HUNTIA A Journal of Botanical History

Volume 14 Number 1 2009

Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation Carnegie Mellon University

Pittsburgh The Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, a research division of Carnegie Mellon University, specializes in the history of botany and all aspects of plant science and serves the international scientific community through research and documentation. To this end, the Institute acquires and maintains authoritative collections of books, plant images, manuscripts, portraits and data files, and provides publications and other modes of information service. The Institute meets the reference needs of botanists, biologists, historians, conservationists, librarians, bibliographers and the public at large, especially those concerned with any aspect of the North American flora.

Huntia publishes articles on all aspects of the history of botany, including exploration, art, literature, biography, iconography and bibliography. The journal is published irregularly in one or more numbers per volume of approximately 200 pages by the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation. External contributions to Huntia are welcomed. Page charges have been eliminated. All manuscripts are subject to external peer review. Before submitting manuscripts for consideration, please review the “Guidelines for Contributors” on our Web site. Direct editorial correspondence to the Editor. Send books for announcement or review to the Book Reviews and Announcements Editor. The subscription rate is $60.00 per volume. Send orders for subscriptions and back issues to the Institute. Hunt Institute Associates may elect to receive Huntia as a benefit of membership; contact the Institute for more information.

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Editor and layout Scarlett T. Townsend Book Reviews and Announcements Editor Charlotte A. Tancin Associate Editors T. D. Jacobsen Angela L. Todd Frederick H. Utech James J. White Designer lugene B. Bruno Photographer Frank A. Reynolds

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© 2009 Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation All Rights Reserved

ISSN 0073-4071 Huntia 14(1) 2009 Agricultural explorers of the USDA’s Bureau of Plant Industry, 1897–1955

Walter H. Hodge and Angela L. Todd

Abstract The United States Department of Agriculture features Hodge’s lists of agricultural explorers employed (USDA) was initiated in 1862 as a presidential- in the foreign field by the USDA between 1897 and level response to pressures from farmers, state-level 1955. Following this paper is the first (Aaron Aaronsohn agricultural societies, westward-moving settlers and to William Basil Fox) in a series of biographies of the agricultural merchandisers. Agronomist Carleton agricultural explorers, with accompanying photographs, Ball (1873–1958) characterized four periods of USDA named in Hodge’s lists. development (1862–1887, 1888–1912, 1913–1932 and 1933–1962) that correlate to the time period covered by the agricultural explorers named in former USDA Introduction employee Walter H. Hodge’s lists, which are given in Tables 1 and 2. Biologist Walter H. Hodge worked for the At the turn of the last century B. T. Galloway National Science Foundation (NSF) from (1863–1938) and E. F. Smith (1854–1927) helped draft 1966 to 1970. During that time, George H. the legislation that created the USDA’s Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI), the department that covered plants M. Lawrence (1910–1978), Hunt Botanical and plant industry research activities, including pest Library’s founding director, surprised the control as well as cultivation and storage of plants and plantsman when without warning he walked plant products. The BPI started operations in 1901 with into Hodge’s Tokyo office. Lawrence knew an overall goal to unify the plant departments and to reduce duplications of efforts, competition for funds of Hodge’s hobby of photographing plants for and administrative costs. The BPI’s first decade was one teaching purposes and proposed that Hodge of regular expansion with subsequent years focused on take informal portraits of botanists since his organizing and reorganizing explorations and national regular job involved visiting NSF grantees plant introductions. Sturdy pests, fragile seedlings and significant peril to people factored into the tenuousness at their places of work. Hodge was reticent of BPI successes, which at any rate could only be at the offer and pointed out that plants never determined over successive plant generations. In 1943 the argued about being photographed. Lawrence BPI was reorganized and renamed the Bureau of Plant proved to be convincing, and over the years Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engineering (BPISAE). The BPISAE ceased to exist formally as a separate bureau Hodge, the well-traveled and widely employed in 1953 when it was combined with other bureaus to biologist and photographer, has sold or donated form the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS). thousands of photographs, as well as his own Nonetheless, the benefits gleaned from the BPI’s early professional and personal correspondence and explorers and the plants they sent home continue to grow. This paper gives histories of the USDA’s plant projects research, to the Archives of the now Hunt and government-sponsored plant exploration and Institute for Botanical Documentation. When Hodge contacted the Hunt Institute in 2003 Pensacola, FL 32514 USA [WHH] with his lists of USDA Bureau of Plant Industry Archives, Hunt Institute for Botanical foreign field explorers, it offered a great Documentation, Carnegie Mellon University, opportunity to showcase some of his portraits Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890 USA Email: of botanists. The agricultural explorers listed [email protected] [ALT] in the tables that follow worked abroad for the 23 24 Huntia 14(1) 2009

Bureau of Plant Industry’s plant introduction alert plant scientists throughout the country to program, which underwent various name the USDA’s current activity through updated changes that are discussed on page 34, during historical accounts, which appeared in two the years 1897–1955 or roughly the first half publications, Advances in Agronomy (Hodge century of its operation. Table 1 is a list of the and Erlanson 1956b) and, a more general countries, arranged alphabetically, where they one for all economic botanists, Economic explored for plant material while Table 2 is a Botany (Hodge and Erlanson 1956a). Hodge’s list of the explorers arranged chronologically original thought as co-author with Erlanson by year of their USDA travels. Ever since their was to have the lists published as appendices compilation in 1955 Hodge has felt that these to their articles, but Erlanson indicated that lists should be made available. Publishing there were inadequacies or errors that had Hodge’s lists in an updated format with to be corrected. However, Hodge still felt modernized geographical names also affords that they should be published along with an the Hunt Institute Archives an opportunity explanatory paragraph stating the problem to highlight our wide-ranging biographical and how the reader could verify whether any assets. As a repository of alternate resort, the listed individual had actually collected plants Hunt Institute Archives serves as a disciplinary on assignment. All plant introductions were safety net for archival collections that may inventoried at the time they were received by not have an obvious home. Such collections USDA staff and assigned a plant introduction include: a clutch of correspondence regarding number (P.I. No.) along with collecting data the granting of an award or designing of a supplied by the collector and his name. In due medal or stamp; files unclaimed by a surviving course Plant Inventories were published as part spouse, university archive or professional of the Bulletin, Bureau of Plant Industry, United successor; or documents generated by someone States Department of Agriculture through 1913 so widely employed (like Hodge) that there and then as a separate publication, Inventory simply is not one good place to keep the of Seeds and Plants Imported by the Office of collection intact. Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction, United States Walter H. Hodge’s investment in seeing Department of Agriculture, through 1924 and the culmination of his historical project on then as Inventory, United States Department of agricultural explorers spans decades and began Agriculture through 1937. Any listed USDA while he was employed as senior botanist plant explorer’s collections would have been (1950–1952) for the BPI’s Division of Plant published eventually in an inventory a year or Exploration and Introduction and then two following his exploration; if no collections principal botanist and assistant head (1953– appeared, then he was incorrectly listed or 1955) for the Section of Plant Introduction (the was abroad for some other purpose, such as Division was renamed in 1953) in Beltsville, participating in an international scientific Maryland. Carl Erlanson (1901–1975), head meeting. Hodge doubted that there were few, of the Section of Plant Introduction at the if any, of the latter listed and believed that time, kept an informal list of explorations and there were no omissions during his time with explorers primarily used for internal office Erlanson’s office. Had Hodge remained with reference at the USDA. Hodge updated and the office — and he was scheduled to move separated this list and added the geographical up as the next head of the Section of Plant locations where explorations were conducted. Introduction — the project would have been At the same time it was deemed worthwhile to developed further, but he was offered a position (continued on p. 28) Hodge & Todd: Agricultural explorers 25

Table 1. Countries in which agricultural exploration has been undertaken by explorers of the BPI’s plant introduction program, 1897–1955

Note: All place names have been reformatted and updated to reflect contemporary names and politics from R. K. Brummitt’s World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, ed. 2 (2001) and Merriam Webster’s Geographical Dictionary, ed. 3 (1997) when possible. However, we have retained country names whereas Brummitt listed regions or provinces. Also, if Brummitt and the Geographical Dictionary used different names, we have included both. Names in parentheses are from Hodge’s original lists but are no longer used.

Afghanistan Belgium Cameroon Colombia Gentry, H. S. Bolley, H. L. Baldwin, J. T. Jr. Archer, W. A. Smith, E. E. Carleton, M. A. Fairchild, D. Blood, H. L. Fairchild, D. Schultz, F. W. Fairchild, D. Albania Hougas, R. W. Popenoe, F. W. Fairchild, D. Meyer, F. N. Canada Stadelman, R. Swingle, W. T. Knapp, S. A. Tremelling, L. Algeria Tracey, J. E. W. Meyer, F. N. Bessey, E. A. Ryerson, K. A. Costa Rica Bioletti, F. T. Belize (British Collins, G. N. Fairchild, D. Honduras) Canary Islands Polhamus, L. G. Harlan, H. V. Cook, O. F. Bioletti, F. T. Popenoe, F. W. Kearney, T. H. Fairchild, D. Schubert, B. G. Means, T. H. Benin (Dahomey) Schultz, F. W. Ryerson, K. A. Baldwin, J. T. Jr. Crete and Kriti Scofield, C. S. Chile Fairchild, D. Swingle, W. T. Bioko (Fernando Po) Beetle, A. A. Tracey, J. E. W. Fairchild, D. Blood, H. L. Czechoslovakia Westover, W. L. Schultz, F. W. Erlanson, C. O. Carleton, M. A. Fairchild, D. Mann, A. Argentina Bolivia Goodspeed, T. H. Westover, W. L. Archer, W. A. Blood, H. L. MacMillan, H. G. Beetle, A. A. Erlanson, C. O. Popenoe, F. W. Denmark Blood, H. L. Hartley, W. Smith, E. E. Carleton, M. A. Fairchild, D. MacMillan, H. G. Tremelling, L. Dorsett, P. H. Goodspeed, T. H. Popenoe, F. W. Wight, W. F. Erlanson, C. O. Hartley, W. Smith, E. E. Fairchild, D. Stephens, J. L. Stephens, J. L. China Hansen, N. E. Tremelling, L. Tremelling, L. Dorsett, P. H. Hougas, R. W. Wight, W. F. Fairchild, D. Mann, A. Austria Knapp, S. A. Scofield, C. S. Bessey, E. A. Brazil Liu, P. Tracey, J. E. W. Bolley, H. L. Archer, W. A. MacMillan, H. G. Whitehouse, W. E. Carleton, M. A. Beetle, A. A. McClure, F. A. Mann, A. Dorsett, P. H. Meyer, F. N. Djibouti (French Rock, J. F. Hartley, W. Morse, W. J. Somaliland) Swingle, W. T. Popenoe, F. W. Norton, J. B. Harlan, H. V. Westover, W. L. Shamel, A. D. Piper, C. V. Stephens, J. L. Reimer, F. C. Ecuador Balearic Islands Rock. J. F. Archer, W. A. and Baleares Bulgaria Roerich, G. N. de Blood, H. L. Fairchild, D. Carleton, M. A. Roerich, N. C. de Fairchild, D. Swingle, W. T. Stephens, J. L. Mexia, Y. 26 Huntia 14(1) 2009

