CHAPTER V 



SHEFFIELD SCIENTIFIC SCHOOL: "HOW 

 CROPS GROW" 



A course of agricultural lectures, arranged by Pro- 

 fessor John Addison Porter, was given in February, 

 1860, under the auspices of the Yale Scientific School. 

 Twenty-six gentlemen from different parts of the 

 country took part in the instruction given; fully five 

 hundred persons came to New Haven in attendance 

 upon the course, including a large number of young 

 and a still larger number of old farmers. The daily 

 lectures and discussions were made widely known 

 through the New York City, as well as the local, 

 papers, and were afterward collected and published in 

 book form. This Scientific Agricultural Convention 

 not merely gave impetus to the local effort for agricul- 

 tural education, but aroused throughout the country 

 a wider interest in this subject. The lectures of Pro- 

 fessor Johnson and Mr. Eaton were generally regarded 

 as the foundation of the course. Professor Johnson 

 lectured upon the chemistry of the plant, the proxi- 

 mate organic principles of the plant and the atmos- 

 pheric food of the plant. 



The year 1860 was a crucial year in the affairs of 

 the Yale Scientific School. The Morrill Land Bill 

 had been vetoed by President Buchanan. Hope of an 

 endowment from this source was consequently de- 

 ferred, and the small prospect of State aid in the 

 immediate future gave deep anxiety to the school's 



