Investigations of the chinch bug have been extended in certai Western States, in coöperation with the Department, and facts practical value, bearing upon the relations of agricultural methods an climate to the propagation of the chinch bug, have been ascertained. The insect enemies of the orange and other citrus fruits have been dil gently studied, and much valuable material collected for an additiona report upon this subject. In harmony with the provisions of the appr priation bill, cotton insects have been the subject of much research Inquiries were made in the States of Texas, Louisiana, Mississipp and Alabama, where results of practical value have been reached.

A new and very active enemy of the cotton crop has been disco ered recently in Texas, where it was introduced from Mexico. It is i the shape of a weevil, which bores into the bolls. The study of thi insect has been begun. A special agent was sent to the agricultura sections of Mexico recently opened up by railways, who has forwarde to the Division of Entomology many interesting specimens and man valuable data which will serve to familiarize the people with othe injurious insects which are liable to be imported from Mexico to th United States.

The experimental work against predaceous and destructive insect has been continued, mainly in the line of testing new machinery and i determining the effects of insecticide mixtures upon the foliage plants at different seasons, and in determining the usefulness of thes insecticides against the new peach scale and the San Jose or pern cious scale of fruit trees above referred to. The publication of a serie of leaflets or circulars upon insects especially dangerous to horticu ture has been commenced. A manual of bee culture is completed and one bulletin has been contributed to the series of the division an another to the series of the farmers' bulletins.

DIVISION OF VEGETABLE PATHOLOGY.

The diligent study of the diseases of cereal crops and fruits has bee continued by this division during the entire year. Recognizing th vast value of the cereal crops produced in this country, and th immense losses accruing to them because of the attacks of certain di eases, particularly rusts and smuts, an expert investigator wa appointed early in the year to take charge of this particular line inquiry.

In the laboratory of the division at Washington, pear blight, di eases affecting the melons of the South, diseases of cereals, and di eases of fruits of the Pacific coast and of Florida, have been invest gated. It has been ascertained that a simple and inexpensive treatme used early in the spring will almost completely hold in check a diseas of the leaves of the peach tree which has recently damaged frui growers many thousands of dollars. The remedy has been tested amon

the peach orchards of California and the eastern portion of the Unit States and has proven highly efficacious. Several other diseases plants and fruit trees are now under investigation with excellent pro abilities of discovering a successful remedy. A branch station of t division in Florida is particularly devoting itself to the study of t diseases of citrus fruits and other subtropical plants.

DIVISION OF ORNITHOLOGY AND MAMMALOGY.

The work of this division divides itself into two attractive subjec The first is the geographic distribution of animals, and the second t study of injurious and useful birds and mammals. Under the first he enough data have now been collected to finally solve the problem of te perature control of the geographic distribution in North America animals and plants. Their laws of distribution have been formulate and the result of the investigation will be published in a few month The study of life zones has extended over large areas in the West. T field work has covered twenty-five (25) States and Territories west of th Mississippi River, and also embraced Pennsylvania and three of th Southern States.

Two groups of mammals very injurious to agriculture, the Californ jack rabbit and the pocket gopher of the plains and the Mississip Valley, have received attention during the year. An exhaustive stud has been made of the pocket gopher, the results of which will appea in a popular bulletin on his food habits, his injury to crops, and tl methods of extermination.

During the inquiry into the food of birds and mammals, three tho sand four hundred and twenty (3,420) stomachs of birds were added t the collection, and fourteen hundred and forty (1,440) of them wer carefully examined. The stomachs of many mammals were dissecte in the laboratory and in the field. A report on the food habits of th kingbird, with special reference to its habits relating to agriculture an horticulture, has been prepared. There has also been completed a lea let on the food habits of the woodpecker, and a similar one on the foo habits of blackbirds.

Some species of beautifully plumaged and useful birds are bein exterminated in the United States to satisfy the barbaric demand fo ornithological ornamentation of feminine head wear. By educating th public mind to a better understanding of birds, their interesting hab its and uses to man, this division is doing much to prevent this an other similarly cruel and senseless practices which, if not arrested, wil result in the total destruction of many of our most beautiful and usefu American birds.

The eminent scientist at the head of this division, Dr. C. Hart Me riam, and his capable assistant, have been, by order of the President placed in the classified service.

DIVISION OF BOTANY.

During 1894 a great amount of agitation and some trepidation h existed in certain Northwestern States relative to the Russian this and its possible detrimental and universal dissemination througho the Northwest. The Division of Botany, therefore, made a spec effort to systematically collect information as to this newly arriv emigrant weed and to provide methods for its speedy repressment a eradication. One result of this inquiry is that the seeds of new grass and forage plants from abroad will be hereafter, for the public prote tion, very carefully inspected as to their freedom from weed seeds. possible, it might be well to require certification as to freedom from we seeds and absolute purity and vitality of all seeds imported into t United States. A laboratory has been equipped and a special assista detailed to give his entire time to the study of seeds with regard to the purity, vitality, and improvement.

The census of 1890 shows the value of farms in the United Stat which are entirely devoted to seed-growing to be over eighteen m lions of dollars ($18,000,000). The export of clover seed alone duri the year ending June 30, 1894, is estimated at four million five hundr and forty thousand dollars ($4,540,000). The export of American see may be vastly increased by exalting the standard of purity and g minating vitality and giving all other peoples the same guaranty th we ask of them. The same course will increase the domestic use American-grown seed. When information as to its high quality h been diffused, this course will vastly widen the world markets for Ame can seed and so enhance their value by giving increasing demand ever where.

