292 The Plant World. 



SEED DISTRIBUTION BY THE UNITED STATES 

 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



By a. J. PlETERS. 



As early as the administration of John Quincy Adams in 

 1825-29, instructions were sent to the consuls of the United 

 States to forward rare plants and seeds to the Department of 

 State for distribution, but no action was taken toward an ap- 

 propriation until 1839 when a bill setting aside $1,000.00 as a 

 part of the appropriation for the patent office, for the " * * * 

 procurement of cuttings and seeds for gratuitous distribution 

 among farmers" became law. The original intent of the law was 

 that the Commissioner, later vSecretary, of Agriculture should 

 attempt to introduce new varieties of plants, such as gave prom- 

 ise of adding to the agricultural resources of the country. The 

 term "new and rare" varieties was used in all the appropriation 

 bills until 1896, but since that time it has been left out. 



The seeds a d plants purchased under this appropriation 

 were sent to farmers and others for testing, but there was no 

 special distribution through members of Congress. Just when 

 this came about has not been ascertained, but the practice of 

 securing names of good men for testing and reporting upon the 

 seeds and plants from members of Congress doubtless grew up 

 naturally, as they were most likely to know the best men in their 

 sections. It was also natural that farmers and horticulturists 

 wishing seeds and not knowing where to apply should appeal to 

 their congressman, who would transmit the request. However 

 that may have been, it is certain that the sending of seeds to con- 

 stituents became very popular with congressmen, and that the 

 practice grew very rapidly, since during the year 1910a total of 

 60,620,000 packets of vegetable and flower seeds were sent out, 

 almost all of them through members of Congress. 



The original intent of the bill was good and a great deal of 

 good was done under the early appropriations. This was true 

 even after the seed came to be sent out through congressmen. 

 During the early years of the work it was due to this free dis- 

 tribution that many valuable introductions of seeds and plants 

 were made. Among them are sorghum, the annual value of 

 which will ran over $40,000,000; Japan rice, worth over $5,000, 

 000 a year to the country, besides the immense increase in the 



