90 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 



A CONSTRUCTIVE AGRICULTURAL THINKER 



29. Among the sturdy apostles of a new American agriculture 

 that flocked so abundantly from the halls of the little Michigan 

 Agricultural College in the 80's was Dean Eugene Davenport. 

 Born at Woodland, Michigan, June 20, 1856, he grew to young 

 manhood on a Michigan farm. Of sternest stuff, he earned his 

 own way through the agricultural college, receiving the degrees 

 of Bachelor of Science in 1878, Master of Science in 1884, and 

 Master of Agriculture in 1885. During these years he had 

 taught both public and private schools, and interspersed his 

 teaching seasons with vigorous wrestling with soil and crop on 

 the home farm. The exigencies of his early career grounded 

 his viewpoint firmly upon the soil, and he has never failed in 

 after years to hold to that as fundamental. The social and 

 economic problems of the rural community have always been 

 the ones next to his heart. From 1889 to 1891, he was professor 

 of agriculture at the Michigan college, but in the summer of 

 that year was called to found and organize a government school 

 at Sao Paulo, Brazil. The record he had established at his 

 own Alma Mater of successfully measuring himself against odds 

 and difficulties was continued in Brazil, but the effort proved 

 premature on the part of this South American government. He 

 consequently returned to America, but proceeding by way of 

 England, made a thorough study of the English methods of 

 agricultural education and the English practices of husbandry. 

 He was particularly impressed by the fertility maintenance 

 experiments of Lawes and Gilbert at Rothamstead, just out of 

 London, and he returned to college work with a broadened out- 

 look and a new enthusiasm. 



In January, 1895, he became dean and director of agriculture 

 at the University of Illinois, a position he has held ever since. 

 Under his supervision the Illinois college has grown to be one 

 of the largest in the matter of equipment, faculty and attend- 



