6o6 AGRICULTURE. 



for government offices, which stood where the Post-Office build- 

 ing now stands, and fronted on E street, was burned to the 

 ground. In one or two of the upper rooms was located the 

 Patent Office, and its contents were entirely consumed. After- 

 wards, until 1840, the business of the bureau was transacted in 

 rooms appropriated to its use in the City Hall. In 1840 the 

 Patent Office was removed to the building erected expressly for 

 its accommodation, and now occupied by it. 



Mr. Ellsworth was Commissioner of Patents from 1836 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 improvements in the implements 

 of agriculture, and the " aid which agriculture might derive from 

 the establishment of a regular system for the selection and dis- 

 tribution of grain and seeds of the choicest varieties, for agricult- 

 ural purposes." During the administration of John Quincy 

 Adams, the consuls of the United States were instructed to 

 forward to the State Department rare plants and seeds, for dis- 

 tribution, and a botanical garden was established in Washington. 

 Little was done in the collection and distribution of seeds thus 

 authorized, but to the association of this enterprise with the 

 Patent Office in the State Department Mr. Ellsworth was doubt- 

 less indebted for the hint of a more comprehensive system of 

 seed distribution. In 1836 and 1837, the first two years of his 

 incumbency, the commissioner, without legal authorization, re- 

 ceived and distributed many seeds and plants which had been 

 gratuitously transmitted to him. In his first annual report, 

 dated January i, 1838, he called the attention of Congress to 

 the subject, and strongly recommended that provision be made 

 for the establishment, at the National Capital, of a depository of 

 new and valuable varieties of seeds and plants, for distribution 

 to every part of the United States. He further recommended 

 that this depository be made a part of the Patent Office. No 

 immediate action was taken by Congress upon the recommenda- 

 tions, but this neglect did not discourage the commissioner 

 from continuing his self-imposed task of distributing, under the 

 frank of friendly members of Congress, improved varieties of 

 wheat, corn, etc., the beneficial effects of which distribution 

 were fully shown in testimonials from all parts of the country. 



