EARLY ENCOURAGEMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 7 



discussiou of direct taxes brought a coiiliict of opiuion between city 

 and country members; also Jefferson opposed the recommendation for 

 a military academy, which was associated with this proposal, on the 

 ground that it Avas not authorized by tlie specific powers delegated to 

 Congress by the Constitution. The friends of the measure feared 

 to allow it to come to a vote, and it was never further debated. 



A similar unsuccessful attempt was made in 1817. In answer to a 

 memorial from the agricultural society of Berkley, Mass., presented on 

 January 29, Mr. Hulbert, chairman of the special committee to which 

 the matter was referred, reported a bill on February 21 for the estab- 

 lishment of a board of agriculture. Tlie bill was committed to the 

 Committee of the Whole, but got no further. Madison's Administration 

 closed on March 4 following, and that time was too near at hand to 

 undertake new legislation of such importance. 



WORK OF AMERICAN REPRESENTATIVES ABROAD. 



But while Congress was waiting for an opportunity for full delibera- 

 tion on the subject, consuls and naval ofhcers abroad were sending 

 home seeds and cuttings for new crops and aiding in the introduction 

 of new breeds of domestic animals. During Washington's last Admin- 

 istration William Eaton, consul at Tunis, sent to Timothy Pickering, 

 Secretary of State, several Barbary sheep. They came by an armed 

 vessel in the United States service, commanded by Henry Geddes. 

 Mr. Pickering presented a pair of the sheep to the president of the 

 Philadelphia Agricultural Society, and from these the breed spread 

 throughout Pennsylvania and adjoining States. 



In 1810, William Jarvis, CJnited States consul at Lisbon, took advan- 

 tage of the Napoleonic wars to secure thousands of Merino sheep for 

 this country. The Spanish noblemen who owned the sheep had up to 

 that time been slow to part with their pure-bred stock, as they had a 

 practical monopoly of the finest grades of merino wool, but when the 

 French armies were destroying the flocks they were glad to sell them 

 to the Americans. Also, Chinese and French hogs were Introduced 

 early in the j)resent century by such aid of American officials. 



During the Administration of President John Quincy Adams direc- 

 tions were given to all United States consuls to forward rare plants 

 and seeds to Washington for distribution, and the Botanical Garden 

 was established. In 1826 Congress authorized the publication of a 

 manual, prepared by Richard Rush, Secretary of the Treasury, contain- 

 ing the best practical information that could be collected on the growth 

 and manufacture of silk. In 1828 Count Von Haggi's "Treatise on 

 Rearing Silkworms" was i^rinted as a Congressional document. Sev- 

 eral valuable reports on the silk industry were also made and published 

 about this time. 



