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THE RISE OF SCIENCE 

 IN AGRICULTURE 



One of the great themes of American history from 1865 to 1916 is 

 the clash of the hitherto dominant agrarian interest with the rising power 

 of mass industry and the growing urbanization which accompanied it. 

 After viewing the Populist revolt and the crusade of William Jennings 

 Bryan in the election of 1896, most observers are content to award the 

 palm of victory to the forces of industrialism. An easy consequence of 

 this judgment is the assumption that the rise of science in industry, 

 which the comments above have chronicled, somehow caused the con- 

 quest of the agrarian interest by a mechanical and mechanized industrial 

 system. However, we should ask the question: Did the coupling of sci- 

 ence to technology occur in agriculture as well as in industry? An 

 abundance of evidence indicates not only that the coupling did take 

 place, but also that it took place as early as in industry and that the results 

 were more thoroughgoing if not more spectacular. The difference lies in 

 a completely diverse institutional pattern with the Federal government 

 instead of the modern corporation providing the decisive support for the 

 experiment stations and laboratories for agriculture research. The year 

 1896 which marked the defeat of the farmer's last bid for political domi- 

 nation was the end of an era. At almost precisely the same time, the 

 Federal government was molding itself into a research agency for the 

 benefit of the American farmer, who by 1916 had the services of science 

 in a way not possessed either by industry or by the farmers of most 

 other countries. 



A. 

 AN EARLY DEMAND FOR AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH 



CEven before the Civil War the possible usefulness of chemistry in 

 agriculture was a commonplace in agricultural literature. At that early 



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