Liberty Hyde Bailey
Encyclopedia
Liberty Hyde Bailey was an American
horticulturist
, botanist and cofounder of the American Society for Horticultural Science
.
, as the third son of farmers Liberty Hyde Bailey Sr. and Sarah Harrison Bailey, Bailey entered the Michigan Agricultural College (now Michigan State University
) in 1878 and graduated in 1882. The next year, he became assistant to the renowned botanist Asa Gray
. The same year, he married Annette Smith, the daughter of a Michigan cattle breeder, whom he met at the Michigan Agricultural College. They had two daughters, Sara May, born in 1887, and Ethel Zoe, born in 1889.
In 1885, he moved to Cornell University
in Ithaca, New York
, where he in 1888 assumed the chair of Practical and Experimental Horticulture. He was elected an Associate Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
in 1900. He founded the College of Agriculture
, and in 1904 he was able to secure public funding. He was dean of what was then known as New York State College of Agriculture from 1903-1913. In 1908, he was appointed Chairman of The National Commission on Country Life by president Theodore Roosevelt
. Its 1909 Report called for rebuilding a great agricultural civilization in America. In 1913, he retired to become a private scholar and devote more time to social and political issues.
He edited The Cyclopedia of American Agriculture (1907-09), the Cyclopedia of American Horticulture (1900-02), and the Rural Science, Rural Textbook, Gardencraft, and Young Folks Library series of manuals. He was the founding editor of the journals Country Life in America and the Cornell Countryman. He dominated the field of horticultural literature, writing some sixty-five books, which together sold more than a million copies, including scientific works, efforts to explain botany to laypeople, a collection of poetry
; edited more than a hundred books by other authors and published at least 1,300 articles and over 100 papers in pure taxonomy. He also coined the words "cultivar
", "cultigen
", and "indigen
". His most significant and lasting contributions were in the botanical study of cultivated plants.
's work; and he hired Herbert John Webber
as Professor of Plant Breeding, the first tenured professor in the New York State College of Agriculture at Cornell University.
L.H. Bailey cited Mendel's 1865 and 1869 papers in the bibliography that accompanied his 1892 paper, "Cross Breeding and Hybridizing" and is mentioned once in the 1895 edition of Bailey's "Plant Breeding." The bibliographical reference is most likely the William Bateson
, English translation of Mendel's Principals of Heredity cited on page 434 under Bateson's name in LH Bailey's classic book, Plant Breeding.
that stood in the tradition of Thomas Jefferson
. He had a vision of suffusing all higher education, including horticulture, with a spirit of public work and integrating "expert knowledge" into a broader context of democratic community action. As a leader of the Country Life Movement, he strived to preserve the American rural
civilization, which he thought was a vital and wholesome alternative to the impersonal and corrupting city life. In contrast to other progressive
thinkers at the time, he endorsed the family, which, he recognized, played a unique role in socialization. Especially the family farm
had a benign influence as a natural cooperative unit where everybody had real duties and responsibilities. The independence it fostered made farmers “a natural correction against organization men, habitual reformers, and extremists”. It was necessary to uphold fertility in order to maintain the welfare of future generations.
According to Bailey, the American rural population, however, was backward, ignorant and saddled with inadequate institutions. The key to his reform program was guidance by an educated elite toward a new social order. The Extension System
was partly pioneered by Bailey. The grander design of a new rural social structure needed a philosophical vision that could inspire and motivate. For this purpose, he wrote Mother Earth, a “powerful testament to Nature as God and to the farmer as acolyte and collaborator in the process of ongoing creation”. It conformed largely to the Freemason creed that Bailey had been brought up with, and it was not explicit in demanding that traditional Christian dogma
be discarded.
