Introducing Plants

Plant introduction has two distinct phases, First, the securing of plant material in foreign countries and landing it alive in America; and second, the dissemination and establishment of the plants in the fields, gardens, dooryards, and parks of this country. The first phase is a comparatively simple one, but the discovery of where and how to grow these plants, and how to utilize them, requires years of patient investigation. A pinch of seed may come half around the world for a cost of only five cents. But growing the seed will probably require a flat in a hot-house, followed in sequence by a bench of two-inch pots, a greenhouse of six-inch potted plants, half an acre of rich soil in a nursery, an orchard, and finally an advertising campaign and a selling organization. Most of my activities in the field of plant introduction had been concerned with the easier phase of the two.

(Fairchild, The World Was My Garden, 205-206)

Convincing farmers and consumers to use these new plants was another barrier that David Fairchild and the USDA had to overcome. Few farmers could afford the risk of planting new crops. The USDA would have to take this into its own hands.

Cover Page (Macaroni Wheat)

Benefits of Durum Wheat (Macaroni Wheat)

Durum Wheat Recipes (Macaroni Wheat)

Sending Plants Home

Even if agricultural explorers could procure the cuttings or seeds of new plants, this plant material still needed to survive the trip back to Washington. In order to overcome this barrier, agricultural explorers developed or learned different packing techniques.

"In 1902, David Fairchild was traveling in Asia, looking for mangos that would thrive in the United States. The varieties grown in North America, he said, were inedible, like 'juicy balls of fibers soaked with turpentine.' He bought big baskets of several varieties, but what he needed to ship home were the seeds, not the whole fruit — and he needed those seeds fast. Fairchild rounded up a group of boys and pitched pennies to them as they ate the fruit on the dock and spit out the seeds, which he hurriedly packed in charcoal."

(Miami Herald)

Packing of a plant cutting (National Geographic)

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