Chemistry 



Originally called Chemistry, the de- 

 partment name was changed to Agri- 

 cultural Chemistry in 1920 and to Ag- 

 ricultural and Biological Chemistry in 

 1927. During the 1920s and 1930s, 

 strong emphasis was placed on the 

 roles of phosphorus, potassium, nitro- 

 gen and carbohydrates in plant growth, 

 development and maturity. Coopera- 

 tively with Horticulture, it was shown 

 that carbohydrates, not nitrogen, were 

 a factor closely associated with fruit 

 bud formation. Stunting of tomatoes 

 was determined to be a manifestation 

 of potassium deficiency, and the bal- 

 ance between potassium and nitrogen 

 found to be critical to growth. Phos- 

 phorus was discovered to be essential 

 for early plant maturity. T. G. Phillips 

 devised modifications of a standard 

 method of titration for determination 

 of reducing sugars. 



Agricultural Economics 



Agricultural Economics was estab- 

 lished as a department in 1927 with M. 

 G. Eastman, '18, Dean of the College of 

 Agriculture beginning in 1923, as head. 

 Four courses were offered in that year 

 and he taught all of them. In 1939, 

 Eastman assumed the additional re- 

 sponsibility of Director of the Station 

 and stepped down as head of Agricul- 

 tural Economics. He retired as Dean in 

 1948. H. C. Woodworth who had been 

 appointed to the Station staff in 1927 

 became department head in 1939. 



The nationally recognized need for 

 research in agricultural marketing cul- 

 minated in the Purnell-Roberts Act, 

 passed by Congress in 1925, which au- 

 thorized funding in Agricultural Eco- 

 nomics, Home Economics and Rural 

 Sociology. The broad purpose of the 

 Act was the development and improve- 

 ment of the rural home and rural life. 



The first Station study in the area 



of agricultural economics was entitled 

 "Adjusting Farm Production in 

 Cheshire County New Hampshire to 

 Market Demand," by H. I. Richards 

 and H. A. Rollins. They noted a de- 

 cline in the number of farms, as well as 

 decreasing agricultural production, 

 and described the shift from a purely 

 farm economy to one dominated by 

 tourism. This was followed by several 

 other marketing studies on live broil- 

 ers in New York City, eggs through 

 auctions, products from farm woodlots. 

 New Hampshire berries, roadside 

 marketing, and the White Mountain 

 hotel market. Several other studies 

 were made on costs for producing 

 potatoes, roughage for the dairy farm, 

 dairy herd replacements, wholesale 

 milk, retail milk, and hauling milk. 



H. C. Woodworth studied land 

 use in one of the back areas of the state. 

 He established that sub-marginal farms 

 in southern Grafton County towns sur- 

 prisingly were not owned largely by 

 older men, but that 50 percent of the 

 operators were under 50 years of age. 

 In the process of land abandonment, 

 the depression had brought many new 

 families to the region. The farms on 

 which these people settled were not 

 capable of efficient operation, were 

 mostly small self-sufficient units and 

 no longer important from the stand- 

 point of commercial agriculture. This 

 research, and a survey of land holdings 

 in Fremont and Boscawen by C. E. 

 Walker and P. M. Hodgkins (1932), 

 provided a basis for state policy on 

 development of agricultural, forest, 

 recreational and social resources. 



With others in the department, 

 Woodworth did a series of studies on 

 management and organization of or- 

 chards and dairy farms including time 

 and motion studies aimed at reducing 

 the time and effort expended on dairy 



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