Popenoe, F. W. Ethiopia Tracey, J. E. W. Koelz, W. N. Stadelman, R. Archer, W. A. Westover, W. L. Piper, C. V. Tremelling, L. Harlan, H. V. Whitehouse, W. E. Rock, J. F. Stephens, J. L. Egypt Ghana (Gold Coast) Iran (Persia) Aaronsohn, A. Finland Baldwin, J. T. Jr. Fairchild, D. Fairchild, D. Fairchild, D. Fairchild, D. Gentry, H. S. Harlan, H. V. Hansen, N. E. Schultz, F. W. Smith, E. E. Kearney, T. H. Tracey, J. E. W Whitehouse, W. E. Mason, S. C. Guatemala Means, T. H. France Collins, G. N. Iraq Piper, C. V. Bolley, H. L. Cook, O. F. Whitehouse, W. E. Rock, J. F. Carleton, M. A. Fairchild, D. Shantz, H. L. Fairchild, D. Gentry, H. S. Ireland Swingle, C. F. Harland, H. V. Kearney, T. H. Boyle, H. H. Hougas, R. W. Kempton, J. H. Morrison, B. Y. El Salvador Kearney, T. H. Manning, C. W. Collins, G. N. Kephart, L. W. Norvell, O. W. Italy Fairchild, D. Lake, E. R. Popenoe, F. W. Carleton, M. A. Gentry, H. S. Means, T. H. Ware, J. O. Fairchild, D. Kearney, T. H. Meyer, F. N. Mason, S. C. Kempton. J. H. Morrison, B. Y. Greece Piper, C. V. Norvell, O. W. Piemeisel, R. L. Fairchild, D. Rock, J. F. Popenoe, F. W. Rock, J. F. Swingle, W. T. Ryerson, K. A. Ryerson, K. A. Scofield, C. S. England Schultz, F. W. Guinea (French Swingle, W. T. Bioletti, F. T. Scofield, C. S. Guinea) Tracey, J. E. W. Bessey, E. A. Shantz, H. L. Fairchild, D. Westover, W. L. Bolley, H. L. Shear, C. L. Schultz, F. W. Boyle, H. H. Swingle, C. F. Ivory Coast Carleton, M. A. Swingle, W. T. Guyana (British Baldwin, J. T. Jr. Erlanson, C. O. Tracey, J. E. W. Guiana) Fairchild, D. Westover, W. L. Archer, W. A. Japan Hansen, N. E. Whitehouse, W. E. Creech, J. L. Harlan, H. V. Honduras Dorsett, P. H. Hougas, R. W. Gambia Collins, G. N. Fairchild, D. Keamey, T. H. Fairchild, D. Fairchild, D. Hansen, N. E. Kephart, L. W. Schultz, F. W. Gentry, H. S. Knapp, S. A. Lake, E. R. Kearney, T. H. MacMillan, H. G. Mann, A. Germany Norvell, O. W. McClure, F. A. Means, T. H. Bessey, E. A. Popenoe, F. W. Meyer, F. N. Meyer, F. N. Bolley, H. L. Morse, W. J. Morrison, B. Y. Carleton, M. A. Hungary Norton, J. B. Piemeisel, R. L. Erlanson, C. O. Bolley, H. L. Reimer, F. C. Rock, J. F. Fairchild, D. Carleton, M. A. Rock, J. F. Ryerson, K. A. Hansen, N. E. Swingle, W. T. Roerich, G. N. de Scofield, C. S. Hougas, R. W. Westover, W. L. Roerich, N. C. de Shantz, H. L. Lake, E. R. Stephens, J. L. Shear, C. L. Mann, A. India Tull, J. H. Swingle, C. F. Meyer, F. N. Fairchild, D. Tracey, J. E. W. Morrison, B. Y. Gentry, H. S. Java and Jawa Westover, W. L. Scofield, C. S. Harlan, H. V. Dorsett, P. H. Whitehouse, W. E. Swingle, W. T. Knapp, S. A. Fairchild, D. Piper, C. V. Hodge & Todd: Agricultural explorers 27

Kenya Kearney, T. H. Pakistan (Pakistan West) Fairchild, D. Kephart, L. W. Kempton, J. H. Gentry, H. S. Schulz, F. W. Piemeisel, R. L. Knapp, S. A. Smith, E. E. Westover, W. L. Shantz, H. L. Manning, C. W. Stephens, J. L. Norvell, O. W. Panama (Panama Canal Romania Ogden, E. C. Zone, Canal Zone) Carleton, M. A. Korea Onderdonk, G. Collins, G. N. Dorsett, P. H. Reddick, D. Erlanson, C. O. Russia (U. S. S. R.) Meyer, F. N. Rolfs, P. H. Fairchild, D. Bessey, E. A. Morse, W. J. Russell, P. Kearney, T. H. Bolley, H. L. Reimer, F. C. Shamel, A. D. Kempton, J. H. Carleton, M. A. Souviron, M. J. Polhamus, L. G. Enlow, C. R. Liberia Ware, J. O. Popenoe, F. W. Hansen, N. E. Baldwin, J. T. Jr. Schubert, B. G. Meyer, F. N. Fairchild, D. Morocco Tracey, J. E. W. Schultz, F. W. Bioletti, F. T. Panama Westover, W. L. Fairchild, D. Collins, G. N. Whitehouse, W. E. Libya Ryerson, K. A. Fairchild, D. Fairchild, D. Westover, W. L. Kearney, T. H. Scotland Kempton, J. H. Boyle, H. H. Madagascar Mozambique Hougas, R. W. Swingle, C. F. Fairchild, D. Paraguay Morrison, B. Y. Kephart, L. W. Archer, W. A. Malawi (Nyasaland) Piemeisel, R. L. Beetle, A. A. Senegal Hodge, W. H. Shantz, H. L. Hartley, W. Fairchild, D. Stephens, J. L. Schultz, F. W. Malaya Myanmar (Burma) Dorsett, P. H. Rock, J. F. Peru Sicily and Sicilia Fairchild, D. Blood, H. L. Fairchild, D. Knapp, S. A. Nicaragua Erlanson, C. O. Kearney, T. H. Piper, C. V. Norvell, O. W. Fairchild, D. Ryerson, K. A. Rock, J. F. Goodspeed, T. H. Swingle, W. T. Nigeria Mexia, Y. Manchuria Baldwin, J. T. Jr. Popenoe, F. W. Sierra Leone Dorsett, P. H. Smith, E. E. Fairchild, D. MacMillan, H. G. Netherlands Stadelman, R. Schultz, F. W. Meyer, F. N. Bolley, H. L. Tremelling, L. Morse, W. J. Fairchild, D. Wight, W. F. South Africa (Union of Reimer, F. C. Harlan, H. V. South Africa) Roerich, G. N. de Hougas, R. W. Philippines Fairchild, D. Roerich, N. C. de Mann, A. Boyle, H. H. Godfrey, R. K. Stephens, J. L. Meyer, F. N. Knapp, S. A. Hodge, W. H. Morrison, B. Y. Kephart, L. W. Mexico Ryerson, K. A. Poland Piemeisel, R. L. Archer, W. A. Scofield, C. S. Bessey, E. A. Shantz, H. L. Baldwin, J. T. Jr. Tracey, J. E. W. Bolley, H. L. Stephens, J. L. Collins, G. N. Carleton, M. A. Cook, O. F. Norway Hansen, N. E. Spain Correll, D. S. Dorsett, P. H. Tracey, J. E. W. Bioletti, F. T. Erlanson, C. O. Erlanson, C. O. Westover, W. L. Fairchild, D. Fairchild, D. Hansen, N. E. Harlan, H. V. Fox, W. B. Tracey, J. E. W. Portugal Ryerson, K. A. Gentry, H. S. Whitehouse, W. E. Bioletti, F. T. Westover, W. L. Gilly, C. L. 28 Huntia 14(1) 2009

Sri Lanka (Ceylon) Hansen, N. E. Tunisia West Indies Dorsett, P. H. Hougas, R. W. Bioletti, F. T. Collins, G. N. Fairchild, D. Mann, A. Fairchild, D. Cook, O. F. Knapp, S. A. Scofield, C. S. Harlan, H. V. Correll, D. S. Koelz, W. N. Tracey, J. E. W. Kearney, T. H. Fairchild, D. Piper, C. V. Whitehouse, W. E. Means, T. H. Kearney, T. H. Rock, J. F. Ryerson, K. A. Kempton, J. H. Switzerland Swingle, W. T. Knapp, S. A. Sudan (Anglo-Egyptian Carleton, M. A. Tracey, J. E. W. Miller, J. C. Sudan) Fairchild, D. Westover, W. L. Popenoe, F. W. Harlan, H. V. Lake, E. R. Rolfs, P. H. Mason, S. C. Ryerson, K. A. Turkey Schubert, B. G. Shantz, H. L. Scofield, C. S. Carleton, M. A. Shamel, A. D. Tracey, J. E. W. Enlow, C. R. Sumatra and Sumatera Westover, W. L. Fairchild, D. Yugoslavia Dorsett, P. H. Whitehouse, W. E. Godfrey, R. K. Carleton, M. A. Fairchild, D. Harlan, J. R. Fairchild, D. Tanzania Swingle, W. T. Swingle, W. T. Suriname (Dutch (Tanganyika) Wellman, F. L. Guiana) Kephart, L. W. Westover, H. L. Zambia (Northern Archer, W. A. Piemeisel, R. L. Rhodesia) Shantz, H. L. Uruguay Hodge, W. H. Swaziland Stephens, J. L. Archer, W. A. Stephens, J. L. Hodge, W. H. Beetle, A. A. Thailand (Siam) Hartley, W. Zimbabwe Sweden Rock, J. F. Stephens, J. L. (Southern Carleton, M. A. Boyle, H. H. Rhodesia) Dorsett, P. H. Venezuela Hodge, W. H. Erlanson, C. O. Togo Archer, W. A. Stephens, J. L. Fairchild, D. Baldwin, J. T. Jr. Stadelman, R.

at Longwood Gardens that he could not turn an enormous history of the USDA or in the down. Once at Longwood Gardens, where he history of plant pathology. The authors have was head of the education department from constructed here a brief narrative overview 1955 to 1961, Hodge no longer had access of the history of the USDA and the BPI that to the USDA’s historic information to make serves to contextualize the explorers named in corrections, and Carl Erlanson, on the brink Hodge’s lists. While biographical research has of retirement, had far more important business hopefully corrected any errors of inclusion and about which to think. exclusion in Hodge’s original lists or brought It was difficult to find a concise history of attention to some items that need more research, the BPI that would provide background for we acknowledge the possibility of error and Hodge’s lists of early agricultural explorers. welcome readers to contact Todd about any such Pertinent information was embedded in either errors of inclusion, omission or attribution. Hodge & Todd: Agricultural explorers 29

Table 2. Chronological list of agricultural explorers of the BPI’s plant introduction program, 1897–1955

