History 138 - Class 9

History 138: Science in the U.S.

Class 9 (9/13)
Agriculture and its institutions

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Outline

Dr. Wiley's program

Agricultural science: origins
A moment of change in American farming
Justus Liebig and soil chemistry
Spreading the word
    Practice
    Liebig's disciples
    Expectations and disappointments

Scientific education and farm needs

Chemical testing stations
Educational mission: technical training

The land-grant colleges
    Politics of the Morrill Act
    Sustaining the land-grant schools
      Democratic ideology
      Scientific service: agricultural experiment stations
    The historically black colleges

Debating scientific agriculture
Farmers' objections
Scientists' frustrations

Names and Terms

Primary	Secondary
Justus Liebig (1803-1873) Organic Chemistry in its Applications to Agriculture and Physiology (1840) A&M schools Morrill Act (1862) university extension Tuskegee Institute (fd. 1881) George Washington Carver (1864?–1943) The Grange (heyday 1870s and 80s)	Harvey W. Wiley (1844–1930) U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA, fd. 1862) Hatch Act (1887) Second Morrill Act (1890) Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), "separate but equal" model farms

Assignment

H. W. Wiley, "The Relation of Chemistry to the Progress of Agriculture," in Readings in Technology and American Life, ed. Carroll W. Pursell, Jr. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1969), 85-90.

How had scientific chemistry (as opposed to empirical cut-and-try) contributed concretely to improving farming practice?
Why did Wiley write this piece? Where does it show signs of an agenda, and how did his story of progress serve it?