PREFACE xix 



Mr. Ernst E. tiessey and Mr. A. J. Pieters, — to organize this promising 

 branch of the Clovernmeut's activities. 



"Over fourteen thousand selected entries appear on the Inventory of the 

 Office, the majority of them representing new or untried varieties, or strains, 

 of species already in America. Agricultural explorers have been sent to 

 Africa, Asia, South America, Europe and the Pacific Islands, and, through the 

 beneficence and keen interest of Mr. Barbour Lathrop, of Chicago, a remark- 

 able tour of reconnaissance of the whole world was made, with the writer as 

 his agricultural explorer, which has established correspondents for the Office 

 in all the most important countries in the world. 



"Every new plant introduced is properly catalogued and numbered, and of 

 every seed or plant sent out to the thousands of ex]3erimenters scattered 

 through the country a careful record is kept for reference in future years. It 

 is fair to say that no government in the world has inaugurated and carried 

 out such a system of systematic plant introduction as that now in operation in 

 this Office. The plan, as here begun, is capable of great extension, and, it is 

 believed, will result in materially increasing the permanent agricultural wealth 

 of the country. 



"To the ordinary mind, the principal i-eason for the introduction of useful 

 plants into this country is to establish in America the profitable plant indus- 

 tries which already exist in foreign countries. The establishment of the 

 Algerian and Arabian date palm in California and Arizona, and the trans- 

 planting of the Smyrna tig industry, are examples of this feature of the work. 

 Through this class of introductions it is expected that the United States will 

 become independent of other nations, in so far, at least, as concerns all the 

 important plant cultures, since within its boundaries are to be found almost 

 all possible ranges of climatic and soil conditions of the globe. 



"There are, however, other objects fully as impoi'tant as the transplanting 

 of new industries, in whicli the work of introduction will play as lai'ge a role. 

 The average American has knowledge of only about a dozen vegetables for his 

 every-day use, and, although the number of species of plants now cultivated and 

 used by the average American farmer is greater than it was ten years ago, it 

 is 5'et ridiculously small when compared with the number that could be grown 

 and utilized. The chief reason why the number of plants upon which we 

 depend for subsistence remains limited lies in the persistent and unreasoning 

 conservatism of taste, which is extremely difficult to surmount. It is against 

 this conservatism that the efforts of plant introduction are directed, and the 

 history of former successful introductions shows conclusively that it can be 



