Soil Science in the Twenties and Depression Years 1924-34
Reorganization of the agricultural component of the NC A & M College took place in 1923 and 1924. The Agricultural Experiment Station and Extension Service became full and regular entities of the College, under control of the college trustees (the NC Board of Agriculture had previously been in charge of the Experiment Station). The overall program was designated as the School of Agriculture with a Dean as chief executive officer. The Director of Extension and of the Experiment Station reported to the Dean. B. W. Kilgore was named the first Dean of the school.( l0 ) The Division of Agronomy became the Department of Agronomy with a person appointed by the school administration as head. The Department brought together research, teaching and extension components in both crops and soils. C. B. Williams was named as the first Head of the Agronomy Department in 1925. He had additional responsibility as Vice Director of the Experiment Station, of which the Director was R. Y. Winters. This was an adjustment of the previous arrangement in which Mr. Williams had served as director along with his responsibilities in Agronomy.
At the time of this reorganization, the State Board of Agriculture was supporting agricultural research at the level of $60,000 per year and extension activities with $20,000 per year (derived from fertilizer tax receipts). The Federal research funding at this time was $30,000 per year. The Purnell Act of 1925 provided additional Federal funding in the amount of $20,000 per year. This was increased $10,000 per year for the next four years as a provision of the Act. State funding of agricultural research by direct appropriation was not achieved until 1939. The Great Depression commenced in 1929 with consequent reductions in support. These cuts precluded further growth of programs until the worst of the depression was over in 1934.
Research 1924-34
During and despite the depression and associated funding problems, the first research on minor element deficiencies and toxicities was started in 1929. There were almost immediate results with the discovery of the value of small amounts of boron for greatly increased growth of alfalfa. This finding was due to the research of L. G. Willis, a soil chemist who was employed in 1925. Mr. Willis first worked in a laboratory in Patterson Hall and later (about 1935) established a laboratory in the research station at Castle Hayne near Wilmington so he could be closer to the areas where micronutrient deficiencies were significant problems.
In summing up 50 years of agronomic research in North Carolina in 1927, C. B. Williams listed 48 "outstanding" results in the areas of soil, soil fertility and fertilizers and six in the area of natural plant food resources in the state. ( 7 ) These results included:
-the best analyses and quantities of fertilizers to use for different crops grown on various soil types have been determined by field experiments
-the fertilization of crops and the fertilizer trade have been placed on a more rational and scientific basis
-best systems of crop rotations for different soils and farming systems have been worked out
-North Carolina has become a pioneer state in the establishment of efficient fertilizer control, established that soil fertility investigations for different crops must be carried out on a specified soil types in the field
-worked out the most effective times and methods of applying fertilizer materials
-soil survey reports and maps of about three fourths of the counties of the state have been prepared
-use of commercial fertilizers has increased thirty times since experimental work began
-established that the use of lime is essential
-found that the mineral components of the soil furnish a fairly good index for its fertilizer requirements
-practically all soils of the state were found to respond to phosphate fertilization
-showed the relations between the physical properties of soils and crop growth
-found that chemical analyses of soils alone are an unsafe basis for making fertilizer recommendations
-fertilizers are used to best advantage only when their application is determined strictly by results of experiments on North Carolina soils
-determined that organic matter is an important need
-taking the soils of the state as a whole, examined phosphate and marl beds of NC and shown them to be of benefit
-conducted one of the earliest studies on the application of the hydrogen electrode for determination of soil acidity and that the use of lime decreases this acidity.
Williams also described agricultural development in North Carolina up to 1927 as a result of these research findings. A summary of these development follows:
"Publication of the results of fertilizer experiments has stimulated usage of fertilizers such that North Carolina had become one of the largest markets for fertilizer in the US, soil survey data have been useful in agricultural development projects, soil types naturally deficient in plant nutrients have been brought into profitable cultivation, better rotation of crops is being practiced, farmers are more nearly approaching the optimum amounts and quantities of fertilizers for largest yields, wider use of lime, better methods of soil preparation being used, the grade of fertilizers used by farmers has been greatly improved without materially increasing price per ton, and reduction of erosion of farm lands has been brought about."
In this report, Williams also described problems currently being researched, stating that "research of a more practical nature and fundamental research" was being conducted, with fundamental research projects having been chosen with a view toward practical use of the results which has "gone far toward eliminating the antagonism of farmers of the state toward pure scientific investigations."
It is interesting to compare these statements with the present situation and views - facts and practices which we now take for granted were regarded as strikingly new, several of his statements and conclusions have not worked out and have had to be revised, there is less concern about the immediate and practical applications of basic research, and many of the problems and research needs described by Williams are still with us to some degree.
Teaching 1924-34
A significant appointment to the teaching faculty was made in 1925 - William Battle Cobb was appointed to teach courses in the areas of geology, soil geology, soil survey and other soils courses. His inspiring and motivational teaching had a major positive impact on students until his premature death in 1933.
Another significant appointment (1931) was that of Dr. J. F. Lutz who was hired to teach soils, soil conservation, and soil physics and to conduct research in soil physics. Thus began a career of 42 years of dedicated service to NC State and for agriculture in North Carolina.
In 1924, Randall Etheridge, who had joined the faculty earlier, replaced M. E. Sherwin in the soils teaching program. This appointment occurred because of Mr. Sherwin's sudden and unexpected death.
The College academic catalog for 1926-27 listed graduate courses in soils for the first time. (15)
Soils courses offered in the Agronomy Department in 1926-27 were:
Curriculum Course Instructor
"Term" (one and two-year and short courses):
Soil management Cobb
Soil types and mapping Cobb
Fertilizers Cobb
Lower level undergraduate:
Soil geology Cobb
Soil management Cobb
Advanced undergraduate and graduate level:
NC soil types Cobb
Fertilizers Cobb
Soils of NC Cobb
Fertilizers Cobb
Soil survey Cobb
Field course in soils Cobb
Graduate courses:
Pedology Cobb
Soil technology Cobb, Willis
Advanced soils Cobb, Willis
Soil research Cobb, Willis
Extension work in the soils and fertilizers area continued to be
conducted by commodity crop personnel.
This page last modified 1/15/03.