1897 1904 Dorsett, P. H. 1926 Hansen, N. E. Bessey, E. A. Mason, S. C. Dorsett, P. H. Kearney, T. H. Meyer, F. N. Fairchild, D. 1898 Shamel, A. D. Popenoe, F. W. McClure, F. A. Carleton, M. A. Shamel, A. D. Schultz, F. W. Fairchild, D. 1905 Hansen, N. E. Kearney, T. H. 1915 1927 Knapp, S. A. Meyer, F. N. Meyer, F. N. Dorsett, P. H. Swingle, W. T. Rolfs, P. H. Popenoe, F. W. Fairchild, D. Shear, C. L. Kephart, L. W. 1899 1916 McClure, F. A. Carleton, M. A. 1906 Meyer, F. N. Piemeisel, R. L. Collins, G. N. Hansen, N. E. Popenoe, F. W. Schultz, F. W. Cook, O. F. Meyer, F. N. Fairchild, D. Tull, J. H. 1917 1928 Knapp, S. A. Meyer, F. N. Kephart, L. W. Swingle, W. T. 1907 Popenoe, F. W. Piemeisel, R. L. Boyle, H. H. Reimer, F. C. Swingle, C. F. 1900 Meyer, F. N. Carleton, M. A. 1918 1929 Fairchild, D. 1908 Meyer, F. N. Dorsett, P. H. Lake, E. R. Hills, W. D. Morse, W. J. Scofield, C. S. Mann, A. 1919 Ryerson, K. A. Swingle, W. T. Meyer, F. N. Norton, J. B. Westover, W. L. Popenoe, F. W. Whitehouse, W. E. 1901 1909 Shantz, H. L. Collins, G. N. Meyer, F. N. 1930 Cook, O. F. 1920 Bioletti, F. T. Fairchild, D. 1910 Dorsett, P. H. Dorsett, P. H. Knapp, S. A. Meyer, F. N. Erlanson, C. O. Scofield, C. S. 1921 Fairchild, D. 1911 Popenoe, F. W. Morse, W. J. 1902 Meyer, F. N. Rock, J. F. Reddick, D. Bessey, E. Piper, C. V. Russell, P. Collins, G. N. 1922 Ryerson, K. A. Cook, O. F. 1912 Rock, J. F. Souviron, M. J. Fairchild, D. Aaronsohn, A. Westover, W. L. Kearney, T. H. Meyer, F. N. 1923 Knapp, S. A. Harlan, H. V. 1931 Means, T. H. 1913 Rock, J. F. Collins, G. N. Onderdonk, G. Boyle, H. H. Dorsett, P. H. Dorsett, P. H. 1924 Erlanson, C. O. 1903 Mason, S. C. Dorsett, P. H. Fairchild, D. Bessey, E. Meyer, F. N. Harlan, H. V. Kearney, T. H. Bolley, H. L. Popenoe, F. W. McClure, F. A. Kempton, J. H. Fairchild, D. Shamel, A. D. MacMillan, H. G. Onderdonk, G. Wight, W. F. 1925 Morrison, B. Y. Rolfs, P. H. Dorsett, P. H. Morse, W. J. Tracey, J. E. W. 1914 Fairchild, D. Souviron, M. J. Cook, O. F. McClure, F. A. 30 Huntia 14(1) 2009

1932 1936 Koelz, W. N. Nowell, O. W. Dorsett, P. H. Archer, W. A. Stephens, J. L. Ogden, E. C. Erlanson, C. O. Koelz, W. N. Liu, P. Mexia, Y. 1948 1952 MacMillan, H. G. Stadelman, R. Correll, D. S. Beetle, A. A. Whitehouse, W. E. Wellman, F. L. Harlan, J. R. Fox, W. B. Westover, H. L. Hartley, W. Gentry, H. S. 1933 Koelz, W. N. Godfrey, R. K. Liu, P. 1937 Manning, C. W. Archer, W. A. Stephens, J. L. 1953 1934 Blood, H. L. Ware, J. O. Correll, D. S. Archer, W. A. Koelz, W. N. Gentry, H. S. Enlow, C. R. Polhamus, L. G. 1949 Godfrey, R. K. Liu, P. Tremelling, L. Baldwin, J. T. Jr. Miller, J. C. MacMillan, H. G. Smith, E. E. Mexia, Y. 1938 1950 Roerich, G. N. de Blood, H. L. Archer, W. A. 1954 Roerich, N. C. de Polhamus, L. G. Baldwin, J. T. Jr. Gentry, H. S. Stephens, J. L. Tremelling, L. Gentry, H. S. Hougas, R. W. Westover, H. L. Shamel, A. D. Ogden, E. C. Schubert, B. G. Smith, E. E. 1935 1939 1951 Archer, W. A. Polhamus, L. G. Archer, W. A. 1955 Goodspeed, T. H. Gentry, H. S. Correll, D. S. Liu, P. 1947 Gilly, C. L. Creech, J. L. Mexia, Y. Correll, D. S. Hodge, W. H. Gentry, H. S. Stadelman, R. Hartley, W. Schubert, B. G. Stephens, J. L.

A history of the USDA and the BPI The USDA was officially written into to pressure from organized farmers through the being in 1862 by Abraham Lincoln’s Congress. grange organizations; from the United States Previously, from 1836 to 1861, the Agricultural Agricultural Society, established a decade Section of the U.S. Patent Office, under Henry earlier; and from various state agricultural Leavitt Ellsworth (1791–1858), handled societies. However, plant exploration was plant importation and other agricultural also becoming part of a larger trend of matters. Ellsworth collected what he thought American movement and accumulation as would be new and valuable plants and seeds the frontier was pushed westward. Eventually “from many sources, including consuls and national agricultural issues brought on by land Navy officers. The seeds and plants were acquisition had to be addressed. then distributed through Congressmen As the country’s largely agrarian population and agricultural societies” (Baker 1963, ventured westward, problems of safe grazing, p. 5).1 Local and national groups had been changing microclimates and plant adaptability sporadically but regularly agitating for formal came to the fore. Additional problems, such as agricultural representation in the government dry land and irrigated farming, drought, wilt, (Hodge and Erlanson 1956a, p. 302). The infestations, unregulated introductions, the department was finally established in response Civil War’s effect on economic crops in the Hodge & Todd: Agricultural explorers 31

South and growing public pressure, coalesced. circa 1936 when he was chief agriculturist of Horticulturist Knowles Ryerson (1892–1990), the USDA’s planning division. Ball divided successor to David Fairchild as head of the the department’s history into four periods. He Office of Foreign Plant Introduction, noted: characterized the early period of the USDA, the period of 1850 to the outbreak of the Civil 1862–1887, as one in which the department War [1861] was one of epoch-making events, focused on improving crops, protecting national and international, which had a direct agricultural products and streamlining methods bearing on plant introduction. This was the of production. He summarized these goals as period of western expansion of the United States to the Pacific Coast, the annexation of “make it better, make it safe, make it pay” (Ball Texas and the Gadsden Purchase [by which part ca.1936, p. 8). The 1887 Hatch Act provided of Mexico became US territory], with problems a federal fund for establishing a system of of crop adaptation as settlement progressed Agricultural Experiment Stations in each (Ryerson 1967, p. 4). state and marked a turning point in USDA In addition, there was a shift in regional ties history, “the culmination of a long battle by the to national leadership at this time: proponents of agricultural science to bring the agricultural and congressional leaders from the financial power of the federal government to the northern States had long been favorable to the aid of the nation’s farming interests at the state idea [of a government provision for agriculture]. and local levels” (Campbell et al 1999, p. 183).3 With increasing numbers of men removed from In addition to projects within its contiguous agriculture for military service, they felt an increasing need for agencies to stimulate food states, tropical surveying, cataloguing and plant production. Many southern agricultural and introduction were happening in response to the congressional leaders had opposed the plan as United States officially acquiring such widely tending to expand the power of the Federal separated territories as Puerto Rico and Hawaii government. These leaders were no longer in the Congress (Ball ca.1936, p. 5).2 in the 1890s. Administrators, policy makers and the public wanted to know if these territories During Lincoln’s presidency, the government were economically viable and if they would responded to increasing numbers of agricultural be assets in terms of agricultural development. problems and pressures from various interests As Frederick Vernon Coville (1867–1937), by promoting the Agricultural Section of the chief botanist of the USDA and curator of the U.S. Patent Office to the level of a department National Herbarium, wrote in the preface to to officially become theU SDA. Isaac Newton O. F. Cook and G. N. Collins’ Economic Plants (1800–1867), then commissioner of patents, of Porto Rico: was sworn in as the first commissioner of One influence of the extension of American Agriculture (Baker 1963, pp. 13–14, 452). In jurisdiction over Porto Rico and the Philippine addition, in 1862 the government inaugurated Islands, in the year 1898, was to create a a land-grant college system through the Morrill demand for information about the vegetation Act and implemented a system of public land of those islands. The information demanded regarding the Porto Rican flora was largely of a settlement via the Homestead Act whereby the popular and commercial character and was not head of a family could obtain 160 acres of land at all to be satisfied by the existing and available for a low price and the commitment to farm it technical works on the West Indian flora (Cook for five years (Alexander 1940, p. 882). and Collins 1903, p. 53). Agronomist Carleton Ball (1873–1958) This accumulation of territories made the offered an insider’s perspective on the desire for agricultural knowledge and tropical department in his history of the USDA written crops research public and urgent. 32 Huntia 14(1) 2009

The USDA was focused primarily on thus also raised to a cabinet-level appointment investigative projects, and Ball described the since “the activities of the department had first period of the department as organized by developed and so expanded, and the pressure individuals and their projects: “new lines of from agricultural interests [was] so great” investigation were added from time to time (Ryerson 1967, p. 6). That increase in status as new problems developed” (Ball ca.1936, reflected and helped facilitate a general upswing p. 9). The impetus of the department does in professionalism and organization within the seem to have come from outside, and this early USDA. C. Lee Campbell, Paul D. Peterson period was subsequently one of increasing and Clay S. Griffith, contemporary historians departments and units cropping up at irregular of plant pathology in the United States, fleshed intervals, responding to public issues as out some of the changes at this time: they arose. The USDA’s first director, Isaac In the late 1890s, several factors contributed Newton, defined his objectives as: to a new climate that was receptive to [a centralized and coordinated system of plant 1) collecting, arranging, and publishing statistical research equal in status to the Bureau of Animal and other useful agricultural information; Industry] in the USDA. … First, the science of 2) introducing valuable plants and animals; plant pathology was able to point to a growing 3) answering inquiries of farmers regarding record of successes. The USDA Division of agriculture; 4) testing agricultural implements; Vegetable Physiology and Pathology, though 5) conducting chemical analyses of soils, barely fifteen years old, had made notable grains, fruits, plants, vegetables, and manures; strides in fundamental research. This research 6) establishing a professorship of botany and had led to the control of a number of America’s entomology; and 7) establishing an agricultural most destructive crop diseases through the library and museum (Baker 1963, p. 14). use of chemical sprays and improved cultural The department grew over the years to meet practices. … Second, James ‘Tama Jim’ Wilson [1835–1920] was installed in 1897 as secretary these objectives, spawning sections or units for of agriculture. Unlike his predecessor … Wilson forestry, soils, entomology, pathology and, of favored the expansion of scientific activity in the course, plant industry and exploration. department” (Campbell et al. 1999, pp. 251–252). Ball characterized the second period of The third factor that Campbell, Peterson and the USDA, 1888–1912, as primarily one Griffith charged with leading to a new social of safety — protecting crops from pests and and professional climate around the USDA was protecting producers and consumers from a personnel change. With the death of William unfair trade practices through regulations, Saunders (1822–1900), chief of the USDA such as programs of quarantine, laws regarding Division of Gardens and Grounds, international trade and interstate movement of pests and diseases, and laws regulating Beverly Galloway saw a way not only to gain experimental facilities for plant pathology and handling, exportation, storage and sales service. physiology but also to expand his own sphere The numerous small units that had cropped of influence in the USDA. He proposed to up within the USDA were streamlined and Secretary Wilson that he take control of the organized as eight new bureaus. President Division of Gardens and Grounds and that his deputy, A. F. Woods [1866–1948], become head Grover Cleveland elevated the Department of of the Division of Vegetable Physiology and Agriculture to executive, cabinet-level status Pathology. Thus, two men with strong interests on 9 February 1889 in response to lobbying by in plant disease came to control the operations the National Grange and the Farmer’s Alliance, of two major divisions of the USDA. Galloway recognized that the existing, decentralized among others (Baker 1963, pp. 27–30). The structure among the divisions concerned with position of Commissioner of Agriculture was the plant sciences resulted in harsh and, at times, Hodge & Todd: Agricultural explorers 33

