WASHINGTON. Wheat.-The Rudy (bearded) proved to be a good variety. The Improved Rice yielded 60 bushels to the acre, the grain being large and plump. Vegetables.-Walker's Improved peas are all that can be desired in size, flavor, and productiveness. The Westerfield Chicago pickling cucumber yielded well; the fruit was of fine shape and size. WEST VIRGINIA. Sorghum.-The Early Orange made very fine sirup; three fourths of an acre sown yielded 91 gallons. Wheat.-One quart of Fulcaster sown harvested 28 pounds of veny fine grain, the other varieties only making half a crop. Vegetables.-The First and Best peas were very early. The Chicago pickling cucumber and the Jersey tomato were both very good. The Deacon lettuce was very fine indeed. WISCONSIN. Buckwheat.-Eighteen pounds of seed of the Japanese made 808 pounds of nice, clean buckwheat, superior to any seed in this section. This is the testimony of a farmer of thirty-five years' experience. Sorghum.-One quart of seed of the Red Amber Sugar Cane was sown on 1 acres and produced 54 gallons of extra fine sirup, pronounced by the manufacturer to be the best he had ever made. Wheat.-The Velvet Chaff did well, withstood the winter, and is adapted to this locality. Seven pounds of seed planted produced 143 pounds of very plump grain of excellent quality. Vegetables.-The New Peach tomato was very satisfactory. The Red Japan squash was of fair quality. The White Belgian carrot gave perfect satisfaction, also the Golden Dwarf celery. The Early Winningstadt cabbage had small, firm heads. Kinds and quantities of seed issued from the Seed Division of the Department of Agriculture, under the general appropriation act of Congress, from July 1, 1889, to June 30, 1890. REPORT OF THE CHIEF OF THE DIVISION OF ILLUSTRATIONS. SIR: I have the honor to submit my first report covering the few months that have elapsed since this Division was established under the appropriation act for the current fiscal year, July 14, 1890. It will be interesting, I think, to accompany this first report with a brief review of the development of the work of illustration in this Department, which has culminated under your administration in the organization of a Division of Illustrations under my charge. As long ago as 1878 the method which left the work of illustration to persons employed outside the Department was found to be extremely defective, and I was engaged to prepare the illustrations for the annual report, and to be available for such incidental work as might occasionally be required in connection with the several Divisions of the Department. These at that time not being numerous, one competent person sufficed to do all the work needed in the line of illustration, and for nearly two years I was the sole draftsman permanently employed in the Department. As the work increased beyond the capacity of any single person, however competent, it became necessary to engage other artists, but these being paid from the funds of the various Divisions needing their services were assigned to the forces of such Divisions. This arrangement, however, was found to have many defects and it was impossible under these conditions to systematize the work. There were times when some of these artists were overworked, while others had time to spare. Again, it was impossible to so divide the work as to enable each to work to the best advantage, some being assigned to work which others could have performed more efficiently than they, and vice versa, while, and this was the chief objection, there was no one responsible head charged with the duty of superintending all the work and held responsible for its faithful execution. These difficulties were apparent to you from the very beginning of your administration, and hence the organization by your direction of a Division of Illustrations which you were good enough to place under my charge. As thus organized, the Division consists of one chief, eight assistant draftsmen (one such place being at this writing vacant), and three wood engravers. The work of the Division is scientific, requiring great skill and experience; and being from nature, and often from specimens in a dried or injured condition, frequently calls for the greatest ingenuity on the part of the artists. Moreover, many of the specimens are so minute as to require the magnifying glasses or the microscope in elucidating the details, and our draftsmen, therefore, must be familiar with the handling of these instruments. The work of the Division consists in drawing illustrations on wood for engraving by the xylographers, or on paper with pen and ink, or painting them in water colors, the illustrations made by the two latter methods being reproduced outside of the Department by lithography, or photo engraving, or by "process work." Many drawings, paintings, and sketches have to be prepared in the Division which are not intended for publication, but for the purpose of fixing graphically some interesting phase in the development or life history of objects from the plant or animal kingdom. » I have ventured to thus present to your consideration in detail the exacting character of the work required of this Division in order that the necessity