DIVISION OF FORESTRY.

The greater part of the appropriation for the Division of Forestry h been expended during the present year in investigating the streng of different timber woods and the conditions that influence their qualit The importance of such an inquiry was pointed out in the Report of t Secretary of Agriculture for 1893. Attention was also called to t unqualified commendations which had been bestowed upon this wo not only in the United States but in foreign countries. The full val of the investigation will not be apparent until it has been carried to successful termination, when the accumulated data will be careful collated, with the intent of discovering the laws which give differe degrees of strength to different varieties of timber. A knowledge such laws will make the everyday use of timber in building mu safer and more satisfactory than it has been. The financial a economic value of these timber examinations can hardly be estimat at the present moment.

The practice of "boxing" pine trees for turpentine, it has been di covered, does not decrease the strength of the lumber. This discove

alone, it is stated, will add two millions of dollars to the value of t pineries of the Southern States, which are being "bled" for turpentin It is further established that the longleaf pine of the South is ge erally far stronger than heretofore admitted, and, therefore, for struc ures like bridges, trestles, and rooftrees made of this timber, it is pra ticable to effect a saving of 25 per cent of material without reducin the factor of safety. This saving applies to about two million M. fe of longleaf pine timber annually used for such purposes, and tl present money value of that saving of longleaf pine lumber can calculated at six millions of dollars ($6,000,000). These facts may re der possible the extension of the time in which our forest supplies this most valuable timber must be exhausted. This line of worl which establishes the true value of our varieties of timber, should b pushed to a conclusion as rapidly as possible. Therefore it has bee recommended that Senate bill No. 313, making a special appropriatio of forty thousand dollars ($40,000) for the completion of this work, b passed whenever the people seem to demand it and the condtion the public Treasury may permit such an expenditure.

(

Inquiry into the rate of growth and production of the most valuabl lumber trees is needed in order to properly estimate the profit that ma be derived from forest management. Only the white pine and the blac spruce have so far been partly examined. But the information obtaine is so valuable that it makes more apparent than ever the necessity o similar investigations upon other timber trees. Inquiries have bee made, and are in progress, as to the principles and effectiveness of dr kilns for lumber, and also as to the increase in the use of metal fo railroad ties and other processes of economy in the use of wood fo railroad construction.

Popular instruction as to the disastrous results upon adjacent agricul tural valleys of the denudation of hills and mountains, should be give in every schoolhouse in the Union. Prof. Rothrock, of Pennsylvania and Dr. Fernow, the chief of the Division of Forestry of the U. S. Depart ment of Agriculture, have shown themselves efficient teachers and workers in this regard. The deforestation of the American Continen will practically be an accomplished fact within another century unles systematic and intelligent reafforestation be speedily inaugurated.

DIVISION OF CHEMISTRY.

The Division of Chemistry, in harmony with the provisions of the appropriation act, has during the past year devoted itself to the inves tigation of the adulteration of foods, drugs, and liquors, and to the prosecution of experiments in sugar production. Examinations for the usual adulterations have been made of large numbers of specimens o meals, flours, and breads; but in no instance has there been found a adulteration of American flour with terra alba or any other material. I

is gratifying to know withal, that while this sort of adulteration is practiced largely in foreign countries, it has not obtained foothold in the United States. The only deceptions in the flour trade have been found in the substitution of cheaper grades for dearer ones. In bread the chief adulterant found has been alum. That substance is added for the purpose of whitening the loaf.

Wines have been examined very thoroughly; especially have adul terants been sought for in the coloring matter used. It is impossible to tell by chemical analysis whether any given amount of alcohol found in wines is natural or artificial. The Division of Chemistry has ascertained that the pure wines of the United States and the pure wines produced in Europe are not very dissimilar in many cases. Where there are differences, they have been carefully determined and defined. The chemical examinations of the typical soils of the United States have been commenced, and a series of pot experiments have been begun, having for their object the practical test of the several methods of analysis heretofore adopted and the actual powers of plants to assimilate different kinds of food in the soil. It is sought in this way to learn approximately the available plant food in each type of soil. In conjunction with this, a thorough study of the nitrifying organisms of the soils has also been commenced. In addition to the above work, numerous inquiries as to the methods of analysis have been carried out, and a great number of miscellaneous samples have been analyzed.

DIVISION OF POMOLOGY.

During the year Mr. S. B. Heiges, of Pennsylvania, a horticulturist of long experience and of practical skill, was made chief of the division, and it is to-day in better working order than ever before since its creation. By order of the President it has been placed wholly in the classified civil service, from the chief and assistant chief down to the messengers.

The division is principally engaged in correspondence with fruitgrowers; in critical examination and comparison of specimen fruits received from them for identification, description, and illustration of such specimens as may seem worthy of record and propagation. All new and improved varieties of this sort are modeled and colored.

During the year close attention has been given to the investigation of the varieties of the apple. Notwithstanding the almost total failure of the crop, some two hundred (200) specimens of new or littleknown varieties of apples-some of which promise to be very valuable-have been received. Beside these many old varieties which had been catalogued and planted as new have been identified as to their origin and character.

The damaging frosts of the last week in March were made the subject of investigation during the month of April, and the results were published in a special circular with the report of the Statistician for May. Important facts were developed in the course of this inquest which will