Bailey's real legacy was, according to Allan C. Carlson
, the themes and direction that he gave the new agrarian movement, ideas very different from previous agrarian thought. He saw technological innovation as friendly to the family farm and inevitably resulting in decentralization. He was scornful of the actual forms of peasant life and wanted to transform it by cutting the farmers loose from “the slavery of old restraints”. Parochial and communal social groups should be broken down and replaced by “inter–neighborhood” and “inter–community” groups, while new leaders would be called in “who will promote inclusive rather than exclusive sociability.” Bailey and his followers held a quasi–religious faith in education by enlightened experts, which meant suppression of inherited ways and substitution by progressive ways. It was accompanied by a corresponding hostility to traditional religion.
Bailey’s simultaneous embrace of the rural civilization and of technological progress had been based on a denial of the possibility of overproduction
of farm products. When that became a reality in the 1920’s, he turned to a “new economics” that would give farmers special treatment. Finally, after desperately toying with Communism
, he had to choose between fewer farmers and farm families and restraint on technology or production. He chose to preserve technology rather than the family farms. After this, he retreated from the Country Life movement into scientific study.
Bailey’s influence on modern American Agrarianism remains determinative. The inherent contradictions of his ideas have been equally persistent: the tension between real farmers and rural people and the Country Life campaign; difficulties to understand the operative economic forces; the reliance on state schools to safeguard family farms; and hostility to traditional Christian faith.
has issued the annual Liberty Hyde Bailey Award http://www.ahs.org/awards/past_winners.htm. A residence hall in Brody Complex at Michigan State University
, and an elementary school in East Lansing, Michigan
, were also named after him.
Bailey's publisher was George Platt Brett, Sr.
of Macmillan Publishers (United States)
.
Bailey is credited with being instrumental in starting agricultural extension services, the 4-H
movement, the nature study
movement, parcel post
and rural electrification
. He was considered the father of rural sociology
and rural journalism
.
About 140 years after his birth, the Liberty Hyde Bailey Scholars Program was created at Michigan State University
, the institution of higher learning where Bailey began his career. The Bailey Scholars Program incorporates L.H. Bailey's love of learning and expressive learning styles to provide a space for students to become educated in fields that interest them.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
horticulturist
Horticulture
Horticulture is the industry and science of plant cultivation including the process of preparing soil for the planting of seeds, tubers, or cuttings. Horticulturists work and conduct research in the disciplines of plant propagation and cultivation, crop production, plant breeding and genetic...
, botanist and cofounder of the American Society for Horticultural Science
American Society for Horticultural Science
Founded in 1903, the American Society for Horticultural Science in Alexandria, Virginia is "the largest, most visible organization dedicated to advancing all facets of horticultural research, education, and application."...
.
Biography
Born in South Haven, MichiganSouth Haven, Michigan
South Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. Most of the city is in Van Buren County, although a small portion extends into Allegan County. The population was 5,021 at the 2000 census....
, as the third son of farmers Liberty Hyde Bailey Sr. and Sarah Harrison Bailey, Bailey entered the Michigan Agricultural College (now Michigan State University
Michigan State University
Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...
) in 1878 and graduated in 1882. The next year, he became assistant to the renowned botanist Asa Gray
Asa Gray
-References:*Asa Gray. Dictionary of American Biography. American Council of Learned Societies, 1928–1936.*Asa Gray. Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2nd ed. 17 Vols. Gale Research, 1998.*Asa Gray. Plant Sciences. 4 vols. Macmillan Reference USA, 2001....
. The same year, he married Annette Smith, the daughter of a Michigan cattle breeder, whom he met at the Michigan Agricultural College. They had two daughters, Sara May, born in 1887, and Ethel Zoe, born in 1889.
In 1885, he moved to Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
in Ithaca, New York
Ithaca, New York
The city of Ithaca, is a city in upstate New York and the county seat of Tompkins County, as well as the largest community in the Ithaca-Tompkins County metropolitan area...
