America's Crop Heritage


and trees. These were distributed to ten different individuals in
the eastern part of the country. About the same time, Titian R.
Peale, "Scientist," sent flower seeds from Honolulu to his family in
the United States.
 On November 9 Wilkes wrote that he had shipped aboard the
Lausanne consigned to the Navy agent in New York, seeds and
roots, flower seeds, and "1 box Sandwich Island wheat." Joseph
Drayton, also a member of the expedition, sent watermelon and
muskmelon seeds from Tonga Taboo and the Sandwich Islands to
a friend in New Jersey. Wilkes later wrote:
 I have the honor to inform you that I have sent to New York per ship Lausanne,
one of Wards boxes with living plants from the Figi Islands ... and have requested
the Navy Agent to hold them subject to your orders. . Much time has been
consumed in gathering and preserving these seeds, and it will be a loss of credit
to the Expedition if it should fail to benefit the Country by the introduction of
the many new and valuable plants among this collection.
 The farm papers of the time show that other Navy officers were
sending back seeds of plants expected to be useful to the farmer.
An African maize, reported as an excellent cattle feed (possibly
a grain sorghum), was sent back from the coast of Africa. From
Italy, Commodore Charles Stewart brought back an "Etrurian
wheat." Daniel Zollickoffer, who tested seeds of this new wheat,
wrote the farm papers that it was a superior introduction, and
anticipated that the country would owe its gratitude to Stewart.
 The Wilkes Expedition was not expected to spend all its time
on agricultural objectives, and no instance of a first introduction
can definitely be attributed to its members. Seeds and plants col-
lected were placed for trial with reputable horticulturists. Botani-
cal collections brought to Washington by the expedition made it
necessary to construct a greenhouse in 1842. This later became
known as the Botanic Garden.

 EAST INDIA AND CHINA SEA SQUADRON
 A decade after the return of the Wilkes Expedition, a planter
from Louisiana wrote the Patent Office calling attention to the
degeneration of sugar cane in his state. He suggested that the
situation could be remedied by procuring some seed of new
varieties from a foreign country, through the help of our foreign
consuls and naval commanders.
 The Secretary of the Navy, William Graham, initiated this
work by ordering the East India Squadron to secure sugar cane
cuttings and samples of whatever other plants and seeds they might