INTRODUCTORY I / 



his office, of receiving and distributing to farmers through- 

 out the country such seeds, plants and animals as were re- 

 ceived from consular officers or other sources. In his re- 

 port the following year, he strongly urged upon Congress 

 the desirability of creating a suitable depository to care for 

 this increasing business.^^ Two years later, and largely as 

 a result of Mr. Ellsworth's efforts, Congress appropriated 

 one thousand dollars for "the collection of agricultural 

 statistics, and for other agricultural purposes."^^ This ap- 

 propriation, small as it was, marks the real beginning of 

 what has since become a great national enterprise. 



Fifty Years of Development, i 839-1 889 



This meager appropriation made in 1839 was repeated in 

 1842, the amount was doubled in 1844, and, since the latter 

 year, the item, " Collecting Agricultural Statistics," has 

 formed a part of the annual appropriations of Congress. 

 While the collection and distribution of seeds and plants was 

 not specifically provided for in the appropriation, that func- 

 tion and the collection and publication of agricultural statis- 

 tics constituted the chief activities carried on in the interest 

 of agriculture by the federal government for the succeeding 

 twenty years. From 1852, the purchase and distribution of 

 seeds was specifically provided for. 



During the latter part of this period, small additional 

 appropriations were made from time to time for the in- 

 vestigation of special subjects. Such were the appropria- 

 tions of one thousand dollars in 1850 for chemical analyses 

 of vegetable substances,^"* and three thousand five hundred 

 dollars in 1858 for the collection and publication of informa- 

 tion relating to the consumption of cotton in the various 

 countries of the world.^'* The expenditure of these various 

 funds as well as that of the regular annual appropriations 



^■^ 25th Cong., 2d sess., H. Doc. no. 112. 

 " Stat. L.. pp. 353-354- 

 "9 Stat. L., p. 364. 

 20 1 1 Stat. L., p. 226. 



