USDA Division of Plant Exploration and Introduction Photograph Collection

Plant exploration contributed to the success of American agriculture earlier than the creation of a Federal office for this purpose. Throughout American history, actions and suggestions of many prominent statesmen reflected the now widely-accepted theory that plant introduction activities improve and diversify crops both domestically and abroad. During his appointment as Minister to France in 1784-1789, Thomas Jefferson sent seeds and cuttings of rice, grasses, pepper, olives, and other trees back to the American colonies. While serving in England as an agent for the colony of Pennsylvania, Benjamin Franklin sent back numerous seeds and cuttings of plant specimens.

While plant introduction was certainly an important activity in the colonial and post-Revolutionary War periods of United States history, the Federal government did not directly address this issue until 1819. A circular distributed in that year from the Secretary of the Treasury, William H. Crawford, urged for the collection and transportation of plant materials by consular and naval officials for the improvements of the American farmer. The early collection activities by Jefferson, Franklin, and other consular officials previous to that date may have been the impetus for this circular. A second Treasury circular, issued in 1827 at the urging of John Quincy Adams, again called upon the consular and naval officials for their cooperation. This circular gave more direction for the procurement and transportation of plant materials.

As collection activities progressed under these new guidelines, Henry L. Ellsworth, the Commissioner of Patents, initiated the distribution of plant materials by the federal government in 1836. He began the Congressional Seed Distribution program by taking advantage of the franking (free postage) privileges of congressional colleagues. In 1839, Congress appropriated $1,000 to support the agricultural activities of the Patent Office. This was the first appropriation by the federal government for plant introduction activities. Appropriations for plant introductions continued irregularly until 1847, after which the program was expanded and annually funded.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) was officially established in 1862, and plant introduction activities were specifically mentioned in the law enacted to create it. In 1889, Congress raised the USDA to executive department status. As a result, the Commissioner of Agriculture became the Secretary, and the USDA specialized into divisions of Pomology, Agrostology, and Vegetable Pathology and Physiology, each with its own plant introduction activities. The Pomology division researched fruits and nuts, the Agrostology division specialized in forage grasses and crops, and the Vegetable Pathology and Physiology division pursued studies in crop diseases. In 1897, James “Tama Jim” Wilson became the Secretary of Agriculture and reorganized the USDA to increase and improve functions. In the same year, Niels Ebbesen Hansen was sent on the first official USDA plant exploration trip. Hansen went to Russia and northern China in 1897 to collect cold-resistant fruits and cereals for the Great Plains farmers.

At that same time, David Grandison Fairchild, a former member of the Section of Vegetable Pathology and Physiology, had just returned to Washington D.C. from studies and travels in Europe and Asia. He and Walter T. Swingle, friend and former USDA co-worker, envisioned using resources from the dilapidated Congressional Seed Distribution program for plant introduction purposes. Fairchild, with the assistance of Alfred C. True, head of the Office of Experiment Stations, approached Secretary Wilson with his proposal. The Secretary immediately set into motion plans for the appropriation and the Section of Seed and Plant Introduction, under the leadership of its champion, Fairchild, was created in 1898. This was the first centralized and specialized plant introduction activity of the United States government and first of its kind worldwide.

The Section of Seed and Plant Introduction was initially responsible “to bring into this country for experimental purposes any foreign seeds and plants which might give promise of increasing the value and variety of our agricultural resources,” according to the Annual Report of the Secretary of Agriculture for 1900. The Section was also charged with the distribution of all recently introduced foreign seeds. Established vegetable, flower, and field seeds were distributed through the Congressional Seed Distribution program of the Seed Division. Eventually, changes to the USDA organizational structure incorporated all seed distribution activities within the Section.

The Assistant Secretary of Agriculture initially administered the Section of Seed and Plant Introduction along with the Seed Division. In 1899, the Section was transferred to the Division of Botany and soon became part of the newly formed Bureau of Plant Industry under renowned plant physiologist Beverly Thomas Galloway in 1901. Later, Congressional Seed Distribution and the Division of Botany were both reorganized into the Bureau of Plant Industry which became part of the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) in 1953. Currently, the activities which were charged to the Section are carried out by the Plant Exchange Office of the National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Plant Sciences Institute, Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, and Agricultural Research Service. Although the role of the Section has essentially remained the same, as scientific knowledge and technologies have evolved, so have plant introduction activities. Now the plant explorers acquire, preserve, evaluate, document and distribute crop germplasm in order to improve quality, diversity, and productivity of available crops.

Countless contributions to American crops have been made by the numerous “plant explorers” who have traveled tirelessly since the inception of the original Section of Seed and Plant Introduction. Niels Ebbsen Hansen discovered yellow-flowered alfalfa (falcata) seed, which is an ancestor to many of the varieties available today. Seaman A. Knapp, renowned as the founding father of agricultural extension, brought rice back from Japan and China. Mark A. Carleton, a talented cerealist, visited Russia, Austria and Hungary, and collected cold-resistant wheat and cereals. Swingle traveled through Europe collecting dates. Fairchild himself spent several years (while absent from his administrative position) exploring South America, Africa, and other locales searching for new fruits, nuts, and other potential cash crops. Palemon Howard Dorsett and William Joseph Morse provided samples and records of planting, harvesting, storing, and usage of soybeans from China and Korea. Frank Nicholas Meyer supplied the United States agricultural stage with over 2,500 plant introductions including: Zoysia grass, Oriental persimmon, Chinese chestnut, ornamental plants, and other Asian trees. These early and continued successes of the section of Seed and Plant Introduction resulted not only in admiration within the USDA but renown worldwide.

The Allison Vincent Armour Expeditions

Allison Vincent Armour was a wealthy entrepreneur and patron of agricultural exploration endeavors. In 1923, he proposed an expedition to the Molucca archipelago to David Grandison Fairchild, plant explorer and head of the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Section of Seed and Plant Introduction. Armour would provide the scientifically-outfitted vessel, all equipment, and would take care of all expenses. Fairchild would provide the scientific staff and expertise, such as Palemon Howard Dorsett and James H. Dorsett. From 1925-1927, and again in 1930-1933, Armour, Fairchild, and a wide variety of scientists and acquaintances would traverse Asia, the Pacific Islands, Central America, South America, and Africa in search of new and exotic plant specimens to introduce in the United States.