, where he in 1888 assumed the chair of Practical and Experimental Horticulture. He was elected an Associate Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
in 1900. He founded the College of Agriculture
Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
The New York State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences is a statutory college at Cornell University, a private university located in Ithaca, New York...
, and in 1904 he was able to secure public funding. He was dean of what was then known as New York State College of Agriculture from 1903-1913. In 1908, he was appointed Chairman of The National Commission on Country Life by president Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
. Its 1909 Report called for rebuilding a great agricultural civilization in America. In 1913, he retired to become a private scholar and devote more time to social and political issues.
He edited The Cyclopedia of American Agriculture (1907-09), the Cyclopedia of American Horticulture (1900-02), and the Rural Science, Rural Textbook, Gardencraft, and Young Folks Library series of manuals. He was the founding editor of the journals Country Life in America and the Cornell Countryman. He dominated the field of horticultural literature, writing some sixty-five books, which together sold more than a million copies, including scientific works, efforts to explain botany to laypeople, a collection of poetry
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
; edited more than a hundred books by other authors and published at least 1,300 articles and over 100 papers in pure taxonomy. He also coined the words "cultivar
Cultivar
A cultivar'Cultivar has two meanings as explained under Formal definition. When used in reference to a taxon, the word does not apply to an individual plant but to all those plants sharing the unique characteristics that define the cultivar. is a plant or group of plants selected for desirable...
", "cultigen
Cultigen
A cultigen is a plant that has been deliberately altered or selected by humans; it is the result of artificial selection. These "man-made" or anthropogenic plants are, for the most part, plants of commerce that are used in horticulture, agriculture and forestry...
", and "indigen
Indigen
In general usage the word indigen is treated as a variant of the word indigene, meaning a native.-Usage in botany:However, it was used in a strictly botanical sense for the first time in 1918 by Liberty Hyde Bailey and described as a plant " of known habitat ". Later,...
". His most significant and lasting contributions were in the botanical study of cultivated plants.
Rediscovery of Gregor Mendel's work
Liberty Hyde Bailey was one of the first to recognize the overall importance of Gregor MendelGregor Mendel
Gregor Johann Mendel was an Austrian scientist and Augustinian friar who gained posthumous fame as the founder of the new science of genetics. Mendel demonstrated that the inheritance of certain traits in pea plants follows particular patterns, now referred to as the laws of Mendelian inheritance...
's work; and he hired Herbert John Webber
Herbert John Webber
Herbert John Webber was an American plant physiologist who was born in Lawton, Michigan and grew up on a farm in Marshalltown, Iowa, originally wanting to be a lawyer. In 1889 he graduated from the University of Nebraska...
as Professor of Plant Breeding, the first tenured professor in the New York State College of Agriculture at Cornell University.
L.H. Bailey cited Mendel's 1865 and 1869 papers in the bibliography that accompanied his 1892 paper, "Cross Breeding and Hybridizing" and is mentioned once in the 1895 edition of Bailey's "Plant Breeding." The bibliographical reference is most likely the William Bateson
William Bateson
William Bateson was an English geneticist and a Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge...
, English translation of Mendel's Principals of Heredity cited on page 434 under Bateson's name in LH Bailey's classic book, Plant Breeding.
Agrarian ideology
Bailey represented an agrarianismAgrarianism
Agrarianism has two common meanings. The first meaning refers to a social philosophy or political philosophy which values rural society as superior to urban society, the independent farmer as superior to the paid worker, and sees farming as a way of life that can shape the ideal social values...
that stood in the tradition of Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
. He had a vision of suffusing all higher education, including horticulture, with a spirit of public work and integrating "expert knowledge" into a broader context of democratic community action. As a leader of the Country Life Movement, he strived to preserve the American rural
Rural
Rural areas or the country or countryside are areas that are not urbanized, though when large areas are described, country towns and smaller cities will be included. They have a low population density, and typically much of the land is devoted to agriculture...
