Dallas herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1849-1873, 1872-04-06
From the Washington Patriot.l
THE DEPARTMENT OF AG-
RICULTURE.

Some Account of Its Origin, History, and
= Workings It does for the Agri-
!. culture of the Countrywide Operations
o of Its Various Divisions--Its Connection
with Foreign Countries and Its home
. Benefits-A National Tntelligence Of
fce' for the Argriculturist and Ilus-
bandman.
In essaying to present the opo-
ratons and principal features of the
Department of Agriculture of the
United States-which is the pur-
pose of this articlc-wo regret that
the space at our command does not
permit us to avail oursclf of the in
tercsting historical resume Of the
Patent Office and its Commission
ers, and the Department and its
successive chiefs, made by the pres.
sent chief clerk of
THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE,
james NJ. Swank, Esq, and which
is published in the Monthly Report
of the Department for July, 1871.
This account contains many facts
necessary to proper understand
ing of the history of the events
which marked the gradual out
growth of the Agricultural Divis-
ion of the Patent Office from the
operations of tho Patent Office, and
which finally eliminated in the
passage of an act by Congress, on
May Is, 1862. establishing the De-
partment of Agriculture as an in
dependent Department of the Gov
crnmcnt. TO summarize from Mr..
Swank's narrative, we find that to
HON. HENRY l.. ELLSWORTH,
of Connecticut, first Commissioner
of Patents, is the existence of the
Department of Agriculture largely,
although remotely, due. 1t was
through his indefatigable exertions
in behalf of the agriculture of the
country, and his reiterated sugges-
tions, that during his incumbency
of the Office of Commissioner of Pa
tents, Congress was induced to
make an appropriation, in 1889, for
the operations of the Agricultural
Division of the Patent Office. And |
thus was it that an impetus was
given to the supervision and fos-
terng of the agricultural interests
by the Government, which in later
years, with the increase of the i'm
portance Of these interests, was to
result in the establishment ola De-
partment commensurate with the
vast field of labor which is involv-
ed in our agricultural system.
1t was, therefore, during the term
of service as Commissioner of Pa
tents Of Hon. David p. Holaway,
of Indiana, that
TIE ACT ESTABLISHING THE DEPART
MENT OF AGRICULTURE
was passed. The genera! designs
and duties" of the Department were
declared to be "to acquire and diff
fuse among the people of the Uni
ted States useful information on
subjects connected with agriculture
in the most general and compre-
hensve sense of that word, and to
procure, propagate, and distribute
among the people new and valua-
bic seeds and plants" The Presi-
dent was alsoempowered to appoint
q chief executive officcr,to be styled
the "Commissioncr of Agriculture"
who was not, however, although
the head of an independent De
partmcnt of the Government, to be
included among the members ofthe
Cabinet. The first Commissioner
of Agriculture was the Hon. Isaac
Newton, of Pennsylvania, who had
been since early in 1861 the super
intendent of the Agricultural Di-
vision of the Patent Office. Mr..
Newton organized the Department
on a large and liberal scale and in
accordance with the spirit of the
act which had created it. In 1861
the Government Reservation No. 2
of 30 acres (upon which the Dc
partment building now stands) was
assigned to the Department for ex-
pcrimental purposes, and many va
rietics of cereals, grasses, potatoes,
tomatoes, and other agricultural
products were planted Il ere. 9th
or improvements in the way of
geological and mineralogical cabi-
net, additions to the chemical labo-
ratory and to the museum, &c
were made in 1865.
In 1867 Congress appropriated
100000 for the erection of a build
ing for the Department, the rooms
in the Patent Office being found TO
be entirely inadequate for the
transaction of lis business, and
THE DEPARTMENT BUILDING,
fine, ornamental three-story struc-
ture. was commenced in the sum-
mer of that year. In 1867, Com
missioner Newton having died,
Hon. Horace Capron, of Illinois,
was appointed Commissioner. In
1868 the Department building was
finished, and the records and other
property of the Department, 0in-
Guiding the museum of natural his
tory, and other objects which had
been purchased from the entomolc
gist, Mr.. Townsend Glover, in 1867,
for s10,000,) were removed from
the Patent Office building. In 1869
the small botanical collection of the
Department was greatly enlarged
by the transfer 10 It's shelves of the
extensive and valuable collection of
the Smithsonian Institution, which
had been contributed by various
Government surveying and explor-
ing expeditions. In 1870 the large |
conservatory department was COM
menced, and in 1871 it was compile
ted, at cost of $4,000. In 1871 |
Commissioner Capron accepted SER
vice under the Japanese Govern
ment, and resigned his position,
! Al harat