America's Crop Heritage


quested him to establish an exchange of plants between the Royal
Botanic Garden and the botanical garden in America. (4) By
1848, more than 250,000 packages of seeds had been dispersed,
and reports of poor seed germination, which became common in
later years, were being received.
 The Patent Office Reports of 1847-48 indicate that the govern-
ment wanted more information on wheat, especially imported
varieties. Multicole rye was imported from France in 1843 for
trial, and the Commissioner of Patents attempted to get enough
seed of the Mark Lane Express barley from England to distribute.
That same year, the Patent Office planned to distribute seeds of
some very hardy varieties of Hungarian tobacco procured by
Charles L. Fleischmann. The attention of the public was also
invited to a new, successful Turkish tobacco.

 AGRICULTURE UNDER THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
 A Congressional Act in 1849 transferred the Patent Office from
the Department of State to the new Department of the Interior.
With this, the reorganized Agricultural Division of the Patent
Office achieved enough prominence to make a separate Annual
Report of its activities. These reports continued until the work
was absorbed in 1862 by the newly created Department of Agri-
culture.
 The chief concern of the Agricultural Division continued to
be the introduction of seeds and plants. Charles Mason, Com-
missioner of Patents from 1853 to 1857, proved unusually resource-
ful in this work. Mason felt more keenly than his predecessors the
need for a vigorous program of plant introduction. The Report
for 1854 showed that earlier commissioners had allocated a con-
siderable share of their appropriations to the work of plant dis-
semination. But Mason felt that the prime object in expending
this money was "the introduction and naturalization of new and
useful vegetable products, hitherto unknown in the United
States." Mason believed that "the advantage resulting from the
introduction of a new commodity of average utility for consump-
tion or commerce is of more value to the country than the
acquisition of a new province."
 The Report for 1861 reflected the attitude of another com-
missioner who favored plant introduction. D. P. Holloway, who
was also a prominent agricultural editor, spoke out for this work