civilization, which he thought was a vital and wholesome alternative to the impersonal and corrupting city life. In contrast to other progressive
Progressivism
Progressivism is an umbrella term for a political ideology advocating or favoring social, political, and economic reform or changes. Progressivism is often viewed by some conservatives, constitutionalists, and libertarians to be in opposition to conservative or reactionary ideologies.The...
thinkers at the time, he endorsed the family, which, he recognized, played a unique role in socialization. Especially the family farm
Family farm
A family farm is a farm owned and operated by a family, and often passed down from generation to generation. It is the basic unit of the mostly agricultural economy of much of human history and continues to be so in developing nations...
had a benign influence as a natural cooperative unit where everybody had real duties and responsibilities. The independence it fostered made farmers “a natural correction against organization men, habitual reformers, and extremists”. It was necessary to uphold fertility in order to maintain the welfare of future generations.
According to Bailey, the American rural population, however, was backward, ignorant and saddled with inadequate institutions. The key to his reform program was guidance by an educated elite toward a new social order. The Extension System
Cooperative extension service
The Cooperative Extension Service, also known as the Extension Service of the USDA, is a non-formal educational program implemented in the United States designed to help people use research-based knowledge to improve their lives. The service is provided by the state's designated land-grant...
was partly pioneered by Bailey. The grander design of a new rural social structure needed a philosophical vision that could inspire and motivate. For this purpose, he wrote Mother Earth, a “powerful testament to Nature as God and to the farmer as acolyte and collaborator in the process of ongoing creation”. It conformed largely to the Freemason creed that Bailey had been brought up with, and it was not explicit in demanding that traditional Christian dogma
Dogma
Dogma is the established belief or doctrine held by a religion, or a particular group or organization. It is authoritative and not to be disputed, doubted, or diverged from, by the practitioners or believers...
be discarded.
Bailey's real legacy was, according to Allan C. Carlson
Allan C. Carlson
Allan C. Carlson is a scholar and professor of history at Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, Michigan. He is the president of the Howard Center, a director of the Family in America Studies Center, the International Secretary of the World Congress of Families and editor of the Family in America...
, the themes and direction that he gave the new agrarian movement, ideas very different from previous agrarian thought. He saw technological innovation as friendly to the family farm and inevitably resulting in decentralization. He was scornful of the actual forms of peasant life and wanted to transform it by cutting the farmers loose from “the slavery of old restraints”. Parochial and communal social groups should be broken down and replaced by “inter–neighborhood” and “inter–community” groups, while new leaders would be called in “who will promote inclusive rather than exclusive sociability.” Bailey and his followers held a quasi–religious faith in education by enlightened experts, which meant suppression of inherited ways and substitution by progressive ways. It was accompanied by a corresponding hostility to traditional religion.
Bailey’s simultaneous embrace of the rural civilization and of technological progress had been based on a denial of the possibility of overproduction
Overproduction
In economics, overproduction, oversupply or excess of supply refers to excess of supply over demand of products being offered to the market...
of farm products. When that became a reality in the 1920’s, he turned to a “new economics” that would give farmers special treatment. Finally, after desperately toying with Communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
, he had to choose between fewer farmers and farm families and restraint on technology or production. He chose to preserve technology rather than the family farms. After this, he retreated from the Country Life movement into scientific study.
Bailey’s influence on modern American Agrarianism remains determinative. The inherent contradictions of his ideas have been equally persistent: the tension between real farmers and rural people and the Country Life campaign; difficulties to understand the operative economic forces; the reliance on state schools to safeguard family farms; and hostility to traditional Christian faith.
Bailey's memory
Cornell has memorialized Bailey by dedicating Bailey Hall in his honor. Since 1958 the American Horticultural SocietyAmerican Horticultural Society
The American Horticultural Society is a nonprofit, membership-based organization that promotes excellence in American horticulture. It is headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia....
has issued the annual Liberty Hyde Bailey Award http://www.ahs.org/awards/past_winners.htm. A residence hall in Brody Complex at Michigan State University
Michigan State University
Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...
