The patron of husbandry. (Columbus, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1880-06-19
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nor even 1nnpOruSu lot DIoou pun
poses, except by permission of the
Secretary of the Treasury, after be-
ing subjected to inspection by
Treasury officials. Enlarge the
of the Agriculture De
partment; and many duties which
iegitimately belong to it would be
transferred thiti,er ffohi other De-
partnAetts, to which they are now
assigned, and to which they are to-
tally irrelevant.
In 1889 $1,000 were appropriated
and placed in the hands OF the. Com
missioner of Patents, to be expended |
in collecting agricultural statistics.
In ri this annual appropriation had
grown to $1,000. In 1862 the Ag-
ricultural Bureau was taken from
the Patent Office and, by statute,
enacted into a Department of Ag-
ricultufe, receiving at the same time
an appropriation of $4,000 for its
support during that fiscal year.
From that day until the present time
no annual appropriation for the Ag-
ricultural Department has ever
reached 100000; and until quite re-
Gently the bulk of each annual ap-
preparation was expended in purch-
asing and distributing promiscueus-
lv immense quantities of seeds, often
times inferior te those to be had
| from the most ordinary seed store.
But, Mr.. Chairman, let us not be too
hasty in attaching culpability to
| the Department for this ineffieiency.
The law establishing the Agricul-
tural Department required theCom-
missioner to purchase rare and valu-
| able seeds, and distribute them
among agriculturists. But no soon
er did that law become effective
than every Congressman became a
genuine animated seeddistributor,
and "bulldozing" the successive
Commissioners into submission.
without a vestige of right assumed
the prerogative of scattering these
seeds broadcast over the land. For
twenty five years this system pre-
vailed, converting the Department
into wholesale seed store, conduc-
ted upon a cooperation principle,
at once political and eleemosynary.
Thanks to the energy and persis-
tence of the present Commissioner,
this abuse no longer exists, and
| seeds are now distributed with
| Judgment, and generally to parties
who will benefit and frequently to
those who will improve the seeds.
Tt has doubtless seldom occurred
to gentlemen on this floor what it is
to purchase rare and valuable seeds
and appropriately distribute them
over an area as EXTENSIVE as the
United States. Seeds that are rare
in one section may be common and
valueless in another And when
we remember that there are not two
! consecutive months in the year IN
which there is not both seed-tlme
and harvest within the confines OF
our immense territory, 1t becomes
manifest that the incest Judgment is
necessary both in the purchase and
distribution of these seeds ltmusi
be remembered, too, that seeds oil
the same species, though they ger
inmate and grow luxuriantly, do no.
become equally prolific in all lat
tudes. To illustrate: One kind o.
wheat may yield abundantly IN NJ IN
nesota, but prove total failure II
, the South. And this same grair
(wheat) imported from a toreigr
+ country will frequently fail to fruc
tify upon the same degree of Latitude
, in America. And these results car
. only be proven by experiment. But
+ sir, life is too short, results too pre-
+ carious, and losses frequently too
heavy to rely solely upon the effort
of private individuals to develop b,
: experimental tests the agriculture
t interests of so great a country a
i ours. This labor must be performe'
:. by the Government and then if loss
es occur the injury is not perceived
but if on the other hand success at
tends the effort, the Government
provided with the means of distrib
uting infinitely among its citizen
the result attained whether that re
l. suit be in the shape of acquired in
! formation or of some improved az
:; ricultural product. And who, Nj
Chairman, can estimate the valu
of one such successful experiment
r The importation of few bushels c
= wheat or other grain so pecullarl
adapted to our soil and climate tina
it would in a few years, by prope
: distribution, add a single bushel
- the average yield per acre would b
a revenue to the country only to b
- estimated by millions of dollars.
- am almost warranted in saying thi
has already been done by the ayr
cultural Department, crippled an
:, restrained through it has been fror
i its infancy by lack of approPria
= tons.
8 Thare is another phase to thi
question. Commercial men tell Il
that since 1874 the balance of trad
!. has been in our favor, which simpl
means that for the past few year
!, = our exports have exceeded our In
: ports, and that the gold and silve
of other countries have bee
= brought to America to pay for tia
= excess. During they year endin
e the 3Ist of Dec, 1879, our export
= amounted to $75465o,755 and on
imports $5I3745,740, leaving a ba
ance of trade in our favor of $40
. eI1,oo7. What was it, Mr.. Chair
man, that aggregated this unpara
|; leled amount of exports, an
brought this vast sum of money int