IV REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER.

An agent has been employed to visit the tea districts of China, for the purpose of collecting the seeds of the tea shrub, and of other plants; and is instructed to return with them to the United States early in 1859, when he is expected to make choice of localities for their cultivation. This gentleman, it may be stated, was selected as being peculiarly qualified to carry this enterprise into successful operation. He had been previously sent to China, some ten or twelve years ago, by the London Horticultural Society, where he wandered for three years in the interior, collecting seeds and plants, which have proved a great acquisition to the gardens of Europe, and in some degree to those of this country. In 1848, he was employed by the British East India Company to revisit the tea districts, to collect the seeds of the tea plant, and to introduce them into the Himalaya, in which last mission he was eminently successful. It is shown on a subsequent page of the present Report that it has already been ascertained that many portions of the United States, in respect to soil and climate, are well suited to the cultivation of this plant, and that, with improved apparatus, and other appliances of American skill, the leaves can be manipulated, or otherwise con- verted into tea, at an expense less than the actual cost of similar preparations in China, even with the low-priced labor of the Asiatics. From the character of the person selected for this duty, his intelli- gence and experience, as well as the clear understanding he pos- sesses of the desires of this Office, no doubt can reasonably be entertained with respect to the satisfactory discharge of all the duties of his mission; and if success shall attend the vessels bearing the seeds or plants to our shores, a new branch of agricultural industry may be confidently anticipated.

The services of an able chemist have been secured to make investi- gations in the quantitative analyses of the cotton plant and the soils in which it grows, researches on the Chinese and African sugar-canes in reference to the amount of alcohol and saccharine matter contained therein, as well as of the nutritive properties of the Chinese yam, the common potato, chufa, and of Indian corn. The results of these investigations, it is believed, not only throw new light on science, but will prove, on further inquiry, of value in the production and economy of these plants.