e engaged the attention of Congress during a
large portion of every session and our statutes abound in provisions for
their protection and encouragement, little has yet been done directly
for the advancement of agriculture. It is time that this reproach to our
legislation should be removed, and I sincerely hope that the present
Congress will not close their labors without adopting efficient means
to supply the omissions of those who have preceded them.

An agricultural bureau, charged with the duty of collecting and
disseminating correct information as to the best modes of cultivation
and of the most effectual means of preserving and restoring the
fertility of the soil and of procuring and distributing seeds and plants
and other vegetable productions, with instructions in regard to the
soil, climate, and treatment best adapted to their growth, could not
fail to be, in the language of Washington in his last annual message
to Congress, a "very cheap instrument of immense national benefit."

Regarding the act of Congress approved 28th September, 1850, granting
bounty lands to persons who had been engaged in the military service of
the country, as a great measure of national justice and munificence,
an anxious desire has been felt by the officers intrusted with its
immediate execution to give prompt effect to its provisions. All the
means within their control were therefore brought into requisition
to expedite the adjudication of claims, and I am gratified to be
able to state that near 100,000 applications have been considered
and about 70,000 warrants issued within the short space of nine
months. If adequate provision be made by law to carry into effect
the recommendations of the Department, it is confidently expected
that before the close of the next fiscal year all who are entitled
to the benefits of the act will have received their warrants.

The Secretary of the Interior has suggested in his report various
amendments of the laws relating to pensions and bounty lands for the
purpose of more effectually guarding against abuses and frauds on the
Government, to all of which I invite your particular attention.

The large accessions to our Indian population consequent upon the
acquisition of New Mexico and California and the extension of our
settlements into Utah and Oregon have given increased interest and
importance to our relations with the aboriginal race.

No material change has taken place within the last year in t