America's Crop Heritage


buckwheat from Japan gave great satisfaction. Because the Japan-
ese variety yields twice the amount per acre and does not blight
from the hot sun, it has been adopted as a preferred variety in
the Northwest.
 Colman directed choice Persian smoking tobacco from the
provinces bordering the Caspian Sea to Florida in 1887. Sumatra
tobacco, jealously guarded by the Dutch, also was procured. The
high prices received for this tobacco caused the formation of a
large company in Florida for producing it. In the 1880's the old
varieties were being replaced by new tobaccos especially adapted
to the needs of the different tobacco growing localities. A new
type of America's own Indian corn, found in Rumania and con-
sidered a superior bread corn, was tested but found unsuitable
for cultivation here. Newton tested Irish potatoes from Great
Britain and other places in Europe, but native seedlings proved
superior.

 FOREST TREES AND MISCELLANEOUS INTRODUCTIONS
 There was no need to import new trees for forestation. Instead
European nations looked to the United States for better forest
trees. As David G. Fairchild explained the attitude of the Depart-
ment in 1898:
 . the United States possesses in its forest flora such a wealth and variety
of valuable species that there is little call for increasing the number, at least in
the forest regions and for the present, when we have hardly yet begun to be
acquainted with the possibilities of our own species and with the necessity of
method in their propagation. (1)
 The Department of Agriculture did import some species, how-
ever, for special reasons. The camphor tree from Japan was dis-
tributed annually after 1862, and around 1889 some 3,000 plants
were being distributed yearly-mostly in Florida and in Texas
where they served as ornamental shade trees. The tree was first
used as a shelter for orange groves in Florida, and later for indus-
trial purposes.
 Growers expected the osier willow, used in basket making and
rough furniture, to become a profitable crop since good quality
willows could be produced cheaply in America. Cuttings of the
osier willow were frequently imported from European countries,
and 45,000 roots and cuttings were distributed in the winter of
1862. A small willow plantation was established in 1889 on the
Department grounds, and furnished in 1891 thirty different kinds