acrimonious competition for funds, duplication Galloway and Erwin Smith (1954–1927, Fig. 1) of efforts, and discord among researchers. helped draft legislation that created the Bureau of He encouraged cooperation between federal bureaus and their state counterparts and Plant Industry (BPI), which officially coalesced believed that a unified Bureau of Plant Industry, in 1900 and started operations in 1901. which would centralize administration and All of the USDA’s plant activities (except coordinate research, could solve many of these those of forestry) were aggregated under the problems (Campbell et al. 1999, p. 252). BPI’s first chief, BeverlyT . Galloway, including This centralizing move was opposed by scientists the offices of: Fiber Investigations, Botany, such as chief botanist F. V. Coville, who was Experimental Gardens and Grounds, Vegetable uneasy about increasing specialization in late- Physiology and Pathology, Agrostology, Farm 19th-century botany. In spite of such dissent, Management, and Pomology.

Figure 1. Division of Plant Pathology, USDA, 1902. Staff: Albert Fred Woods, Erwin Frink Smith (second row from top, second person from left, with beard), Herbert John Webber, Merton Benway Waite, Cornelius Lott Shear, Charles Pickney Hartley, C. Pierce, George Thomas Moore, Thomas Henry Kearney, Charles Orrin Townsend, Mark Alfred Carleton, Joseph Scudder Chamberlain, Benjamin Minge Duggar, Deane Bret Swingle, F. L. Goll, John Bitting Smith Norton, William Allen Orton, H. H. McKenney, Karl Frederic Kellerman, Mr. Raison, Mr. Brown, Ernst Athearn Bessey, N. E. Fealey, Thomas Romney Robinson, Flora Wambaugh Patterson, L. Wheeler, D. E. Ingram. Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation Archives group portrait no. 0028. 34 Huntia 14(1) 2009

The activities of the Bureau of Plant Industry Fairchild and his plan to Secretary Wilson, coincided with a period of general growth and the new section of the Department of in funding for agricultural science and a continuation of work begun in the last decades Agriculture was approved and added to the of the previous century, particularly in the area Appropriation Bill. Fairchild headed the new of the chemical control of fungal diseases and Section of Seed and Plant Introduction for a few the understanding of diseases caused by bacteria. months but stepped down to embark on a long In time, the bureau added skilled scientists and created numerous new administrative divisions collecting trip. Orator Fuller Cook headed the devoted to specific commodities or types of section until Fairchild resumed the position in research (Campbell et al. 1999, p. 279). 1903 and remained there until 1928. During the BPI’s first year, its scope expanded Hodge and Erlanson’s history of federal to include seed and plant introductions, and its plant introduction recounted the multiple first decade was one of regular expansion and names of the plant introduction program, increased lines of both research and funding. which would become a major project of the David Fairchild wrote in The World Was Bureau of Plant Industry: My Garden of his return to Washington and The original “Section of Seed and Plant the ideas preceding a formal plant exploration Introduction” of 1898–1903 has been known under variants of the same name, including program around 1897: “Office of Seed and Plant Introduction” The idea of plant introduction as a government (1904–1907), “Office of Foreign Seed and Plant activity was germinating in other minds besides Introduction” (1908–1925), “Office of Foreign Mr. [Barbour] Lathrop’s [1847–1927] and mine. Plant Introduction” (1926–1930), “Division Secretary Wilson’s first act after taking office of Foreign Plant Introduction” (1931– had been to send N[iels] E. Hansen [1866–1950] 1933), “Division of Plant Exploration and to Russia in search of cold-resistant fruits and Introduction” (1934–1953), and finally, dating cereals for our great plains. Also … [Walter T.] from late 1953, the present name, “Section of Swingle [1871–1952] had read a scholarly paper Plant Introduction,” which today essentially before the horticulturists of Florida, giving a list brings the nomenclature back to the original of subtropical plants which should be introduced form created in 1898 (Hodge and Erlanson into that State. There existed, as a special service 1956a, pp. 301–302). of the Department of Agriculture, a branch known as the Congressional Seed Distribution. The rapidity with which the department It was spending several hundred thousand dollars changed names was indicative of the a year, and each Congressman had a quota of increasing importance of plant introductions several thousand packages of seed which he to the overarching BPI, the fine tuning of the distributed to his constituents. The farming papers were full of jokes about the Congressional department’s goals, and the speed at which Seed Distribution. Packets of pansy seed were relations between such parties as state and reported to yield foxgloves, and petunias grew national agricultural and legislative bodies, as hollyhocks. Also, many thoughtful folk scientists, explorers and consumers coalesced felt that it was not a proper function of the government. … It seemed logical to Swingle around important problems. and me that a portion of this seed fund should In addition, the regular publication of the be diverted and spent for the introduction of Bulletin, Bureau of Plant Industry, United States new and carefully selected crops. We therefore Department of Agriculture became that vehicle drew up tentative plans for a clause in the Appropriation Act which would set aside $20,000 by which USDA plant discoveries were made for this purpose (Fairchild 1938, p. 106). public. The BPI Bulletin originally served a wide array of purposes by helping to increase Alfred Charles True (1853–1929), then head knowledge across departments within the of the Office of Experiment Stations, took BPI, to compile the latest plant news from the Hodge & Todd: Agricultural explorers 35

new government experiment stations and to the United States. The bureau battled the disseminate details about plant investigations tenuousness of its success on several fronts, and introductions to scientists, farmers and including plant viability and plant purity. As nurseryfolk. The early issues of the Plant BPI employee Donovan S. Correll (1908–1983) Inventories discussed earlier were published wrote, the bureau’s goals were “to obtain an as complete issues of the BPI Bulletin. For abundance of genetic diversity to be properly example, Plant Inventory no. 16, published in maintained and used in improving all phases 1909, was also Bulletin no. 148; Plant Inventory of the cultivated plant” (Correll 1967, p. 87). no. 17, published in 1909, was also Bulletin no. However, as the prolific agricultural explorer 153. Around 1914 the Plant Inventories were and USDA botanist David Fairchild wrote in published on their own, no longer constituting 1928, tabulating whether or not these goals an issue of the BPI Bulletin, as Inventory of Seeds were met could be difficult: and Plants Imported by the Office of Foreign Seed Ordinarily the results of botanical trips can and Plant Introduction, United States Department be measured by the numbers of specimens of Agriculture. This no doubt was due to a collected and the number of new species concerted effort by USDA Secretary David discovered among these specimens. These latter represent new scientific data. Such Franklin Houston (1866–1940), who felt that a yardstick as this, however, is in no way the USDA was not adequately marketing applicable to plant introduction work, for here itself. Thus in 1913 Houston had Galloway we deal with a transferring of plants from one organize a committee that studied the issues country to another, not with the discovery of new species of plants. Furthermore, numbers of publicity and publications and eventually of plants collected do not tell the story, for recommended “greater centralization of the those which arrive dead represent futile technical phases of the editorial work and attempts. A more reasonable measure of the closer consultation with the authors; the results would be through an account of the successful growth of the species of plants utilization of the agricultural press to take introduced. But here again enters another useful information to the farmer; … and the difficulty — the time element. Plants grow advice that the Bulletins of the Department be so slowly that years must pass before one can limited to technical scientific material, while know whether seeds transplanted from one region will grow and produce in another. In the circulars and farmers’ bulletins should 1876 Hevea seeds were sent from Brazil via Kew contain more popular information” (Baker to Ceylon. A year after this introduction was 1963, p. 70). With an overall plan to separate made there were only tiny seedlings to show popular from scientific information, the that the Brazilian immigrant would grow in its new environment. Twenty years later only USDA’s Office of Information began in 1913 a few men like [Sir Henry Nicholas] Ridley to supply weekly articles on practical matters [1855–1956], of Singapore, believed that this to two of the nation’s news syndicates. As the Brazilian rubber tree was to be a commercial department clarified its multiple audiences and success in the Orient, and although to-day [1928] billions of dollars are invested there in crafted its publications to accommodate those the rubber plantations which grew from the various groups, the published Plant Inventories seeds of those trees — half a century of time were extracted from the Bulletins and were has passed and the actors in the drama are published on their own. most of them dead. … As a result then of our expeditions [funded by Allison Armour,] we The BPI improved disease control and have brought in as experimental material some methods for growing, processing and storing 1,400 species of plants and made about 2,500 plant products; it also worked to introduce photographs of plant industries, and nothing plants of potential economic benefit to short of a two-volume book could adequately 36 Huntia 14(1) 2009

