The Commissionership 57

the best results. Newton realized that enough land was needed to
enable the Department to propagate forty to fifty thousand plants
each year. Congress did not appropriate money for more land,
however, and later commissioners also tackled this problem
without success.
 Growth of Seed Distribution-The account of the free distri-
bution of seeds and plants by the Department of Agriculture is
parallel to that of the changing motives and aims of plant intro-
duction. Seed distributions came to be abused by members of

 TABLE 1
 SEED DISTRIBUTION BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 1862-89

 Total Annual Total Annual
 Year Distribution Appropriation Year Distribution Appropriation
 No. ofpackages No. of packages
1862..... 306,304 ............. 1876.... 1,520,207 $ 65,000
1863..... 1,200,000 ............. 1877.... 2,333,474 65,000*
1864 ..... 1,000,000 .............. 1878.... 1,115,886 75,000
1865 ..... 763,231 ....... ...... 1879 .... 1,545,739 75,000
1866..... 992,062 .............. 1880.... 1,581,253 75,000
1867..... 1,426,637 ............... 1881.... 1,878,772 80,000
1868 .... 592,398 .............. 1882.. . 2,396,476 80,000
1869 .... 317,347 .............. 1883.... 2,467,230 80,000
1870..... 358,391 $25,000 1884.... 3,622,738 75,000
1871..... 647,321 45,000 1885.... 4,667,826 100,000
1872..... 814,565 45,000 1886.... 4,267,165 100,000
1873..... 1,050,886 55,000 1887.... 4,561,741 100,000
1874..... 1,286,335 65,000 1888.... 4,655,519 100,000
1875..... 2,221,532 65,000 .................

 An additional $20,000 was appropriated for a special distribution of seeds to aid
farmers in the area blighted by a grasshopper plague. Approximately one million of the
seed packages distributed in 1877 were for this special purpose.

Congress, and valuable materials often were sent to persons not
qualified to test them. Increased congressional appropriations for
this purpose were frequently made over the commissioners' pro-
test, and many growers complained that very ordinary seeds were
being distributed. Statistics of distributions indicate in a rough
measure the growing or declining interest in specific new crops and
the local adaptation of varieties. The policy was to test plants in
localities where they might become known for their merits.
Attempts to eliminate the wasteful distribution of varieties of no
particular value led to intermittent retrenchment of the program.
 As mentioned earlier, agricultural journals of the day-which
distributed free seeds of new varieties to subscribers-resented the