58 



To go back again to the year 1856, lie makes stateiueuts on the sub- 

 ject, in a letter to his cousin, which throws interesting light on the 

 museum scheme. He says : 



I ask $10,000 for the whole, with the proviso that I work six years to finish the 

 grand undertaking of modeling all the fruits, esculent roots, etc., of the United 

 States, and label them with the name, synonym, habit, soil, etc., so as to form the 

 nucleus of a grand National Agricultural Museum. How do you like the plan? 



The difference to Mr. Glover between selling his fruits in 1856 and in 

 1867 was, that before the war he would have received this money in 

 gold, whereas he received it in a " depreciated currency;" and, in ad- 

 dition to the fruit models, gave a collection of 600 specimens of birds, 

 which he had subsequently prepared and brought together, at consider- 

 able expense of money and time, while at the Maryland Agricultural 

 College. Even while connected with this institution, his labors, still 

 In the line of the practical and utilitarian, were directed towards the 

 acquirement of a collection. Mr. Glover was a skillful taxidermist, 

 and was a capital shot, notwithstanding the peculiarity of his eye-sight ; 

 and as he tramped over the adjacent country, caue-gun in hand, using 

 it also as a walking-stick, he doubtless appeared more as a rural gen- 

 tleman than the enthusiastic naturalist that he was. 



In August, 1864, the new museum was founded in the rooms of the 

 recently established Department of Agriculture. At this time ^he 

 models (some 3,000 in number) and the collection of birds above men- 

 tioned constituted the major portion of the cabinet. This was soon 

 augmented by donations, solicited or otherwise, or by occasional pur- 

 chases, and a mass of material was very soon gotten together repre- 

 senting, in one way or another, nearly every portion of the country. In- 

 sects, birds, plants, and botanical specimens, cereal products, fibers, and 

 the products of industrial art and manufacture were all included in the 

 collections, and the museum was fairly established. From this time for- 

 ward, up to and including the centennial year, its growth was steady 

 and rapid. 



Regarding the plan or scheme of arrangement, which was most com- 

 plete in detail, it is not necessary to go into particulars here, as it is 

 fully described on page 27 of the Annual Report of the Department of 

 Agriculture for the year 1866. 



Briefly, the museum was to be embraced in three divisions — a general, 

 State, and economic. The first he was to illustrate by complete series 

 of specimens of each of the various agricultural products from the seed, 

 through all stages of growth and after preparation for human use, up 

 to the highest range of manufacture. In the State division would be 

 shown the classified products of each State and Territory, including 

 minerals, soils, vegetable products, and manufactures; while in the eco- 

 nomic division would be displayed the commercial products of the vege- 

 table kingdom from every portion of the world. It was a grand scheme, 

 but too immense to be fully carried out in the cramped quarters assigned 



