America's Crop Heritage


experiment station at Garden City, Kansas, where grasses and
forage crops for the Great Plains would be tested.
 Dr. Earle D. Ross has observed in reference to the activities of
the Commissioners in promoting new crops that:
 These persistent efforts to introduce new crops and types of cultivation took
no thought of the operation of comparative costs or of the ultimate effect upon
foreign commerce; and back of each of the ventures were groups of producers
who resisted any attempt to lessen the aid to such alleged sources of national
treasure. Consequently measures to improve and stabilize the fullest established
systems and to secure the best long-time utilization of natural resources had to
compete with those for the new and unproven. (1)
 An important result incidental to seed distribution was the
development of seed tests for quality, germination, the presence
of disease, insects or weed seeds, and proper labeling. Germina-
tion tests came to be used (to learn whether fresh seeds were
adulterated with old stocks) in order to prevent low yields due
to poor stands.

 THE INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGE OF PLANTS
 The policy of exchanging plants and seeds with foreign govern-
ments began during Commissioner Newton's term. In addition to
securing rare foreign plants, it was hoped the program would pro-
mote international relations and an exchange of agricultural
information. Commissioner Capron announced in 1868 that inter-
national agricultural exchanges had been set up with many of the
governments of Europe, Asia, and South America. Arrangements
had also been made to exchange rare agricultural products with
the major botanical gardens throughout the world. The following
year Capron reported that similar arrangements had been adopted
with at least a dozen more countries and botanical gardens.2
 Commissioner Watts continued the system of plant exchanges,
and many valuable additions were made to the Department's
collections. Some of the outstanding contributions came from the
Kew Gardens of London, the Royal Gardens of Melbourne, and
the Imperial and Royal Ministers of Agricultural Affairs of Aus-
tria-Hungary. Such exchanges were often arranged through
 'Among the governments Capron mentioned were Austria, Prussia, China,
Japan, India, Guatemala, British Honduras, Brazil, Bavaria, Russia, and Switzer-
land. The societies and botanical gardens listed were Kew, Melbourne, India
museum in London, Cape of Good Hope Agricultural Society, British museum,
Central Agronomical Society of the Grand Duchy of Posen, Horticultural Union
Society of Berlin, Royal Society of Brussels, Royal Gardens of Madrid, Horticul-
tural Society of Bremen, Royal Meteorological Society of Edinburgh, and the
Agricultural Society of Sydney, New South Wales.