852 



HORTICULTURE 



June 29, 1907 



NEPHROLEPIS 



Piersoni Erleg'antissima 



Ttie Tarrytown Fern 



A good stock in all sizes on hand at all times. A splendid seller and 

 money-maker. Large specimen plants, ready for immediate sale : 6-inch at 

 75c and $J.OO each; 8-inch at $J.50 and $2.00 each; J 0-inch at $3.00 each; 

 12-inch at $5.00 each; 14-inch at $7.50 each; 16-inch at $10.00 each. Also 

 fine young stock for growing on, 2>+-inch at $8.00 per hundred. 



F. R. PIERSON CO., Tarrytown-on-Hudson, N. Y. 



THE CONGRESSIONAL FREE SEED 



DISTRIBUTION. 



Paper read before American Seed Trado 

 Association by Alex. Forbes. 



What is known as the Congressional 

 Free Seed Distribution is a rare old 

 plant which first saw the light of day 

 in 1839. It was a modest little speci- 

 men when first Introduced. Congress 

 at that time appropriated $1,000 for 

 the purchase of new, rare and valu- 

 able seeds, etc., to be distributed 

 throughout the United States, for the 

 purpose of Increasing the output of 

 agriculture. There was no Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture in those days, so 

 the fund was placed in the hands of 

 the Commissioner of Patents, and as 

 far as can be learned, the distribution 

 was conducted wisely and in accord- 

 ance with the intent of the framers of 

 the measure. 



Dr. Galloway, Chief of the Bureau 

 of Plant Industry, in writing to a 

 Congressman within the past year 

 says : 



**Wben tliis distribution was fii-st under- 

 taken, a great man.v yeart. ago, there is 

 no doubt but tliat it accomplislied much 

 good because at that time the seed indus- 

 try was not as thoroughly organized as it 

 is today. The practice of ordf-ring through 

 the mails from seed catalogues was not 

 then in vogue and it was extremely dif- 

 "ficult for a person living in an isolated 

 locality to secure good garden seeds." 



The Doctor wisely adds: 



"This condition has changed, however, 

 and today it is quite possible for anyone 

 to buy garden seeds of the same varieties 

 ^s we distribute. " 



The appropriation was modestly in- 

 creased by Congress from year to 

 year, in keeping with the expansion of 

 the country, until 1865, when it 

 amounted to $61,000. The distribu- 

 tion remained in the hands of the 

 Commissioner of Patents until that 

 year, when the Department of Agri- 

 culture was organized, with a Com- 

 missioner of Agriculture as its head. 

 The Hon. Jeremiah Rusk was the last 

 Commissioner of Agriculture and the 

 -first Secretary of Agriculture, with a 

 seat in the Cabinet. 



With the exception of the years 

 1867, 1881 and 1882 (when the appro- 

 priation was over $100,000) it rarely 

 exceeded $80,000. In 1885, however, 

 it again reached the $100,000 mark 



and has steadily increased during the 

 past twenty years, until it reached 

 the enormous sum of $290,000 in 1905. 

 So long as Congress kept within rea- 

 sonable bounds, there was very little 

 complaint on the part of the people. 

 Over twenty years ago. there was an 

 effort made by the seedsmen under 

 the guidance of the late James Vick, 

 Jr., to stop this Congressional Free 

 Seed Distribution, but it met with 

 very little success. Not more than 

 five members of the House voted for 

 its discontinuance. Since then, one 

 large house in the middle west at- 

 tempted, single-handed, to fight the 

 distribution, claiming that Congress 

 had no legal right to distribute com- 

 mon, ordinary varieties of garden 

 seeds, when the Act called for new, 

 rare and valuable sorts, — in other 

 words that it was unconstitutional. 



This case, however, was never 

 brought to a test. 



Then, about six years ago, a dele- 

 gation of seedsmen, representing the 

 leading eastern houses, waited on the 

 Agricultural Committee of the House 

 and laid their views before it. After 

 hearing what the delegation had to 

 say, the Hon. James W. Wadsworth, 

 who was the Chairman, informed the 

 delegation that he did not blame the 

 seedsmen for trying to stop this Con- 

 gressional Free Seed Distribution as 

 then conducted, but that as Congress 

 and the majority of the Committee 

 were in favor of it, he could not hold 

 out any hope for a change. 



I was a member of that delegation 

 and well remember that when we got 

 back to the hotel and took up the 

 afternoon papers, we found, to our 

 surprise, that while we were having 

 this interview with the Agricultural 

 Committee of the House, Senator 

 Tillman of South Carolina succeeded 

 in getting an appropriation of an ex- 

 tra $100,000 through the Senate, for 

 free seeds. We felt there was no hope 

 and came to the conclusion that there 

 was nothing for us to do but to let 

 Congress increase the appropriation 

 until the evil became so glaring that 

 it would right itself. 



In the early part of 1906 there came 

 a change. Up to this point, I have 

 stated briefly the origin, history and 



growth of the Congressional Free 

 Seed Distribution. It has cost the 

 country many millions, but so long as 

 it was confined to the distribution of 

 new, rare and valuable varieties, as 

 was originally intended, it performed 

 a useful purpose and was considered 

 well worth what it cost the country, 

 but as it is and has been conducted 

 for many years, it is a ridiculous fail- 

 ure. Never was this more clearly 

 demonstrated than during the past 

 year. 



In February, 1906, the Agricultural 

 Committee of the House recom- 

 mended leaving out of the Appropria- 

 tion Bill the item for free seeds. This 

 was a purely voluntary act on the 

 part of the Committee and was as 

 much of a surprise to the seed trade 

 as it was to the country at large. The 

 Agricultural Committee of the Senate 

 was also in favor of the change. 

 Even the Department of Agriculture 

 endorsed the recommendation of the 

 two Committees. The seed trade 

 thought it was the least they could do 

 to wait on the Agricultural Commit- 

 tee of both Houses and do what they 

 could to strengthen their hands. To 

 this end. representatives of the lead- 

 nig seed houses held a meeting in 

 Washington, D. C, on the fifth day of 

 March, 1906, and appointed a commit- 

 tee with power to act. A fund was 

 raised, and the services of Wm. Wolff 

 Smith of Washington were secured 

 to look after their interests and keep 

 track of what was going on at the 



r 



4000 { 



Geraniums 



S. A. Nutt, Poitevine,White, 

 John Doyle, $6.00 per 100. 



GOOD PLANTS 



BURGESS &GOONEY 



77 Lebanon St., Maplewood, Mass. | 



