258 



by coinmittees of both bouses of Congress dnring- tlie early days of tbe 

 Itepubbc, but constitutional and other objections, and the lack of gen- 

 eral interest in an3\ suggestion lor the iuiproveinent of agricultural 

 methods, constantly postponed favorable legislative action. 



To Hon. Henry L. Ellsworth, of Connecticut, son of Hon. Oliver 

 Ellsworth, third Chief Justice of the United States, is the country more 

 indebted than to any other person for the recognition l)y Congress 

 of the claims of -agriculture. Mr. Ellsworth's services date from 183G, 

 in which year he was appointed the first Commissiinier of Patents. The 

 Patent Oliice had been just then reorganized. Owing to its subsequent 

 intimate association with the interests of agriculture, the origin of this 

 oflice requires a brief notice before we refer to Mr. Ellsworth's adininis- 

 tration of its duties. 



The first article of the Constitution provides for promoting the ]iro- 

 gress of science and the useful arts by securing to authors and in- 

 ventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries. 

 This clause is the foundation of our laws regulating copyrights and 

 patents. Up to 1793 the granting of letters-patent was confided by act 

 of Congress to tbe Secretary of War, the Secretary of State, and the 

 Attorney General, the records of patents to be kept in the office of the 

 Secretary of State, and all models and drawings to be deposited there. 

 On the 21st of February of that year the duty of acting upon applica- 

 tions for patents was assigned exckisively to the Secretary of State. 

 The examination of these applications was performed by a single clerk 

 in the office of tbe Secretary, who, in 1821, received the title of Super- 

 intendent of the Patent Office. In 1830 this office was further recog- 

 nized by law, and made the subject of a special appropriation. Oh the 

 4th of July, 183G, it was made a separate bureau of the Government, 

 and the ofitice of Commissioner of Patents was created; In December of 

 the same year, Blodgett's Hotel, a three-story brick building, used for 

 Government offices, which stood where the Post Office building now 

 stands, and fronted on E street, was burned to the ground. In one or 

 t«vo of the upper rooms was located the Patent Office, and its contents 

 were entirely consumed. Afterwards until 1840 the business of the 

 bureau was transacted in rooms appropriated to its use in the City 

 Hall. In 1810 the Patent Olfice was removed to the building erected 

 expressl}' for its accommodation and now occupied by it. 



Mr. Ellsworth was Commissioner of Patents from 183G to 1845, and 

 one of the first subjects which engaged his attention after assuming the 

 duties of the office was the impulse which had been given at that day 

 to imjtrovenients in the imi)lements of agriculture, and the "aid which 

 agTiculture might derive from the establishment of a regular system for 

 the selection and distribution of grain and seeds of the choicest varieties 

 for agricultural purposes.*' During the administration of John QuiiK^y 

 Adams, the consuls of the United States luul been instructed to forward 

 to the State Department rare plants and seeds for distribution, and a 

 botanical garden was established at Washington. Little was done in 

 the collection and distribution of seeds thus authorized, but to the as- 

 sociation of this enterprise with the Patent Office in the State Depart- 

 ment Mr. Ellsworth was doubtless indebted for the hint of a more com- 

 prehensive system of seed distribution. In 1830 and 1837, the first two 

 years of his incumbency, the Commissioner, without legal authorization, 

 received and distributed many seeds and plants which had been gratuit- 

 ously transmitted to him. In his first annual report, dated January 

 1, 1838, he called the attention of Congress to the subject, and strongly 

 recommended that provision be made for the establishment at the 



