The evening times., 1900-09-27
LITERATURE ON FARMING.
Growth of Agricultural Libraries in
the United states.


the United states.
The publications of the Department of |
| Agriculture have. it is claimed by the
officials of that department. wider cir
| cuiation than aEy other Government pub
| Iications with the exception OF the Con
| gressionaI Record" This statement was
recently made by Charles Fl. Greathouse.
one of the editors in the Division of Pub
/ lications. Mr. GreathOuse is authority
also for the statement that the founding
| of agricultural libraries in this country
was first undertaken by the agricultural
| societies established in several OF the
| States just after the close of the Reyoiu-
| tionary war. These organizations maze
| part of their first work the collection OF
papers on farming, and the publication Oh
them first in newspapers and theh III
| books. The papers and publications with
| exchanges and gifts of similar material
| from learned societies and persons, eoth
in this country and abroad. fornea the
beginning of agricultural libraries Two
of these societies, the Philadelphia ana
! the New York, also projected the estaD-
Iishment of branch societies, and th1ra,
the Massachusetts, society, systematically
promoted the founding OF kindred asso-
Citations similarly supplied with Hpfafies'
The Philadelphia Society for the Promo
ton OF Agriculture. which was estapHsheo
| in 1875 at the seat of government. WIN
Washington and Franklin as members. IN
| 1894 considered the founding OF libraries
throughout the State of pennsylvania
| The country sehoolmasters were TO be the
| secretaries of the proposed branGh or gan
izations and the school houses were TO De
| the repositories of the transactions. mod
| els etc II was however. years feTore
| uxy1r s pr
established and the school house ifpra-
| ries of agricultural books are yet TO come
The Massachusetts Society OF fromot-
ing Agriculture had something OF iipFdfS
in 1877 The society began the publication
, OF agricultural notes and extracts from
agricultural discussions in the Boston
journals in 1898.
; In the South the only agricultural libra
Fy of this period, according to Mr IFeaI-
house. was that of the Winyeh Indigo sos
ciety at Georgetown, S. c. This society
| was founded about the middle OF the
eighteenth century by weII-to-do planters
of that section, whose staple product was
| indigo Their original purpose was ms
cussion of public affairs and OF their ousi-
[ ness interests. In 1755 they secured
: charter, and in succeeding years they
| gathered library OF sucn an extent thae
| it became well known.
In the collection OF agricultural WORKS
the colleges early took leading part
! Bowdofn. Harvard, Yale, Williams. Colum-
( bia. Dickinson, Princeton, the University
OF Pennsylvania. Brown (then the ~! 0n,-
+ | versity OF Rhode Island), Rutgers, VIII
liam and Mary. and other schools Of less
prominence gathered libraries
, Among the notable private libraries OF
the beginning OF the century were these OF
- | Washington Jefferson. Pickering, Living
t ston, and Mitchell. a part Of Jefferson
| books. including many Of those which he
| used in his agricultural investigations. are
| in the Library OF Congress. Jefersen's IN
, | terest in agriculture is best known perhaps
| from his improvement or the pio"' but'
| like Washington, he directed practical op-
| eratfens on his own estate, and his books
Z were a constant aid to him foF the puF-
( | pose.
= = The most important agricultural libra
4 ries in existence at the present time are:
t | Depar tment Of agriculture, Washington, ID
= c.. 1000 volumes; Illinois Board OF Agri-
= culture Springfield. sol: Massachusetts
Horticultural Society, Boston, 2,800; Cam
: bridge Horticultural Society, Cambridge
: Mass . $50: Worcester County Hortieultu-
raj Society Worcester, Mass, LOO; Shef-
, wood Hollow Farmers Club, Binghamton
- V zoo: Board of Agriculture. Column
r bus. Ohio. 1.456: PENNSYLVANIA Agricultural
: Society Harrisburg 1000, Pennsylvania
horticultural Society, Philadelphia, 500
Wfnyah Indigo Club, Georgetown, 5. c., 3
600; Agricultural Library, Montpelier, VT.
300; Agricultural Library Association. Roy
alton Vt $50; State Agricultural Society
Madison Wis. 1.000 The New York Agri-
| cultural College is a part OF Cornell Uni
= yersity at Ithaca, and the books on agri
culture in the main are kept in the uni
versity library. At the University of Wis
} eensin the agricultural library is in Agri
d | cultural Hall, under the general library
: control and numbers nearly 1000 volumes
- Agricultural libraries, now found in manl
I Of -E7a coll F4f T0TGLE
u | belonging TO horticultural societies. breed
y ers' associations ETC. and TO State boards
o Of agriculture.
5. The library of the Massachusetts, Hor
n ticultural Society, formed in 1929, ha
about 10, 600 volumes. It is one Of the mos
IL notable collections On horticulture in th'
lie world. The Pennsylvania Horticultural So
l. | ciety Library. located at Horticulture
IS Hall, Broad Street. above Spruce PhiIadeI
# | phia, was founded in 1927, Il now has owe
$500 volumes, consisting of works on hor
'e ticuiture and agriculture, including all re
" ports of the leading societies Throughout
r the country. The New York Agriculture
"a Society Library was founded in 1892 ant
=, has nearly 5000 volumes. The library 0
- the Massachusetts Board OF Agricultur
contains about 3,200 volumes. many OF ther
]. rare and valuable The library OF the II
le linois State Board of Agriculture wa
l. started in 1853 and now has about 8 90
Id relate to agriculture and kindred indus
l. tries.
re The most important agricultural libra
lie rfes of this country, both from the numbe
2 Of books and the use made of them, ar
IS the collections of the Government, name
n ly the library of the Department of Ag
r rteulture at Washington, the library @
IL | the Weather Bureau at the central offic
at in Washington city, and at the station
he throughout the country, and the agricui
tural books In the Library of Congress
~ The library of the Department of AgTi
tS culture now contains 6S,G00 volumes, i
Is charge of ". P. Cutter, librarian, and
ie corps of assistants. Of these books full
- 75 per cent. are strictly agricultural tn
10 10 remainder are historical, biogra phieal, c
n such documents connected with the wor
: of Congress or the other departments
- are likely TO be frequently in demand.
- The Weather Bureau has 20, 900 volume
OF these 1900 are upon meteoToIogy an
,, climatology, constituting one of the lal
- gest collections of the liind IN the worl
N The accessions are about 1,0G0 annual
- being largely exchanges from metecroloI
ical institutions throughout the worl
The books are constantly in use by Il
scientific corps CT the bureau and are i.
s. sued to employees generally, subject to r.
call when needed.
The Public Library of Chicago has 7 n