describe these results of two and a half years had no quarantine system, relying instead of plant collecting in Europe, Africa and Asia on a loosely organized and haphazardly (Fairchild 1928, p. 103). maintained practice of inspection after Specimen viability and then crop viability importation. … Compounding the problem in their new environs were questions only were the difficulties inherent in the actual answered in the long term, as well as the even detection of diseases such as white pine blister slower revelations of plants’ uses. In addition to rust and potato wart by inspection” (Campbell long-term industrial uses and pharmaceutical et al 1999, p. 277). While farmers and scientists developments, plant disease resistances also alike proposed national quarantine laws, continue to be discovered from plants collected Legal exclusion of plants suspected of harboring by these early USDA plant explorers. For dangerous pests was a fairly recent concept. In example, a 1952 specimen of a Brazilian peanut the absence of federal quarantine legislation collected by Alan Beetle (1913–2003) has, regarding plant pathogens, the Bureau of Plant Industry, probably the largest importer of new since 1987, been crucial to breeding resistance plants in the United States, was maintaining to tomato spotted wilt virus, but the success of its own strict inspection of all of its imports Beetle’s trip was 35 years in the making. and either fumigated or destroyed suspect plant Along with the time needed to be able to material. But USDA scientists promoted stronger legal restrictions, arguing that inspections alone tell success stories, Fairchild’s above quote were insufficient to prevent the importation suggests the tenuousness of even determining of plant pests. Bureau of Plant Industry successes, the complexity of the obstacles and plant pathologists played a significant role in the probability of failure, particularly in the encouraging lawmakers to consider quarantine legislation (Campbell et al. 1999, p. 278). early years. As another example, Correll wrote: “Many of the early collections of potatoes, Indeed, state laws came first with the obvious including those assembled by expeditions shortcoming of pests crossing state borders from the United States during 1930–1932, more easily than legislation. In 1905 the were eventually lost or absorbed by research. Insect Pests Act and quarantine legislation There was no efficient organization for the relating to livestock were passed, important maintenance and increase of large numbers first steps in organizing crop security at the of collections” (Correll 1967, pp. 86–87). national level. Departmental reorganizations and institutional For agricultural explorers in the field, on changes, such as the inauguration of the the other hand, individuals’ compliance with National Seed Bank at Fort Collins, Colorado, institutional guidelines or pest legislation could in 1957 and the founding of a National Plant be difficult, and the results of any unavoidable Germplasm System (NPGS) in the mid-1980s, noncompliance could be frustrating. This partly in response to a sweeping corn blight excerpt from a biography of explorer Frank in the 1970s, have increased organizational N. Meyer (1875–1918) illustrates the difficulty rigor and alleviated these losses over time involved in adhering to the new regulations: (Whittemore, pers. comm., 2007; USDA, [Palemon] Dorsett [1862–1943] and Fairchild 4 ARS 1990, p. 1). had planned an elaborate “quarantine hospital” Another early risk was the problem of in Washington, but Congress granted only five international pathogens being introduced thousand dollars for this project. … Dorsett supervised construction of an inadequate along with foreign plants. Campbell, Peterson structure to receive all plant material from and Griffith wrote of the early USDA that abroad. Fairchild warned [Frank N.] Meyer “Unlike many European countries, America [1875–1918] that the Federal Horticultural Board Hodge & Todd: Agricultural explorers 37

would destroy the seeds and nuts that he was also frequently had to dodge local unrest. sending if inspectors discovered fungus or insects Fairchild wrote of his time in Sumatra on in the shipment. Plant material must be free of even universally common pests such as aphids, the Allison V. Armour Expeditions: “This red spiders, thrips, and mealy bugs. Meyer replied wonderful trip was made on foot by Mr. [from Peking] that the board was “throwing out Dorsett and his son, and my son Graham the baby with the wash water.” Without facilities without encountering any difficulty with for fumigation he could not be absolutely certain that no insects were lurking among seeds or on the Atchenese even though the day before a plants (Cunningham 1984, p. 221). massacre of Dutch troops had taken place on the West Coast some fifty miles from our line Not until the 1928 creation of the Plant of march” (Fairchild 1928, p. 101). Later in his Quarantine and Control Administration were account of the Armour Expedition, Fairchild’s the plant regulatory duties transferred from the Moroccan armed guards simply appear in a BPI (Baker 1963, p. 481). There is no way to photo captioned estimate what was lost in the mean time. In addition to pest problems, there were problems Professor René Maire, authority on the Moroccan flora, and Mr. Durand, with armed of changing climates adding to the tenuousness guards, botanizing under the block houses of successful plant introduction. Moving plants which overlook the Riffian border near from their tropical homes could be dicey. Ouezzan, Morocco. This territory had never been botanized over before by any European The seeds of many tropical plants are very botanist. We found several new forms, distinct short-lived. If dried they die and if kept moist from the species, which occur in other parts they germinate in a few days, so that the only of the Mediterranean basin. The rare Narcissus way to send them is as seedlings in Wardian elegans was secured here and sent to America cases. From Singapore to Panama by the fastest (Fairchild 1928, p. 108). mail route is to-day [1928] about two months and there are few things deadlier to tender Although there is no discussion of armed guards young plants than salt spray. So that when a in the main narrative, their photographic delicate seedling of some especially valuable Oriental plant starts on a journey towards inclusion suggests a level of danger that South America it has rather poor chances as a remained unspoken or unrealized. Joseph Rock rule of arriving alive (Fairchild 1928, p. 112). also needed a band of up to 50 men to maneuver Sometimes a species that did not survive shipping the competing gangs of China in the early could be collected and shipped again, adding 1920s (Henry 1929). At one point he escaped several months to any possible introduction, only “after a fight in which three of the soldiers especially figuring in the time it took to were killed” (Rogers 1930, p. 11). In spite of notify the collector in the field. Sometimes frequent needs for protectors and the risks to the responsible explorer had moved on and re- both people and plants, these were heady times collecting the specimen was not an option. for American botanical exploration. In addition to sturdy pests and fragile The USDA’s third period, one of education seeds or seedlings, there was also significant according to Ball, ran from 1913 to 1932 peril to people. Richard A. Howard’s article and focused on educating farm families on botanists during World War II recounted about better materials, methods and living of the Cinchona projects that “The work was standards. Simultaneously, the USDA worked arduous and in isolated, uninhabited areas. to educate consumers about agricultural The botanists suffered from the altitude, problems and national concerns. Organization wetness, malnutrition, malaria, and amoebic within the USDA was centralized around dysentery” (Howard 1994, p. 216). Botanists 1914 due to a “lack of power to coordinate 38 Huntia 14(1) 2009 work, inelasticity under the existing system, utilize $5 million … for seed loans to producers and the incompatibility of regulatory and in drought-stricken areas of the West” (Baker research work” (Baker 1963, p. 65). The 1963, p. 91). At the Office of Foreign Seed and USDA moved toward a departmental model Plant Introduction, campaigns were waged to “and an enormous increase in departmental promote dried vegetables, proposals were made inter-unit and Federal-State cooperation: the to grow sweet potatoes in France and Morocco beginnings of the national program” (Ball for US troops, and researches were conducted ca.1936, p. 15). These early periods of the into using palm and other seeds in gas masks to BPI paralleled the USDA and were marked occlude poisonous gases (Fairchild 1938). The by a kind of democratic input that led to sudden end of the war, however, did not end the streamlining goals and methodologies. In 1915 agricultural problems; it only changed them. the cotton standardization project was moved Sources of supplies for the Allies, which had from the jurisdiction of the BPI to the new been cut off during hostilities, now became Office of Markets and Rural Organization, available. In this country, the incentive to the poisonous plant investigations relating produce increased quantities was viewed with concern, especially as oversea markets to animals’ reactions were moved to the contracted. The expanded areas of production, Bureau of Animal Industry, and soil fertility the adoption of new scientific methods, and investigations were moved to the BPI from the utilization of power machinery had built the Bureau of Soils; the shifts were meant to up production potential without a permanent market potential (Baker 1963, pp. 91–92). allow the BPI to narrow its focus. The onset of World War I certainly sharpened While the urgency of production of food and that focus. The war meant that some of the usual industrial plants was alleviated by the war’s supplies of medicinal plants were cut off from end, widespread droughts in the Mid-west the United States. In 1916 the BPI “undertook and Northwest in the 1920s refocused USDA to supply some of these by establishment of activity on drought resistance and seed loans. two large camphor plantations in Florida When Ryerson succeeded Fairchild as head which would supply thymol, oil of lemongrass, of the Office of Foreign Plant Introduction sesame, and belladonna” (Baker 1963, p. 84). in 1928, “A survey was conducted among the From around 1917 the USDA “urged increased plant-workers of state and federal stations, production of food for domestic consumption colleges, universities, and botanic gardens to and export. It conducted special drives for learn of projects for which introduced plant increased output and the conservation of materials were needed. This gave an adequate food supplies” (Baker 1963, p. 88). Increased and balanced base upon which to build a government attention was given to wartime sound introduction program” (Ryerson 1967, production of wheat and sugar; emergency p. 12). Ryerson also reported a new expansion demonstration agents were added to assist in the field of ornamentals, chiefly under the in executing food and feed conservation guidance of USDA horticulturalist Benjamin measures (including lessons in nutrition and Yoe Morrison (1891–1966) around this time. home economics), to relieve acute farm labor To acknowledge BPI explorers’ efforts on shortages, and to organize children’s work clubs; behalf of the USDA, the Frank N. Meyer food and fertilizer surveys were conducted; “a Memorial Award was established in 1919 special appropriation was made to procure seeds to recognize distinguished service in plant to be sold to farmers at cost … [and President introduction “through a contribution left Wilson authorized Secretary Houston] to by Frank N. Meyer to his fellow workers in Hodge & Todd: Agricultural explorers 39 what was then known as the Office of Foreign around who was granted the Meyer Award. Seed and Plant Introduction. It is awarded Now granted by the Crop Science Society of for devoted service to plant introduction” America, the medal has become a standing (Phillips 1965, p. 203). Meyer’s posthumous legacy to Frank Meyer, who lost his life contribution was intended for an outing or in China under mysterious circumstances a gift for his coworkers, but instead those while on assignment there for the BPI, and coworkers organized the bequest to provide to agricultural explorers in general. The first for a bronze medal originally awarded by the medal was awarded to Barbour Lathrop in American Genetic Association (headed at the 1920 (Figs. 2, 3). The award and its press time by David Fairchild). In the mid-1960s helped to educate plant folk and the wider the American Horticultural Society and the public about ongoing plant explorations. Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden struggled Though the Great Depression is frequently over which organization would manage the dated from the large stock market crash in medal. A small collection of correspondence 1929, agricultural sectors felt economic strife in the Hunt Institute Archives documents this much earlier. “In the depressions of 1920 struggle and the sometimes heated politics and 1929 farm prices fell sooner and further

Figure 2. Presentation of the first Frank N. Meyer Medal to Barbour Lathrop, USDA, Washington, D.C., 1 May 1920. Walter T. Swingle, Beverly T. Galloway, Mark A. Carleton, David G. Fairchild, Peter Bisset, Barbour Lathrop (eyes closed), Thomas H. Kearney, William A. Taylor, Orator F. Cook, Edward Goucher, Palemon H. Dorsett. Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation Archives group portrait no. 0131. 40 Huntia 14(1) 2009