, and an elementary school in East Lansing, Michigan
East Lansing, Michigan
East Lansing is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The city is located directly east of Lansing, Michigan, the state's capital. Most of the city is within Ingham County, though a small portion lies in Clinton County. The population was 48,579 at the time of the 2010 census, an increase from...
, were also named after him.
Bailey's publisher was George Platt Brett, Sr.
George Platt Brett, Sr.
George Platt Brett, Sr. was a British-born chairman and publisher of the American division of Macmillan Publishing. He was best known for serving as publisher, friend, and mentor of American author Jack London. Under Brett's leadership, Macmillan became one of the largest publishers in America. ...
of Macmillan Publishers (United States)
Macmillan Publishers (United States)
Macmillan Publishers USA, also known as Macmillan Publishing, is a privately held American publishing company owned by the Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. It has offices in 41 countries worldwide and operates in more than 30 others....
.
Bailey is credited with being instrumental in starting agricultural extension services, the 4-H
4-H
4-H in the United States is a youth organization administered by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture of the United States Department of Agriculture , with the mission of "engaging youth to reach their fullest potential while advancing the field of youth development." The name represents...
movement, the nature study
Nature study
The nature study movement was a popular education movement in America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Nature study attempted to reconcile scientific investigation with spiritual, personal experiences gained from interaction with the natural world...
movement, parcel post
Parcel post
Parcel post is a service of a postal administration for sending parcels through the post. It is generally one of the less expensive ways to ship packages that are too heavy to be sent by regular letter post and is usually a slower method of transportation....
and rural electrification
Electrification
Electrification originally referred to the build out of the electrical generating and distribution systems which occurred in the United States, England and other countries from the mid 1880's until around 1940 and is in progress in developing countries. This also included the change over from line...
. He was considered the father of rural sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
and rural journalism
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
.
About 140 years after his birth, the Liberty Hyde Bailey Scholars Program was created at Michigan State University
Michigan State University
Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...
, the institution of higher learning where Bailey began his career. The Bailey Scholars Program incorporates L.H. Bailey's love of learning and expressive learning styles to provide a space for students to become educated in fields that interest them.
Some selected works
- Talks Afield About Plants and the Science of Plants (1885)
- The Forcing-Book (1897)
- The Principles of Fruit-Growing (1897)
- The Nursery Book (1897)
- Plant-Breeding (1897)
- The Pruning Manual (1898)
- Sketch of the Evolution of our Native Fruits (1898)
- Principles of Agriculture (1898)
- The Principles of Vegetable Gardening (1901)
- The State and the Farmer (1908)
- The Nature Study Idea (1909)
- The Training of Farmers (1909)
- Animal biology; Human biology. Parts II & III of First course in biology with W.M. Coleman (1910)
- Manual of Gardening (1910)
- The Outlook to Nature (1911)
- The Survival of the Unlike (1911)
- The Country Life Movement (1911)
- The Practical Garden Book (1913)
- The Holy Earth (1915)
- Wind and Weather (poetry) (1916)
Selected articles
- Bailey, L.H. - Canna x generalis. Hortus, 118 (1930); cf. Standley & Steyerm. in Fieldiana, Bot., xxiv. III.204 (1952).
- Bailey, L.H. - Canna x orchiodes. Gentes Herb. (Ithaca), 1 (3): 120 (1923).
External links
- Liberty Hyde Bailey Museum, South Haven, Michigan
- A Man for All Seasons: Liberty Hyde Bailey. Cornell University Library Online Exhibition
- The Columbian Exposition, 1893
- Introduction to Bailey's volume of poetry, WIND AND WEATHER
Further reading
- Rodgers, A.D. 1949. Liberty Hyde Bailey: A Story of American Plant Sciences, Princeton University Press, Princeton,N.J.