Leadership of the Patent Office


distribute improved varieties of wheat, corn and other seeds. Dis-
tribution of the seeds was done under the postal frank of friendly
members of Congress. This was the beginning of the congressional
practice of free seed shipments to constituents.
 In January of 1839 the chairman of the Committee on Patents
in the House wrote Ellsworth for information on the collection
and distribution of seeds and plants and the gathering of agricul-
tural statistics. Ellsworth strongly advocated an appropriation for
this work. President Van Buren also recommended the appropri-
ation in order to widen the scope of the Sixth Census by the collect-
ion of agricultural information. Ellsworth's testimonials from
farmers, particularly those regarding improved Indian corn, had
made evident the benefits to be gained by planting better varieties.
The appropriation was passed in the Act of March 3, 1839. (1)
Because it focused Federal attention on the place of agriculture in
our economy, this act led to the establishment two decades later
of a Department of Agriculture.

 WORK OF THE PATENT OFFICE

 During his term as Commissioner, Ellsworth solicited the aid of
the diplomatic corps and the Navy in collecting seeds for the
Patent Office. The farm press recognized him as a benefactor and
credited him with making great efforts to secure new plants. (2)
The original appropriation was duplicated in 1842 and increased
gradually in succeeding years until 1848, when the bureau re-
ceived $3,500 for its annual budget. A tariff act in 1842 further
encouraged plant introductions by exempting foreign garden
seeds from duty. (3)
 The Patent Office Report of 1845 praised consuls abroad for
procuring seeds and information, and requested more funds to
continue purchases. Difficulty in establishing agencies abroad for
the collection of new seeds had hindered the work of introduction,
and varieties frequently had been distributed to parts of the
country where they could not grow.
 A record distribution of more than 60,000 packages of seed was
made in 1847. Some of these seeds were presented by the Minister
of Agriculture and Commerce in France, through the efforts of
Alexandre Vattemare, promoter of international plant exchange.
C. F. Hagedorn, the Bavarian consul at Philadelphia, imported
seeds from his government. The Bavarian Government had re-