Figure 3. An original invitation to the first presentation of the Frank N. Meyer Medal. Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation Archives Meyer Medal Collection no. 158. and stayed down longer than nonagricultural minimum help by the Government, soon lift prices” (Hambridge 1940, p. 30).5 In 1928 the the farmers out of their economic slump” USDA’s bureaus were shifted around again “to (Baker 1963, p. 131). separate research from regulatory functions,” Instead the autumn of 1929 saw the which led to the establishment of the Plant beginning of the business sector’s Great Quarantine and Control Administration. Depression during which the entire national This new regulatory body “was responsible economy was to be gravely affected and for plant regulatory work formerly carried the agricultural sector carried close to on by the Bureaus of Entomology and Plant disaster. As Secretary Hyde said in his annual Industry” (Baker 1963, p. 127). In the pre- report for 1932: “The current depression has crash moment, though, there was hope that caused greater shrinkage in demand for farm the agricultural downturn could and would be commodities, in farm-commodity prices, reversed: “When Secretary [Arthur M.] Hyde and in farm incomes than has any similar took office [in 1929], many people hoped that decline in the last 70 years” (Baker 1963, the prevalent general prosperity would, with p. 131). The USDA’s goals for research were Hodge & Todd: Agricultural explorers 41 of course influenced by the depression, though and stabilized development, production, the secretary’s goals could apply at any time. and distribution” (ca.1936, p. 7). Baker Hyde’s 1932 annual report promised to: “(1) corroborated Ball’s interpretation of the Reduce costs of production (2) widen markets USDA’s new attention to the nation and its and reduce wastes in distribution (3) discover markets when she wrote that between the new uses for farm products and by-products two world wars, USDA research took a three- (4) adjust production to demand, and (5) pronged approach, focusing on “(1) increasing improve the quality of farm products” (Baker the quality and quantity of agricultural 1963, p. 131). The confluence of a national production through the development of economic crisis and several regional natural improved varieties of plants and animals disasters put the USDA back on high alert, and improved methods of production, and but with the lessons of the war behind them, by eliminating diseases and insect pests; (2) administrators realized that planning for the finding new uses for agricultural products, future had to be factored into budgets and particularly those of which we had been long-term planning. producing unmarketable surpluses, and (3) Even while the Department was looking improving and conserving the soil” (Baker toward the future in long-range soil and timber 1963, p. 290). New emphasis on the nation as conservation and land use planning programs, an agricultural whole, exacerbated by plunging it was engaged in emergency activities national economies during the depression resulting from the Great Depression and from natural disasters that struck the country. The of the previous era, meant a new attempt at Secretary noted that nearly all of the increase contextualizing farming and incorporating in departmental expenditures had resulted “the concept of the nation as an agricultural from putting more men to work on roads and unit rather than as a collection of sections, making direct loans to farmers suffering from drought, flood, and economic distress (Baker States, counties, communities, or individual 6 1963, pp. 140–141). farms” (Ball ca.1936, p. 19). The mark of the Great Depression could be seen in the research The USDA focused on drought and flood plans of the USDA, as well as in its attention relief, irrigations, western forage plants, soil to a major constituent, farmers. conservation and land use (Ryerson 1933; In order to streamline national efforts, the Baker 1963). The BPI, newly relieved of USDA underwent a large-scale reorganization its plant quarantine and other regulatory in 1938, wherein the BPI was assigned new, duties around this time, made great strides expanded responsibility for research functions in bringing sugarcane mosaic disease under such as plant mineral constituents derived control. The aftershocks of the depression from soil, crop production on irrigable would nonetheless be felt for decades. lands, soil fertility, cereal diseases, cotton Not unexpectedly, Ball’s fourth period of diseases, drug and related plants, nematology, the USDA found the department focused on and plant exploration. This USDA plan for stabilizing from 1933 to 1962. If this report conceptualizing the nation as a whole increased was indeed written in 1936, there is a fair in its urgency with the outbreak of World War amount of projection in his account, but it II; no doubt departmental planning anticipated is worth mentioning here as documentation the United States’ 1942 entry in the war: of the department’s overall plans. Ball wrote that the department was concentrating on The American people had all the manufactured goods they could afford to buy, and more food “a long-range national program of planned than they could afford to eat. The United 42 Huntia 14(1) 2009

States had in storage enough wheat and cotton botanists reported that postal restrictions to supply all its recognized needs for 2 years limited outgoing packages to 500 grams or more and enough corn to last over a year. Surpluses of these basic commodities were (Daniel 1940). In the United States, botanical mounting with each succeeding crop. When studies generally slowed or stopped.8 In a the European war cut off export trade, large few professional circles, however, research in surpluses of other crops began accumulating. botany increased. Boris Alexander Krukoff The assimilation of apples, citrus fruit, prunes, raisins and nuts became difficult. World supplies (1898–1983) wrote to Ray Clarence Friesner of most foodstuffs were at record levels, and it (1894–1952) from the New York Botanical was felt that food rationing in the belligerent Garden on 7 March 1942: countries would reduce consumption, thus contracting markets (Baker 1963, p. 274). We are beginning work on a new project and would appreciate your suggestions as to plants Thus the USDA was again charged with that you think we should test. The project in managing the nation’s growing agricultural question involves “repellents” for insects and it goes without saying that if we should find surpluses. USDA economists puzzled over a good repellent for mosquitoes it would be making price reductions through marketing, useful to the Army operating in the tropics. packaging or processing. They also studied The project is being handled by us on a newly converting surplus food into less expensive approved schedule of research for 1942. Several specialists will be involved and two or three products or instigating “a 2-price system to years doubtless will pass before we are through enable low-income families to purchase more with it (Krukoff 1942). of the food they needed and to provide a wider market for surplus food” (Baker 1963, p. 183). Friesner suggested seven plants and later that In 1939 the Federal Surplus Commodities month (20 March) agreed to collect Hedeoma Corporation, under USDA leadership, was pulegioides when it would be in season. instructed to develop “a new surplus food Krukoff asked Friesner on 17 April to also disposal program” (Baker 1963, p. 184). The collect Cunila origanoides, a plant that Friesner graduated pricing program for agricultural had suggested investigating. Within a single surpluses was named the food stamp plan month, the insect repellant project took shape and officially launched on 16 May 1939. This and resolved meticulous details in the face of program aided the national school lunch wartime urgency. program (begun in 1935) in funneling food After the December 1941 bombing of Pearl surpluses to areas of need. The list of surplus Harbor, the government reorganized for active commodities changed depending on supplies, engagement in the war, and the USDA focused and when the war economy increased food again on boosting the nation’s food supplies. demand and employment, the food stamp The wartime reorganization of the program was suspended on 1 March 1943.7 Department, of necessity, stressed the short-term food production aims of the During the build-up to war, the USDA Government — food requirements, production was assigned to locate new defense-related capacity, allocations and controls, and the industrial plants and provide emergency centralization of authority in a direct chain of seed for important commodities, such as command from the Office of the Secretary or Food Administrator to the individual producer. guayule rubber and castor beans. The world’s For the time being, long-range objectives were economies were again in turmoil, and the obscured (Baker 1963, p. 286). botany community was not exempt from the consequent rationing and limitations. Documentation of this frantic time in American As early as February 1940, South American history is scattered as responsibilities were Hodge & Todd: Agricultural explorers 43 re-assigned and priorities were shifted. Much under the Program every year since 1898, of this work appears to have been performed except from 1942 to 1945” (Williams 2005, outside the boundaries of the USDA as p. 297). The BPI nonetheless “continued to suggested by Krukoff’s correspondence about acquire plants from nations not in war zones” the New York Botanical Garden being assigned (Tyler, pers. comm., 2008) as plants were a project on insect repellants. Another example delivered from a wealth of global contacts. is Egbert Hamilton Walker’s 1942 attempt “to Richard A. Howard (1917–2003) wrote quickly produce a pocket manual of food plants about botanists at this time — about younger for stranded aviators in the South Pacific. He botanists drafted into armed service for both also organized the Servicemen’s Collecting botanical and non-botanical employments Program” (Levine 1976, p. 1). and about older botanists who taught or did In addition, at the height of the war (sometimes classified) research during the war Charles Fletcher Swingle (1899–1978) was (Howard 1994, pp. 203–214). assistant director of War Hemp Industries, In 1943 the BPI was reorganized and Inc., Milkweed Floss Division, Petoskey, renamed the Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, Michigan.9 With the country’s supply of and Agricultural Engineering (BPISAE) (Baker Dutch East Indies kapok, a fiber from 1963, p. 479). Although details about what the tree Ceiba pentandra, cut off, Swingle happened at the BPISAE during this period supervised the nationwide collection of are difficult to find condensed in historical milkweed pods for stuffing servicemen’s life accounts, some of the raw materials ended up jackets. A 1944 brochure entreating school being at Todd’s very elbow. Correspondence in children to pick milkweed pods and send the Hodge Collection detailed the difference them to War Hemp Industries notes that between the USDA and the wartime overseeing it was “Prepared by the Soil Conservation group, the Board of Economic Warfare, when Service for War Hemp Industries, Inc., Hodge wrote in July 1945 of some confusion agents for Commodity Credit Corporation, about duplicate sets of specimens he collected United States Department of Agriculture” on the Cinchona mission: (USDA, War Food Administration, 1944). As you know I was employed by the Board of This suggests a new era wherein wartime Economic Warfare (now the Foreign Economic agricultural projects had multiple sponsors. Administration), in 1943, as a botanist whose Further, from 1945 to 1947 Swingle was in chief function was to search out stands of wild cinchona trees in the forests of Peru with Peru, serving as senior horticulturist for the the idea of active exploitation of all valuable Office of Foreign Agricultural Relations, trees found. Part of my job was to collect USDA. There he ran an experiment station herbarium samples of all cinchonas found as run jointly by the USDA and the Peruvian well as closely related plants of the same family to which cinchona belongs. At the time of government investigating tropical plants, my employment with BEW there were few including rubber, cinchona and food plants. botanists available and so the Washington office The USDA seems to have shared projects or readily agreed to my request that any duplicate had its duties disseminated during the war. herbarium specimens of cinchonas should be my property as long as the first and best set However, plant exploration was slowed or was given to the US Government. … FEA, stopped during the war. Indeed, in her history realizing the temporary nature of their agency, of the National Plant Germplasm System’s decided to turn over all botanical collections Exploration Program, Karen Williams wrote of cinchona to the Department of Agriculture which has permanent facilities for storing and that: “Plant explorations have been conducted 44 Huntia 14(1) 2009

