The Commissionership 63

 COMMISSIONERS LORING AND COLMAN
 Commissioner George B. Loring of Massachusetts headed the
Department of Agriculture from 1881 to 1885. Loring took only a
mild interest in seed distribution, but continued appropriations
by Congress assured an increase in the quantities sent out. During
1885, a record number of seed packages was shipped out. The dis-
tribution of plants, however, was not under Congress' thumb,
and since Loring devoted more attention to other phases of the
Department's work, plant distribution declined during his term
in office.
 Norman J. Colman served as the last Commissioner and the
first Secretary of Agriculture from 1885 to 1889. His background
as a lawyer, agricultural journalist, and legislator made him well
qualified for the position, and he performed his work with great
credit.
 Colman accelerated the search for new crops and varieties. He
felt that the West needed an abundance of new stocks, and ship-
ments of seed packages more than doubled during his term. Re-
forms in the method of seed distribution were instituted to prevent
the seeds from falling into incompetent hands, and to make certain
that the seeds purchased were of good quality and suited to the
needs of the various climates. A regular program of seed distri-
bution to the new experiment stations established under the
Morrill Act was set up, thus implementing the work of plant
testing on a regional basis.
 In regard to the value of distributions of new varieties, Colman
asserted:
 There are the most ample statistical data at hand in the carefully-kept records
of the Agricultural Department to show that the increased production of wheat,
oats, and other cereals and grasses, has, by reason of the wide distribution of
improved varieties, paid tenfold the entire amount expended by the Department
of Agriculture since it was established.
 Some success was reported in meeting the demands of farmers
for new grasses for summer and winter grazing on the plains. The
Department looked to Egypt, India, and Japan for vegetable stocks
for the arid and tropical parts of Texas and California. There
was a steadily increasing demand for semitropical plants of eco-
nomic value in the southern states. As the olive industry in Cali-
fornia assumed commercial importance, the best European varieties
were imported for further trial. In 1899, a site was chosen for an