22 DiSTRiBUTioisr or seeds and plants. 



SUMMARY. 



(1) The purchase and distribution of seeds b}' the Government, 

 which began in 1839, hiid the foundation for the establishment of the 

 present Department of Agriculture. 



(2) One of the two fundamental duties of the Department of 

 Agriculture, as prescribed in the organic law (sec. 520, R. S.), is to 

 " procure, propagate, and distribute among the peoj^le new and valu- 

 able seeds and plants." 



(3) The Department of Agriculture soon found that it was im- 

 practicable to procure sufficient neic seeds and plants to carry on the 

 distribution authorized annually by Congress and was compelled to 

 purchase increasing quantities of standard varieties of well-known 

 value in order to meet the demand. 



(4) In 189G the law requiring the purchase and distribution of 

 seeds, including vegetable and flower seeds, and the expenditure of 

 not less than a specified sum for that purpose was made mandatory, 

 and in 1898 a specified sum was expressly set aside for procuring rare 

 and valuable seeds from foreign countries, legislation which has been 

 periodically reenacted to the present day. 



(5) Prior to 1898 the procuring of new and rare seeds and plants 

 from foreign countries was carried on in a desultor}' manner, but 

 resulted, nevertheless, in the introduction of a few crops and fruits 

 of great economic importance, crops the value of whose yearly harvest 

 exceeds the entire cost of the congressional seed distribution from its 

 origin to the present time. 



(G) Beginning with 1898, the work of introducing, testing, propa- 

 gating, and distributing new and valuable seeds and plants from 

 foreign countries was systematized and regular exploring expeditions 

 have been organized and sent out to several of the promising fields 

 in different parts of the globe. 



(7) The value of the congressional seed distribution consists in 

 the wide distribution, through Senators and Members of Congress, to 

 applicants in all parts of the country of standard varieties of garden 

 seeds of known value and of the best quality; also seed of improved 

 varieties of cotton, tobacco, alfalfa, clover, sorghum, the grasses, 

 cowpeas, fruits, and miscellaneous plants; and further in encourag- 

 ing the production in this country of seeds, bulbs, and plants largely 

 or wholly obtained from abroad, by contracting with American 

 growers to furnish such seeds and plants for congressional distri- 

 bution. 



(8) The value of foreign seed and plant introduction work con- 

 sists in procuring, introducing, testing, propagating, and distributing 

 new, rare, or little-known seeds and plants from foreign countries, 



[Cir. 100] 