investigating such specimens. This transfer was century. Japanese invasion of the South Pacific the correct thing to do and the only trouble is islands during World War II blocked access to that the FEA did not give their botanists the time to separate out their specimens (duplicates) that supply at a crucial time when large supplies or to warn them to take their specimens out of quinine were urgently needed for American before shipping them to the States. The result troops fighting in the region. Botanical has been that all specimens, both the US crews were dispatched to the back country Government owned originals and the privately- owned duplicates, have fallen into the clutches of South America, particularly the Andes of the USDA people at Beltsville. They state Mountains, the native habitat of Cinchona, in that under the law they have the right to hold search of concentrations sufficient for serving any or all collections made under government as a quinine source (Hodge 1948).10 The auspices. Whether they do or do not have this right I do not know. I do know however that development of Atabrine as a synthetic anti- I was employed by the FEA not by the USDA malarial product “reduced or eliminated the and all agreements whether right or wrong need for more cinchona bark, and the South were made with FEA; one of these agreements American exploration work was canceled in pertained to the ownership of duplicate cinchona specimens (Hodge 1945). late 1944 and the missions closed in 1945. However, between 1 December 1941 and The FEA “was the successor to the Board of 1 August 1945, the United States imported Economic Warfare and its predecessor, the 34,418,548 pounds of cinchona bark and Office of Economic Warfare. The FEA was a approximately 700,000 ounces of cinchona government wartime agency which had the alkaloids from hemisphere sources” (Howard responsibility for the accumulation of strategic 1994, p. 216). material” (Howard 1994, p. 214). Hodge’s Hevea studies were implemented when the letter suggests that the wartime agencies’ quick United States lost 90% if its Pacific sources formation and the speed of events during the of natural rubber due to Japanese invasions. war made it difficult to imagine in advance The USDA quickly organized a Rubber Plant some of the finer details of the missions. Hodge Investigations Office and incorporated its Plant got his specimens back eventually, and his Introduction Station near Miami, Florida, as letter remains as a testament to the intricacies “a transfer station for clones of Hevea to make of wartime government response. certain that leaf blight and other diseases were While food supplies topped the list of the not introduced to seed plantations” (Howard USDA’s priorities during World War II, two 1994, p. 217). USDA botanists were sent with non-food USDA projects that coalesced at this accompanying field teams to Cuba, Haiti, the time were those organized around Cinchona, Dominican Republic, Panama, Costa Rica, the bark of which is the major source for the Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil and the Amazon anti-malarial drug quinine, and Hevea, a source Basin. Many Hevea-heavy tropical locations for rubber. The Cinchona mission, to which were not populated by native people, so the the above Hodge letter referred, was headed field team would locate the rubber plants, build by Francis Raymond Fosberg (1908–1993) and a camp site and then hire and transport native William Campbell Steere (1907–1989) and workers to assist with the rubber tapping. Hevea was begun under the direction of the Board breeding programs were developed in Haiti and of Economic Warfare. The Dutch-controlled Costa Rica (Howard 1994, p. 219). Pacific island of Java supplied 90–95% of the The impact of the wartime rubber shortage world’s Cinchona, grown from stock originally was intense as we have seen earlier in archived imported from South America in the 19th personal correspondence. In addition to Hodge & Todd: Agricultural explorers 45 the major Hevea project, the USDA tested (Baker 1963, p. 357). Unable to forecast “almost every rubber-producing species in the course of the war in its early stages, the temperate as well as tropical America … for “secretary of Agriculture was made responsible rubber possibilities” (Howard 1994, p. 217). for priorities, allocations, and requisitions The USDA also researched Cryptostegia and respecting food and the domestic distribution Parthenium argentatum, or guayule, as possible of farm equipment and commercial fertilizer” alternate rubber sources. Cryptostegia is a vine (Baker 1963, p. 358). The BPISAE was that was largely propagated at the USDA Plant reorganized once again in 1951 so that all Introduction Station near Miami, Florida. The of its research “was organized under four largest plantations were established in Haiti, directors: Agricultural engineering, field disrupting that nation’s sugar and vegetable crops, horticultural crops, and soils” (Baker crop productions. Additional plantations 1963, p. 479). By order of Secretary’s Memo were started in Mexico, Australia and India 1320 of 2 November 1953, the BPISAE “was (Howard 1994, p. 218). Guayule is a shrub that abolished and its functions were transferred was planted in great quantities in California, to the Agricultural Research Service. In but “the war ended before the harvest of December of that year, the functions of the large-scale farming could be realized and former BPISAE were assigned to the Director, the project was scrapped, as it was cheaper to Crops Research, and the Director, Farm and import tree-derived latex than to crush the Land Management Research” (Baker 1963, Guayule shrubs for a smaller amount of latex” p. 478). The Agricultural Research Service (Damania, pers. comm., 2008). The USDA continues to this day as the plant research also cultured Cannabis sativa as a viable source oversight body. of linen fiber to replace the interrupted supply A modern national agricultural focus of abaca from the Philippines. “Two harvests looked to a more comprehensive plan to in 1943 and 1944 produced sufficient fiber to collect, organize and preserve plants. Energies meet the current needs. In 1945 the project was were and are now focused on collecting terminated” (Howard 1994, p. 223). Indeed, germplasm, rather than transporting the whole most of the war-generated plant projects were plant, and storing those essential samples in closed when the war ended or earlier. banks. Ryerson noted: “During the period The end of World War II did not put an end immediately preceding World War II and the to the widespread sense of agricultural urgency. period since, the development of germplasm After the close of the war, “prospective world banks for the preservation of breeding stock famine was the most acute problem” the materials, and the greatly expanded plant USDA faced, but “many people feared that introduction activities in the interest of new an agricultural depression would follow the crops and resistant strains of older well- end of the war just as it did in 1920–21. Thus, established crop industries resulted in new policy was aimed to avert famine and avert introduction centers” (Ryerson 1967, p. 9). depression at the same time” (Baker 1963, p. The USDA streamlined operations again in the 331). The fears of peacetime did not reign for 1970s: “The USDA terminated all branch chiefs long. On 25 June 1950 North Korea invaded in 1972. Some branch chiefs moved directly to the Republic of Korea, and the United Nations field positions but others and assistant branch immediately mobilized to assist the Republic chiefs remained at Beltsville and became a of Korea though “the major fighting force part of the National Program staff” (Creech, and its supplies came from the United States” pers. comm., 2007). Currently, the functions 46 Huntia 14(1) 2009 of the BPISAE’s plant exploration program a scenario more profound in its implications, have been subsumed within the National Plant yet less appreciated by funding institutions, governments, and the general public, than Germplasm System (NPGS). The organization that entailed in the mass elimination of a large and funding of USDA-sponsored germplasm number of plant species that has taken place and trips is now handled by the Plant Exchange continues to take place in the centers of their Office under the National Plant Germplasm diversity (Damania 2008, p. S-27). Resources Lab in Beltsville, Maryland. Damania calls for collecting diversity within Sturdy pests, fragile plants and human geographic areas as well as across different dangers factored into the tenuousness of early geographies. Damania warns that crop BPI plant introduction successes, which at any domestication has increased loss of plants’ rate could only be determined over successive natural dispersal mechanisms, while humans’ plant generations, but they were successful. In plant selections have increasingly meant fact, pleas for such exploration and germplasm plants with rapid germination, larger seeds, collection seem to be increasingly urgent. simultaneous ripening, loss of mechanical James S. Miller, dean and vice president for means of protection (such as thorns), and loss science at New York Botanical Garden, wrote of bitter or toxic qualities. Damania warns in 2006 that that “Once this landrace diversity is replaced Another renaissance of plant exploration by modern crop varieties of any kind, their is desperately needed to comprehensively natural gene pool is gone forever” (Damania inventory the plant species in these tropical 2008, p. S-28). He tells of inbred, introduced, forests that will be degraded or disappear in the next few decades. While protection of high-yield varieties pushing out wild wheat wild populations is clearly the ideal solution and rice in Mexico and the Philippines in the for protecting biological diversity, it is also 1960s and 1970s. He also tells of more recent abundantly evident that at current rates of losses of Italian wheat and South African habitat loss, botanical gardens must play a key role in protecting threatened plant species sorghum crops; fortunately, though, “as a (Miller 2006, p. 6). result of germplasm collection missions by the Food and Agriculture Organization of Immersed in the projects of the New York the United Nations and later by the national Botanical Garden, Miller sees his line of work germplasm conservation programs such as the as a potential force for preservation, one that USDA, most of this material is now conserved should be a core of our agricultural future, and in gene banks and available to breeders for certainly he is right. crop improvement programs” (Damania 2008, However, there may need to be more than p. S-28). He points out that plant collection is one answer. Adi B. Damania, recently of the “an urgent problem especially in cases where Genetic Resources Conservation Program the plant population may not be there if the at the University of California at Davis, collector returns” (Damania 2008, p. S-32). also writes forcefully of the need for plant For example, in 1991 he retraced the route exploration and conservation. He finds the that geneticist Nikolai I. Vavilov (1887–1943) situation dire: took through Syria in 1926 and could not find The disappearance of old varieties, the the villages Vavilov named nor even people landraces of crop plants, and their wild who could recognize the photos taken on progenitors could eventually be recognized as the great sleeper issue in the last decades of the his journey. Damania explains the two basic 20th century. It is difficult for us to visualize methods of plant genetic conservation: Hodge & Todd: Agricultural explorers 47

in situ (or on site) in nature without any human Acknowledgments major disturbances, and ex situ (off site) in gene banks at subzero temperatures and low seed With special thanks to Venice Bayrd, Librarian, moisture content. … However, some biologists Longwood Gardens; Bernadette Callery, formerly are of the opinion that further evolution of the Museum Librarian and Head, Library and Archives, germplasm ceases once it is preserved in gene Carnegie Museum of Natural History; John Creech; Adi banks. To counter this, in situ methods have Damania, Department of Plant Sciences, University of been proposed where evolutionary processes California at Davis. This would not be in print without continue to operate in nature, allowing the Scarlett Townsend, Editor, Hunt Institute for Botanical germplasm to adapt itself to the changing Documentation, and her patience and suggestions as this environment (Damania 2008, p. S-32). project grew exponentially. Alan Whittemore, United States National Arboretum, receives special gratitude for his Damania notes that in situ measures are help with initial questions and an insightful peer review. gaining acceptance as they conserve both germplasm and habitat. He proposes that plant Notes exploration and germplasm collection “have a 1. Directives from England shaped agricultural dual role of (i) making available for utilization exploration and introduction during the colonial the greatest possible amount of genetic period. However, this government support variability in cultivated and wild crop species, was lost when the American colonies declared and (ii) showing us the range of variability independence in 1776. The need to replace colonial-era plant introduction programs was that a species is capable of and its ecological recognized and stressed in America throughout as well as geographical range of distribution” the late 18th and early to mid-19th centuries (for (Damania 2008, p. S-34). more see True 1937, pp. 18–22, 34–40; Ryerson Though the BPISAE ceased to exist formally 1933, pp. 110–113). Thomas Jefferson even collected seeds during his travels in Italy in 1787 as a department in 1953, the benefits gleaned (Baker 1963, p. 4). from early agricultural explorers and the plants 2. Ball noted that the development of public schools they sent home continue to grow as Damania eased a rift in educational levels and farmers’ suggests. The mission of the Plant Exchange prejudices against “book learning” around this time (ca.1936, p. 5). R. W. Howard also Office is preserving the genetic diversity of made a convincing argument for the force of economic plants by “developing methods to urbanization in favor of formulating a national prioritize US germplasm needs, procuring department of agriculture: “Every president up plant germplasm through international to and including Lincoln had an agricultural background and personal familiarity with farm and domestic exchanges, arranging for and problems. A preponderance of congressmen, participating in international and domestic senators, governors, and state legislators were plant explorations, and developing in situ farm-born; most of them operated farms during maintenance programs for crop plants and the years they were in office. The Civil War marked a turning point. The census of 1870 their wild relatives” (USDA, ARS 2008). showed that only 47.4 percent of all Americans Current introduction programs operate largely gainfully employed were engaged in agriculture. through international agreements of exchange For the first time in history the farmer was in the in addition to sending teams out collecting.11 minority in the nation he had built up. … The sons of tradesmen and industrialists showed The USDA with its early recognition of the up in public office. The United States Senate need for conservation and its enduring record became a sort of House of Lords for ‘industrial of plant introduction successes has a history barons’ rather than the ruddy, swaggering club of responding to the urgency voiced in of wealthy farmers and plantation owners that it had been. And now the industrial forces agricultural and scientific communities. turned to government for stabilization of the 48 Huntia 14(1) 2009

