The Commissionership 1862-89





THE MAIN POINT which boosters of a national department of
agriculture stressed during the 1850's was the great value of plant
introduction work to the nation's agriculture. Farmers, agricul-
tural societies, and periodicals all joined in advocating a separate
government organization devoted to agriculture, and equal in im-
portance to any other department. The Board of Agriculture in
England and similar organizations in France and Prussia were
cited as precedents. Commissioner Holloway of the Patent Office
urged that agriculture be separated from the Patent Office so that
it might become more than an appendage designed "to furnish
members of Congress cuttings and garden seeds to distribute
among favored constituents."
 After more than a decade of agitation for such a measure, Con-
gress established the Department of Agriculture, May 15, 1862.
The Department, as organized, was headed by a Commissioner of
Agriculture. Not until 1889 did Congress give the Department a
Secretary enjoying a seat in the President's Cabinet.
 The act establishing the Department of Agriculture followed
hard on the heels of the secession by the southern states. The new
western states now reaped their reward for siding with the North,
for the Department quickly turned its attention to the agricultural
needs of the West. The Homestead Act and Morrill Land Grant
College Act also became laws shortly after the founding of the
Department of Agriculture.

 AIMS AND METHODS OF THE COMMISSIONERS
 Isaac Newton, a dairy farmer from Pennsylvania, was the first
man to head the new Department of Agriculture. Before his
appointment as Commissioner, Newton had become acquainted
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