvania State College, State College. Porto Rico-College of Agriculture of the University of Porto Rico, Mayaguez. Rhode Island-Rhode Island State College, Kingston. South Carolina-The Clemson Agricultural College of South Carolina, Clemson College. State Agricultural and Mechanical College of South Carolina, Orangeburg. The Colored Normal, Industrial, Agricultural, and Mechanical College of South Carolina, Orangeburg. South Dakota-South Dakota State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. Brookings. Tennessee-College of Agriculture, University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Tennessee Agricultural and State Normal School, Nashville. Texas-Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, College Station. Prairie View State Normal and Industrial College, Prairie View. Utah-The Agricultural College of Utah, Logan. Vermont-College of Agriculture of the University of Vermont, Burlington. Virginia-The Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg. The Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute, Hampton. Washington-State College of Washington, Pullman. West Virginia-College of Agriculture of West Virginia University, Morgantown. The West Virginia Colored Institute, Institute. Wisconsin-College of Agriculture of the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Wyoming College of Agriculture, University of Wyoming, Laramie. Experiment Stations.-A law approved March 2, 1887, provided for the establishment-under the direction of the ag ricultural colleges, or agricultural departments of colleges, established in each state or territory in accordance with the law of July 2, 1862, mentioned aboveof departments to be known as Agricultural Experiment Stations. It was provided that the duties of these stations should consist in conducting original research as to the physiology of plants and animals; the diseases to which they are subject and their remedies; the chemical composition of useful plants; the comparative advantages of rotative croppings as pursued under varying series of crops; the analysis of soils and water; the chemical compositions of natural and artificial fertilizers; the scientific and economic questions involved in the production of butter and cheese; and such other matters bearing directly upon the agricultural industries of the United States as might be deemed advisable by the directors of the several stations. For carrying on this work the act provided $15,000 a year to each state and territory out of funds proceeding from the sale of public lands. Agricultural experiment stations are now maintained in whole or in part by the federal government, and exist in every state and territory. The total amount expended in Wilson. Wilson. David F. Houston....1913 . Edwin T. Meredith...1920 The following persons have held the office of Commissioner of Agriculture in the order named: Isaac Newton, Pennsylvania; Horace Capron, Illinois; Frederick Watts, Pennsylvania; William G. Le Duc, Minnesota; George B. Loring, Massachusetts; and Norman J. Colman, Missouri. For more detailed information as to the scope of the activities of the Department of Agriculture consult the index references to the Presidents' Messages and Encyclopedic articles under the following headings: Accounts and Dis Horticultural Board. Public Roads and Agriculture, Department of: Activities of, 7909. Cost of living investigations of, 8768. Cleveland, 5886, 5978, 6169. Wilson, 7909, 8037, 8262. Educational work of, 6905, 6906. Efforts of, in behalf of farmers, 7909. Expenditures of, 5886, 5981. Experiment Stations of, 6733, 6905. Foreign trade influence on, 7374. Forest Service recommended, 6910. Importance of, to whole world, 8037. Improvement in, urgent need for, 7257. Land reserved for use of, 6709. Law officer for, recommended, 5487. Operations of, 7536. Relation of, to war food control program, 8262. Secretary of, authority of, to check spread of contagious diseases among animals, 6948. Statistical division of, 5982. Sugar-beet culture, 4534, 5554, 6280, 6347, 6356, 6415, 6455, 6865. Sugar cane experiments, 6849. Transfer of Weather Service to, 5487. Usefulness vindicated, 7091. Works of, 6655, 6727, 6906, 6927. Agriculture, International Institute of. -A body established under an International Treaty of June 7, 1905 (ratified by the United States on July 7, 1906), composed of delegates selected by the signatory governments. It is under the direct patronage of the King of Italy, who has endowed it with considerable funds, although it also receives financial support from its adhering countries. The function of the Institute is to furnish the various countries statistics of agricultural production and distribution throughout the world, suggestions regarding improvements in the agricultural industry. and information about the economic and sociological aspects of agriculture. Agriculture, Secretary of: Plans of, for agricultural investigations, 8814. Stockyards' supervision placed under, 8582. Aircraft (see also Aeronautics): Exposition of, prohibited during war, 8427. Regulations for civilian, 8468. Aircraft Board.-By act of Congress approved October 1, 1917, a board was created to expand and coordinate the industrial activities pertaining to aircraft and their parts and to facilitate the development of air service. The board consisted of not more than nine members, including a civ ilian chairman, the Chief Signal Officer of the Army, two other Army officers to be appointed by the Secretary of War, the Chief Constructor of the Navy, two other Navy officers to be appointed by the Secretary of the Navy, and two additional civilian employees. The civilian employees were appointed by the President, by and with the consent of the Senate, the civilian members served without compensation, and the life of the Board was limited to six months after the conclusion of the World War. The Board consisted of II. E. Coffin, chairman, R. F. Howe, Maj. Gen. G. 0. Squier, Col. E. A. Deeds. Col. R. E. Montgomery, Rear Admiral Taylor, Capt. M. E. Irwin, Lieut. Commander A. K. Atkins. There was much dissatisfaction with the work of the Board, which culminated in an official investigation and the placing of the aircraft production for war of the United States in the hands of Mr. J. D. Ryan. (See page 8515.) Aircraft Production, War, in United States. -A summary of the airplane activities of the United States in the World War is as follows: On the declaration of war by the United States on April 6, 1917. the United States had only 55 training planes, of which 51 |