US Presidency
1872

The report of the Commissioner of Agriculture gives a very full and interesting account of the several divisions of that Department the horticultural, agricultural, statistical, entomological, and chemical- and the benefits conferred by each upon the agricultural interests of the country. The whole report is a complete history, in detail, of the workings of that Department in all its branches, showing the manner in which the farmer, merchant, and miner is informed, and the extent to which he is aided in his pursuits. The Commissioner makes one recommendation that measures be taken by Congress to protect and induce the planting of forests and suggests that no part of the public lands should be disposed of without the condition that one-tenth of it should be reserved in timber where it exists, and where it does not exist inducements should be offered for planting it. CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION.