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AGRICULTURE, BOARD OF
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See also:AGRICULTURE, See also:BOARD OF . The Board of Agriculture and See also:Fisheries, in See also:England, owes'its See also:foundation to the See also:establishment of a veterinary See also:department of the privy See also:council in 1865, when the See also:country was ravaged by See also:cattle See also:plague. An See also:order in council abolished the name " veterinary department " in 1883 and substituted that of " agricultural department," but no alteration was effected in the See also:work of the department, so far as it related to animals. In 1889 the Board of Agriculture (for See also:Great See also:Britain) was formed under an See also:act of See also:parliament of that See also:year, and the immediate See also:control of the agricultural department was transferred from the clerk of the privy council to the secretary of the Board of Agriculture, where it remains. . A See also:minister of agriculture had for years been asked for in the interests of the agricultural community, and the functions of this See also:office are discharged by the See also:president of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, whose See also:appointment is a See also:political one, and may or may not carry with it a seat in the See also:cabinet. The board consists of the See also:lord president of the council, the five See also:principal secretaries of See also:state, the first lord of the See also:treasury, the See also:chancellor of the ex-chequer, the chancellor of the duchy of See also:Lancaster and the secretary for See also:Scotland. The establishment consists of a president, secretary, assistant secretaries, &c. The See also:salary of the president is £2000 a year, and that of the secretary £1500 a year. The Board of Agriculture on its establishment took over from the privy council the responsibilities of the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Acts, besides the comprehensive duties of the See also:Land See also:Commission. The board, through its intelligence See also:division, collects and prepares See also:statistics See also:relating to agriculture and forestry, and in 1904 appointed a number of honorary agricultural correspondents throughout the country for the purpose of bringing to the See also:notice of the board any See also:special circumstances affecting the practice of agriculture, See also:horticulture and forestry, or the transport of See also:farm, See also:garden and fe-est produce in their districts. The land division of the board prepares the See also:annual agricultural and produce returns, and the three divisions, the animals, intelligence and land, take proceedings under the following acts:—the Diseases of Animals Acts, the Markets and Fairs (Weighing of Cattle) Acts, the See also:Sale of See also:Food and Drugs Acts 1875 to 1899, the Merchandise Marks Acts 1887 to 1905, the Fertilizers and Feeding Stuffs Act 1893, the Tithe Acts 1836 to 1891, the See also:Copyhold Act 1894, the See also:Inclosure Acts 1845 to 1899, the Agricultural Holdings Acts 1883 to 1900, the Drainage and Improvement of Land Acts, the See also:Universities and See also:College Estates Acts 1858 to 1898, the See also:Glebe Lands Act 1888, &c. The board also has See also:charge of the inspection of See also:schools (not being public elementary schools) in which technical instruction is given in agriculture or forestry, and institutes such experimental investigations as may be deemed conducive to the progress of agriculture and forestry. The See also:Ordnance Survey of the See also:United See also:Kingdom is under the control of the board, as well as the arrangements for the See also:advertisement and sale of the publications of the See also:Geological Survey. In 1903 the See also:powers and duties formerly vested in the commissioners of the Office of See also:Works, relating to the Royal Botanic Gardens, See also:Kew, were transferred to the board. The various departments of the board are (1) See also:chief clerk's See also:branch and indoor branch of animals division; (2) outdoor branch of the animals division; (3) veterinary department; (4) fisheries branch; (5) intelligence department; (6) educational branch; (7) accounts branch; (8) inclosure and See also:common branch; (g) copyhold and tithe branch; (1o) statistical branch; (11) See also:law branch; (12) survey, land improvement and land drainage branch. In 1903, in pursuance of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries Act 1903, the powers and duties of the Board of See also:Trade under the See also:Salmon and See also:Freshwater Fisheries Acts, the See also:Sea Fisheries Regulation Acts and other acts relating to the See also:industry of fishing, were transferred from that department to the Board of Agriculture, and its name was changed to its See also:present See also:form. The Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for See also:Ireland covers much the same ground. The Annual See also:Report of the Proceedings of the Board of Agriculture under the Tithe and other Acts for 1902 contains a full See also:account of its powers and duties. In the See also:British colonies the interests of agriculture are looked after—in New See also:South See also:Wales, by an under-secretary for mines and agriculture; in See also:Victoria, by a member of the executive council who holds the See also:portfolio of lands and agriculture; in See also:Queensland, by an under-secretary for agriculture; in New See also:Zealand, by a minister for lands and agriculture; in See also:Canada (see; for more detail, the See also:article Canada, See also:Canadian Agriculture), by a minister for agriculture (the various provinces have also departments of agriculture). The See also:government of See also:India has a secretary of See also:revenue and agriculture. Cape See also:Colony has a secretary for agriculture, a member of the cabinet; in the See also:Transvaal Colony the director of agriculture is a departmental secretary; in See also:Natal, the minister for agriculture is a member of the executive council, and the establishment consists, in addition, of a secretary, a director of agriculture, an entomologist, a See also:dairy See also:expert and a See also:conservator of forests. See also:Cyprus has a director of agriculture. United States.—The Department of Agriculture See also:dates its See also:rank as an executive department from 1889. It was first established as a department in 1862, ranking as a See also:bureau, with acommissioner in charge. In addition to the See also:commissioner there were appointed a statistician, chemist, entomologist and See also:superintendent of a propagatory and experimental farm. Its See also:scope was then somewhat limited, but its work was gradually enlarged by the appointment of a botanist in 1868, a microscopist in 1871, the creation of a forestry department in 1877, a bureau of See also:animal industry in 1884 and the establishment of agricultural experiment stations throughout the country in 1887. In 1889 the department became an executive department, the principal See also:official being designated Secretary of Agriculture, with a seat in the president's cabinet. His salary is $8000 -a year. The secretary is now charged with the supervision of all business relating to the agricultural and productive See also:industries. The fisheries have a See also:separate bureau, and the public lands and See also:mining interests are cared for in the Department of the Interior; but with these exceptions, all the productive interests are looked after by the Department of Agriculture. The department now comprises (1) the See also:weather bureau, which has charge of the forecasting of weather; the issue of See also:storm warnings; the display of weather and See also:flood signals for the benefit of agriculture, See also:commerce and See also:navigation; the gauging and See also:reporting of See also:rivers; the reporting of temperature and See also:rain-fall conditions for the See also:cotton, See also:rice, See also:sugar and other interests; the display of See also:frost and See also:cold waves signals; and the See also:distribution of meteorological See also:information in the See also:interest of agriculture and commerce; (2) the bureau of animal industry, which makes investigations as to the existence of contagious pleuro-See also:pneumonia and other dangerous and communicable diseases of live stock, superintends the See also:measures for their extirpation, makes See also:original investigations as to the nature and prevention of such diseases, and reports on the conditions and means of improving the animal industries of the country; (3) the bureau of plant industry, which studies plant See also:life in all its relations to agriculture. Its work is classified under the See also:general subjects of pathological investigations, physiological investigations, taxonomic investigations, agronomic investigations, horticultural investigations and See also:seed and plant introduction investigations; (4) the See also:forest service, which is occupied with experiments, investigations and reports dealing with the subject of forestry, and with the dissemination of information upon forestry matters; (5) the bureau of See also:chemistry, which investigates methods proposed for the See also:analysis of See also:plants, fertilizers and agricultural products, and makes such analyses as pertain in general to the interests of agriculture; (6) the bureau of soils, which is entrusted with the investigation, survey and See also:map-ping of soils; the investigation of the cause and prevention of the rise of See also:alkali in the See also:soil and the drainage of soils; and the investigation of the methods of- growing, curing and See also:fermentation of See also:tobacco in the different tobacco districts; (7) the bureau of See also:entomology, which obtains and disseminates information regarding See also:insects injurious to vegetation; (8) the bureau of biological survey, which studies the geographic distribution of animals and plants, and- maps the natural life zones of the country; it also investigates the economic relations of birds and mammals, and recommends measures for the preservation of beneficial, and the destruction of injurious, See also:species; (g) the division of accounts and disbursements; (to) the division of publications; (II) the bureau of statistics, which collects information as to the See also:condition, prospects and harvests of the principal crops, and of the number and status of farm animals. It records, tabulates and co-ordinates statistics of agricultural See also:production, distribution and See also:consumption, and issues monthly and annual See also:crop reports for the information of producers and consumers. The See also:section of See also:foreign markets makes investigations and disseminates information concerning the feasibility of extending the demands of foreign markets for the agricultural products of the United States; the bureau also makes investigations of land tenures, cost of producing farm products, country life See also:education, transportation and other lines of rural economies; (12) the library; (13) the office of experiment stations which represents the department in its relations to the experiment stations" which are now in operation in all the states; it collects and disseminates general information regarding agricultural schools, colleges, stations, and publishes accounts of agricultural investigations at See also:home and abroad; it also indicates lines of inquiry for the stations, See also:aids in the conduct of co-operative experiments, reports upon their expenditures and work, and in general furnishes them with such See also:advice and assistance as will best promote the purposes for which they were established; it conducts investigations relative to See also:irrigation and drainage; (14) the office of public roads, which collects information concerning systems of road management, conducts investigations regarding the best method of road-making, and prepares publications on this subject. In the following countries there are state departments of agriculture:—Argentina, See also:Belgium, See also:Brazil, (industry, agriculture and public works), See also:Bulgaria (commerce and agriculture), See also:Denmark, See also:France, See also:Norway (agriculture and public accounts), See also:Italy, See also:Japan (agriculture and commerce), See also:Prussia (agriculture, See also:woods and forests), See also:Russia (agriculture and See also:crown domains), See also:Sweden. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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