702 EXPEEIMENT STATION EECOED. 



sonian Institution, and information on many agricultural subjects i 

 was published in the annual reports. In this period the principle 

 was gradually established of governmental promotion of agriculture, 

 not only through the distribution of seeds, but through the employ- 

 ment of science. 



With the coming of Lincoln's administration a plan was put 

 forward by David P. Holloway, Conunissioner of Patents, for the 

 creation of " a department of the productive arts." Congress adopted 

 a portion of the commissioner's plan and established a department 

 of agriculture. President Lincoln signing the act May 15, 1862. The 

 new department was formally organized on July first of that year, 

 in the rooms of the Patent Office previously occupied by the agri- 

 cultural division ; and on the following day, July 2, President Lincoln 

 signed the Morrill Act. 



Thus it came about that the provision of a national agency for 

 agriculture and of federal aid for the establishment of agricultural 

 education, both of which had long been urged, were realized at the 

 same time, and at a time when the country was in the midst of its 

 mighty struggle for union. It is worthy of note also that on May 20 

 of that year President Lincoln set his approval on the Homestead Act, 

 culminating an agitation for the settling of the public lands which 

 had been a national issue for ten years previous. It is remarkable 

 that these three events, which have been of such fundamental impor- 

 tance to the agriculture of this country, should all have been culmi- 

 nated within a period of less than six weeks. 



From these small and uncertain beginnings, there has resulted in 

 the period of fifty years since the Department of Agriculture was 

 formally established an organization for the administration of law, 

 prosecution of research, and the collection and dissemination of 

 knowledge " the like of which is unknown in any other country or 

 any other time." 



The history of the rise of the Department through successive com- < 

 missioners and secretaries, its elevation to the first rank in the 

 executive branch of the Government in 1888, and its present magni- 

 tude and scope, were sketched in the interesting address of Dr. A. C. 

 True at the Atlanta convention of the Association of American Agri- 

 cultural Colleges and Experiment Stations in November. It was 

 the only observance of this important anniversary. Anniversaries of 

 events of far less import to the American people have been obsers^ed 

 in a national way, in a manner to draw public attention to them and 

 emphasize their epoch-making character. 



Appreciation of the Department's work and position has come 

 mainly in quite recent years. Until then it was known to many as 

 an agency for the distribution of free seeds, and it had little standing 

 as an institution for agricultural investigation. Its larger gi'owth 



