REPORT

OF THE

C0OMMISSIONER OE PATENTS.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE, Mag 11, 1858.

SIR: Agreeably to the design of Congress, as indicated by the appropriation of March 3, 1857, for the collection of agricultural statis- tics, investigations for promoting agriculture and rural economy, and the procurement and distribution of cuttings and seeds, I have the honor herewith to transmit the agricultural portion of my Annual Report.

The success which has heretofore attended the operations of this Office in collecting and promulgating facts connected with the history, progress, and economy of the principal staples that form the basis of our national wealth, in procuring and disseminating new and useful products throughout the land, and the increase and extension of such as have been of limited and local culture in the different sections, respectively, has practically demonstrated that the expenditures for these objects have been judiciously made, and commends the expedi- ency of continuing these appropriations for similar purposes.

Among the objects of interest which have been under investigation for several years may be mentioned the enlistment, in connection with the Smithsonian Institution, of more than three hundred meteor- ological observers throughout the Union, who have been furnished with appropriate instruments for the purpose of determining the mean monthly temperatures, as well as the extremes of heat and cold, and amount of rain, with other phenomena, at the various stations. In connection with the same Institution, meteorological and geological maps have been constructed for determining the regions which would seèem best adapted for the culture of tea, and other products, as compared with the countries in which they are indigenous.