LETTER OF THE COMMISSIONER OF PATENTS, TRANSMITTING The Agricultural portion of his report for the year 1854. FEBRUARY 14, 1855.-Resolved, That there be printed one hundred thousand extra copies of the Agricultural part of the Patent Office Report, with the plates, for the use of the members of the present House of Representatives, and ten thousand copies for the use of the Commissioner of Patents; and also fifty thousand extra copies of the Mechanical part of said Report, for the use of the said members, and ten thousand copies for the use of the said Commissioner. UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE, SIR: Agreeably to the design of Congress, as indicated by the appropriation of the 4th of August, 1854, for the collection of agricultural statistics, and the procurement and distribution of cuttings and seeds, I have the honor to transmit herewith the Agricultural portion of my annual report. I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Hon. LINN BOYD, Speaker of the House of Representatives. Commissioner. PRELIMINARY REMARKS. EXPERIMENTS WITH SEEDS. A considerable share of the money appropriated by Congress for Agricultural purposes has been devoted to the procurement and distribution of seeds, roots, and cuttings. It was believed that in this manner the greatest benefit could be realized, and the intention of Congress most fully complied with. A prime object has been the introduction and naturalization of new and useful vegetable products, hitherto unknown in the United States. Measures have been taken to procure from every quarter of the globe such seeds, plants, roots, and cuttings as would admit of useful and successful cultivation in this country. These, as far as they have already been received, have been placed in the hands of persons most likely to try the experiment fully and fairly. It is confidently hoped that the number of those products which contribute to the comfort and sustenance of the human family may, by this means, be considerably augmented. Many of the experiments made with this view will probably prove abortive; but if, out of the whole number tried, a single one shall have proved as eminently successful and useful as the potato or the rice plant have done, at a former period, or, what is more probable, if many of these new products shall prove capable of successful cultivation, and become useful in a limited degree, the trouble and expense attendant upon making all these experiments will be richly compensated. The advantage resulting from the introduction of a new commodity of average utility for consumption or commerce is of more value to the country than the acquisition of a new province. From the eastern coast of Asia, much may reasonably be expected. Having been heretofore little explored, its peculiar products are almost |