distributive system they had set up between farm Bartholomew (1912–1985), then a herbarium and city. Rural movements, such as the Grange clerk from West Virginia, wrote Friesner in June and Populism, turned to the same source for 1941 that “Due to the fact that our printer has protection and advice. The evolution of a Federal been obliged to do a considerable amount of department for farming was inevitable” (Howard printing for the Government, our April issue of 1945, p. 160). Castanea has been delayed. We hope to get it out 3. See True (1937, pp. 130–164) for intricate details by July” (Bartholomew 1941). Friesner wrote to about the experiment stations, their organization longtime correspondent Charles M. Ek (b. 1873) and relation to the federal government, their on 22 February 1942, “The situation still looks equipment and their lines of experimentation. bad for the coming season. My retreaded tires 4. the USDA Plant Inventory database is a perfect have not been delivered and cannot be under the example of the modern level of organization and present set-up. I hope there will be a possibility of the ways that such organized information is of getting some by the time my others are gone made available to an ever broader public audience. but there is no promise that I can. I guess we 5. Baker’s detailed history of the USDA corroborates will just have to make the best of the situation” Hambridge’s claim: “The stock market closed firm (Friesner 1942). He wrote something similar to on March 5 [1925]. The American Locomotive Delzie Demaree the following month. Lewis S. Co. reached a new high on the New York Stock Rose (1893–1973) of the California Academy Exchange. Yet the same page of the Washington, of Sciences wrote to Friesner in 1941: “I shall D.C., newspaper which carried the stock market continue to put other specimens aside for you, story carried a headline, ‘General Setback as I collect them, but do not expect to be in the in Wheat Market,’ and a subhead that prices field very much this coming year, as there are took a ‘sharp tumble.’ Cotton was also down. more important things ahead. Hope it will be a Symbolically, weather was sunny for business but short war, so that we can get down to botanizing cloudy for the farmer” (Baker 1963, p. 125). again;” and again in April 1942 “On account of 6. “Under the Agricultural Adjustment Act [of the war conditions I do not expect to be able to 1933] millions of farmers entered into contracts make very extensive collections until victory is to reduce acreage in specified surplus crops in here” (Rose 1941–1942). return for benefit payments, financed chiefly by 9. C. F. Swingle worked for the BPI on vegetable processing taxes. In January 1936 the program propagation and fruit tree understocks from 1922 was halted by the Supreme Court, declaring that to 1935. In that capacity he went to Madagascar the power to regulate and control production in 1927 to collect Euphorbia intisy as a possible resided in the States, not Congress. Late in rubber source. In a March 1939 memorandum to 1937 the need for acreage control again became his half-brother, Walter T. Swingle (1871–1952), apparent and resulted in the enactment of the working on rubber alternatives at the BPI, C. F. Agricultural Adjustment act of 1938” (Hambridge Swingle noted “remarkable developments during 1940, p. 23). the past few years on the use of synthetic growth 7. the National School Lunch Act, establishing the substances” and wrote that “it would seem school lunch program on a continuing basis, was desirable to run preliminary experiments with approved in June 1946. Food stamps were re- various concentrations of the root promoting introduced by President John F. Kennedy in 1960 substances” (Swingle 1939). when agricultural surpluses again mounted. 10. Walter Hodge’s letter of employment from the 8. Botany professors filled other academic posts Board of Economic Warfare: Office of Imports left vacant by men enlisting; they also received delineates: “As an employee of the Government regular outside requests for lists of students to your decorum must always be equal to your be considered for graduate study, for placement responsibility and your actions, both official and as teachers, even for employment in the rapidly personal, must be above reproach” (Board of growing canning industry (see the Friesner Economic Warfare 1943), suggesting that the Collection no. 135, boxes 1 and 2, in the Hunt government felt a need for a high level of personal Institute Archives). Much of Ray Clarence credibility as they sent emissaries into foreign Friesner’s correspondence is on the backs of other jungles during a period of world turmoil. documents, such as memoranda, student papers 11. See Kaplan for the USDA’s response when “donor or departmental forms, in order to cut costs. countries feel they have not received a fair share Print communications and plant collecting were of the benefits derived from the plant resources subject to global restrictions, too. Elizabeth Ann originating in their countries” (1998, p. 5). See Hodge & Todd: Agricultural explorers 49

also Shakespear for botanists’ commentaries Daniel, H., Medellín, Colombia, to Ray C. Friesner, on the new politics of collecting, how the Indianapolis, Indiana, 22 February 1940. international atmosphere has changed since the Depository: Friesner Collection no. 135 (box 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity in Rio 1, ff 8), Archives, Hunt Institute for Botanical de Janeiro, and the urgency of this fieldwork Documentation, Pittsburgh, Pa. (2008, pp. 8–9, 10). Fairchild, D. G. 1928. Two expeditions after living plants: The Allison V. Armour Expeditions of 1925–1927, including two voyages in the especially References equipped yacht Utowana. Sci. Monthly 26: 17–127. Fairchild, D. G. 1938. The World Was My Garden: Alexander, W. W. 1940. Farmers in a changing world: Travels of A Plant Explorer. New York: Overcrowded farms. Yearb. Agric. U.S.D.A. 1940: C. Scribner’s Sons. 870–886. Friesner, Ray C., Indianapolis, Indiana, to Charles Baker, G. L. 1963. Century of Service: The First M. Ek, Kokomo, Indiana, 26 February 1942. 100 Years of the United States Department of Depository: Friesner Collection no. 135 (box Agriculture. Washington, D.C.: Centennial 2, ff 7), Archives, Hunt Institute for Botanical Committee, USDA. Documentation, Pittsburgh, Pa. Ball, C. R. [ca.1936.] History of the US Department Hambridge, G. 1940. Farmers in a changing world: A of Agriculture and the Development of its summary. Yearb. Agric. U.S.D.A. 1940: 103–110. Objectives. Department Graduate School, 16 Henry, T. 1929. Explorers brave dangers of Muli. October 1936. Depository: Archer Collection no. Washington Star 3 (box 4), Archives, Hunt Institute for Botanical Hodge, Walter Henricks, Medellín, Colombia, to Documentation, Pittsburgh, Pa. B. L. Knowles, Washington, D.C., 3 July 1945. Bartholomew, Elizabeth Ann, Morgantown, West Depository: Hodge Collection no. 65 (box 5, Virginia, to Ray C. Friesner, 26 June 1941. ff 4), Archives, Hunt Institute for Botanical Depository: Friesner Collection no. 135 (box Documentation, Pittsburgh, Pa. 2, ff 5), Archives, Hunt Institute for Botanical Hodge, W. H. 1948. Wartime Cinchona procurement Documentation, Pittsburgh, Pa. in Latin America. Econ. Bot. 2(3): 229–257. Board of Economic Warfare, Office ofI mports, Hodge, W. H. and C. O. Erlanson. 1956a. Federal Washington, D.C., to Walter H. Hodge, Washington, plant introduction — A review. Econ. Bot. 10(4): D.C. 1943. Depository: Hodge Collection no. 65 299–334. (box 5, ff 4),A rchives, Hunt Institute for Botanical Hodge, W. H. and C. O. Erlanson. 1956b. Plant Documentation, Pittsburgh, Pa. introduction as a federal service. Advances Agron. Burgess, S., ed. 1971. The National Program for 7: 189–211. Conservation of Crop Germ Plasm: A Progress Howard, R. A. 1994. Botanists in World War II. Bot. Report on Federal/State Cooperation. Athens: Rev. (Lancaster) 60(2): 197–257. University of Georgia. Howard, R. W. 1945. Two Billion Acre Farm: An Campbell, C. L., P. D. Peterson and C. S. Griffith. Informal History of American Agriculture. Garden 1999. The Formative Years of Plant Pathology in City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Doran and Co., Inc. the United States. St. Paul, Minn.: The American Kaplan, J. K. 1998. Conserving the world’s plants. Phytopathological Society Press. Agric. Res. (Washington, DC) 46(9): 4–9. Cook, O. F. and G. N. Collins. 1903. Economic Krukoff, Boris Alexander, Bronx, New York, to Ray Plants of Porto Rico. Washington, D.C.: C. Friesner, Indianapolis, Indiana, 7 March 1942. Government Printing Office. Depository: Friesner Collection no. 135 (box Correll, D. S. 1967. Plant introduction relating to 2, ff 7), Archives, Hunt Institute for Botanical potatoes. In: Escuela Agricola Panamericana. 1967. Documentation, Pittsburgh, Pa. Proceedings, International Symposium on Plant Levine, A. 1976. Description of the Walker, Egbert Introduction (1966 : Tegucigalpa, Honduras). Hamilton Papers, 1938–1969. Depository: Pp. 85–92. Provenance Files Collection no. 50, Archives, Cunningham, I. S. 1984. Frank N. Meyer: Plant Hunter Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, in Asia. Ames: The Iowa State University Press. Pittsburgh, Pa. [The bulk of these papers were Damania, A. 2008. History, achievements, and described before they were transferred to the current status of genetic resources conservation. Smithsonian in 1976.] In: C. H. Pearson, ed. 2008. Celebrate the Miller, J. S. 2006. Racing against the clock: The Centennial: A Supplement to Agronomy Journal. urgent need for a renewed renaissance of plant Vol. 100, suppl. Pp. S-27–S-39. exploration. Public Gard. 21(4): 5–6. 50 Huntia 14(1) 2009

Phillips, R. W. 1965. Award of Meyer Memorial Medal Swingle, Charles Fletcher, Washington DC, to Walter T. to Dr. Carl O. Erlanson. J. Heredity 56(5): 203. Swingle, Plant Exploration and Introduction, Bureau Rogers, W. 1930. Dr. Rock relates tales of thrilling of Plant Industry, Washington, D.C., 30 March 1939. personal adventures in Yun-Nan. Baylor Lariat Depository: Charles F. Swingle Collection no. 166 32(157): 1, 11. (box 1, ff 6),A rchives, Hunt Institute for Botanical Rose, Lewis S., San Francisco, California, to Ray C. Documentation, Pittsburgh, Pa. Friesner, Indianapolis, Indiana, 29 January 1941 True, A. C. 1937. A History of Agricultural and 17 April 1942. Depository: Friesner Collection Experimentation and Research in the United no. 135 (box 2, ff 4), Archives, Hunt Institute for States, 1607–1925; Including A History of Botanical Documentation, Pittsburgh, Pa. the United States Department of Agriculture. Ryerson, K. 1933. History and significance of the Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. foreign plant introduction work of the U.S. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Department of Agriculture. Agric. Hist. 7(3): Agricultural Research Service (ARS). 1990. Seeds 110–128. for Our Future: The U.S. National Germplasm Ryerson, K. 1967. The history of plant exploration System. Washington, D.C.: USDA, ARS. and introduction in the United States Department United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), of Agriculture. In: Escuela Agricola Panamericana. Agricultural Research Service (ARS). 2008. Plant 1967. Proceedings, International Symposium on Exchange Office: Mission. Washington, D.C. Plant Introduction (1966 : Tegucigalpa, Honduras). www.ars.usda.gov/Main/docs.htm?docid=7456 Pp. 1–20. (29 December 2008). Ryerson, K. 1976. Plant introductions. In: V. Wiser, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), ed. 1976. Two Centuries of American Agriculture: War Food Administration. 1944. Your Country’s Bicentennial Symposium (1975 : Smithsonian Armed Services Need Milkweed Floss. Institution). Agric. Hist. 50(1): 248–257. Depository: Swingle Collection no. 166 (box Shakespear, G. 2006. Plant exploration today. Public 2, ff 16), Archives, Hunt Institute for Botanical Gard. 21(4): 7–11. Documentation, Pittsburgh, Pa. Williams, K. A. 2005. An overview of the U.S. National Plant Germplasm System’s exploration program. HortScience 40(2): 297–301.