for assistants of the highest order in this department of the work might be thoroughly understood, and in view of the manner in which the work is now being performed by the force actually at my disposal I beg to respectfully suggest that their efforts be recognized if possible by the application of a more liberal scale of remuneration. The following is a record of the work performed under my charge for a period of something less than six months, showing the several Divisions for which the work has been executed: Entomology, 32 plates, aggregating 160 figures, pen and ink; Botany, 12 plates, partly on wood, partly pen and ink work; Chemistry, 13 plates, illustrating new chemical apparatus, pen and ink; Forestry, 6 plates, on wood, double size, with two maps; Microscopy, 57 plates, mostly water colors; Ornithology, 17 plates, pen and ink; Animal Industry, 50 plates, containing more than 200 figures, mostly microscopical: Vegetable Pathology, 40 plates of over 150 figures, in pen and ink, and in color. Of engravings by the xylographers of the Division: Botany, 7 plates; Chemistry, 1 plate; Forestry, 6 plates, double size; Entomology, 1 plate; Irrigation Inquiry, 1 plate. A considerable amount of other work has been begun and partly completed. As most of the plates contain from five to ten figures, and as the period in question covers that during which the annual leaves of absence of the force of this Division occurred the, amount of work must be regarded as highly creditable to the force engaged. In this connection I consider it my duty to submit to your consideration the fact that the only rooms which it was found possible to assign to this Division, located in the attic of the main building directly under the roof, are in many respects unsuited to the work required of us, while their very high temperature during the summer months (on several days 102° to 104° Fahr.) renders the work of this Division extremely onerous. In conclusion, allow me to say that many of the illustrations of this Department have gained an enviable reputation even in European scientific circles in return for our efforts to send out only such work as will be a credit to this Department. It has not unfrequently happened, however, that while the original drawings or paintings had been made with the utmost care and accuracy and were in every respect creditable, the reproduction done outside the Department by some of the methods indicated above has been quite unsatisfactory and inferior. I would suggest that if some way could be devised by which the supervision of the chief of the Division could be extended to the work of illustration up to and including the actual printing of the plates such a course would, I am convinced, secure the reproduction of our work in the best manner and as economically as at present. Respectfully submitted. GEORGE MARX, Chief of the Division of Illustrations. Hon. J. M. RUSK, REPORT OF THE CHIEF OF THE DIVISION OF RECORDS AND EDITING. SIR: I have the honor to present herewith a report upon the work of this Division during its first half year, together with certain recommendations which aim to extend the usefulness of the publications of this Department. Very respectfully, GEO. Wм. HILL, Chief of the Division of Records and Editing. Secretary. Hon. J. M. RUSK, WORK OF THE DIVISION. The Division of Records and Editing was practically called into existence by my appointment on the staff of the Statistician in July, 1889, and the work which I then undertook did not differ materially from that now carried on by the Division as at present organized under the act of appropriation of July 14, 1890, except in being restricted necessarily before that date by the want of sufficient clerical force from undertaking all that was contemplated as the work of the new Division. The organization of the Division was undertaken immediately upon the passage of the act of appropriation, and the positions provided thereby were duly filled by your appointments in compliance with the law regulating the Civil Service. The work of this Division should, so far as its responsible head is concerned, supply the place of the "reader" of a publishing house, to whom all work for publication is submitted, and whose report to the chief is made the basis of the latter's conclusion as to publication. This is rendered necessary, not only to enable the chief to assume due responsibility of what is published by his authority, but to enable him to fairly and judiciously assign the printing fund between the several Divisions of the Department. It must also afford to the Division chiefs who supply the matter all the facilities of a publishing house, supervising the work from the moment it leaves the hands of the author until the work appears in complete form ready for distribution. By fulfilling adequately these two lines of duty it will certainly not only relieve the Secretary and the Division chiefs of a large amount of work, but, in the hands of competent persons of the right practical experience in the work of publication and printing, it will necessarily accomplish the work better and much more economically. The amount of the printing fund of the Department, though inade |