62 
FREE IMPORTATION OF ANIMALS, SEEDS, AND PLANTS. 
The following letter to the congressional Committees on Agriculture asking 
the remission of duties which produce little or no revenue, and act only as a bar 
to agricultural progress, will meet with a hearty response from all progressive 
farmers : 
Str: I take occasion, in transmitting the accompanying memorial of the Tennessee Horti- 
cultural Society, for the remission of import duties upon agricultural seeds and bulbous roots, 
to ask the attention of Congress to the importance of removing, as far as practicable, all re- 
strictions upon the importation of living plants, as well as living germs, (or seeds, ) floral or 
agricultural, intended to promote the introduction of new varieties of useful or ornamental 
fruits, flowers, vegetables, or plants. 
I would not ask the removal of one of these barriers, so far as they might relate to food 
supplies or raw products for manufacture, as in the case of linseed and other oil seeds im- 
ported for manufacture, and would avoid the least appearance of fostering injurious compe- 
tition with a single branch of agricultural production, or of attempting to shirk the slightest 
burden of taxation; but the free admission of such seeds and plants as are intended for 
planting and propagation, with the especial design of increasing the variety of our agricul- 
tural and floral wealth, would neither affect injuriously the business of any producer, or re- 
duce to any appreciable extent the revenue derived from customs. 
The imports of foreign garden and agricultural seeds, seeds of flowering plants and bulbous 
roots, for several years past, have been as follows: 
Pepe eehe’ Mile oe ic Bea baw, Cd eu heruss tru Bde Seika . $9,169 
“YR ORGS Dae Pane CR Re MOMMA ORT 76, 227 
"1S 25 pues Leite RL A ae SA UA ae le Ra 42, 216 
ea ee eee OIE FREE ALOT ee eon air Mitel oe ee 140, 169 
Thus in four years the totai value of imports, of all these items, amounts to little more than 
a quarter of a million of dollars; yet the increased cost ot importation, by reason of the cus- 
toms duties charged, is sufficient to deter local societies, with no funds except the voluntary 
contributious of members or others, from the attempt to introduce new plants or seeds of rare 
varieties. 
It is because this spirit of improvement needs stimulation rather than repression in this 
country, and not on account of the pecuniary trifle represented by the duty, that this conces- 
sion is asked. It would be a governmental recognition of a spirit of progress in agriculture 
which would invite renewed efforts for the dissemination of new varieties and promising 
novelties, and thus confer a far greater boon than the mere remission of the duties now 
imposed. 
I have the honor to be, very respectfully, yours, &c., 
HORACE CAPRON, Commissioner. 
Hon. SCHUYLER COLFAX, 
Speaker of the House of Representatives. 
The Commissioner has also sent to the same committees a communication 
favoring the policy of admitting thorough-bred animals, for the improvement of 
farm stock, without duty. The twenty per cent. now imposed, while it produces 
little revenue, acts as a discouragement of importation. Agricultural societies 
and prominent stock-growers have urged the policy of such a concession to an 
awakening spirit of agricultural improvement. An improvement of twenty-five 
per cent. in weight and value of beeves, from the use of foreign thoroughbreds, 
is claimed ; and an equal benefit from the importation of improved merinoes is 
conceded, while a larger infusion of the best mutton blood is now des ired,and 
a finer variety of fine wool is needed. 
The Commissioner closes as follows: “As an additional reason for such 
action at the present time, it should be stated that the Canadian government 
has remitted a similar duty in an order dated December 31, 1867. This, with 
the advantage in exchange enjoyed by the Canadian breeder, works a still 
greater injury to our own improvers of stock. 
‘In view of these and other considerations, I respectfully suggest the pro- 
priety of the early passage of a joint resolution of the following purport : 
“ Be it enacted, &¢., That horses, horned cattle, sheep, swine, and other 
animals, including poultry and birds, when imported by agricultural societies, 
er by private individuals for the improvement of stock, shall not be liable to the 
customs duty eharged upon farm stock imported for other purposes.” 
