Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Retrospective Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 1992 Science, practice and politics: German agricultural experiment stations in the nineteenth century Mark Russell Finlay Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd Part of the European History Commons, and the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine Commons Recommended Citation Finlay, Mark Russell, "Science, practice and politics: German agricultural experiment stations in the nineteenth century " (1992). Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. 9830. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/9830 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Retrospective Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. 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All rights reserved. 300N.ZeebRd. Ann Arbor, MI 48106 Science, practice and politics: German agricultural experiment stations in the nineteenth century by Mark Russell Finlay A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department : History Major: History of Technology and Science Approved: Signature was redacted for privacy. In Charge of Major Work Signature was redacted for privacy. Ë^rtï^ïï^or Department Signature was redacted for privacy. For the Graduate College Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 1992 Copyright © Mark Russell Finlay, 1992. All rights reserved. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABBREVIATIONS iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv INTRODUCTION CHAPTER ONE: AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE AND THE GERMAN NATION, 1800-1850 13 CHAPTER TWO: FARMERS' UNIONS, RURAL STATIONS AND THE FIELD PREACHER OF THARANDT: MÔCKERN AND THE EARLY EXPERIMENT STATIONS 78 CHAPTER THREE: GOVERNMENT MINISTRIES, URBAN STATIONS, AND AGRICULTURAL SCIENTISTS: A REEVALUATION OF THE STATIONS' MISSION 126 CHAPTER FOUR: FROM CHEMISTRY TO PHYSIOLOGY: EXPERIMENT STATION RESEARCH IN THE 1850S AND 1860S 180 CHAPTER FIVE: AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATIONS IN AN ERA OF UNIFICATION AND INDUSTRIALIZATION, 1870-1888. 238 CHAPTER SIX: GERMAN EXPERIMENT STATIONS' INFLUENCE IN OTHER NATIONS 301 CONCLUSION 370 BIBLIOGRAPHY 380 iii ABBREVIATIONS AHE Deutsche ALKPS Annalen Landwirtschaft in den Konialichen Preussischen Staaten ALKESÏÏ • Annalen d&n Landwirtschaft in dan Konialichen Preussischen Staaten: wochenbiatt m Per Chemische Ackersmann naa Dictionary Scientific Biography ma Die Landwirtschaftlichen Versuchsstationen MVLFHB Mittheilunaen des Vereins fur Land- und im Herzoathume Braunschweig ma Neue Deutsche Biographie VDAC Versammlung Deutscher Agrikulturchemiker, Physiologen, und Vorstande der Versuchs-Stationen (Congress of German Agricultural Chemists, Physiologists, and Experiment Station Directors) VDLF Versammlung Deutscher Land- und Forstwirthe- (Congress of German Farmers and Foresters) VDNA Versammlung Deutscher Naturforscher und Artze (Congress of German Scientists and Physicians) VLVSDR Verband des landwirtschaftliche Versuch-Stationen im Deustchen Reich (Union of Agricultural Experiment Stations in the German Empire) Zeitschrift fiiz Agrargeschichte und Aararsozioioaie ZdlCVProvSachsen Zeitschrift des landwirtschaftlichen Central-Verein der Provinz Sachsen iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Countless family members, friends, colleagues, professors and others have helped this paper reach its conclusion. The Garst Fellowship, directed by Dr. Harold Lee, provided the funds that made research in Germany possible. Thanks to these monies, I was able to spend six months in the FRG and the former GDR; thanks to frugal living in dormitories and the prudent purchase of a $93.00 Audi, I was able to make good use of my time and money. I received a great deal of advice and encouragement from the momemt I arrived in Berlin. The 1988 Summer Institute for the Philosophy and History of Science, held in the former GDR, was especially significant. I learned a great deal from my colleagues there, and was well prepared for the subsequent months of archival training. I would like especially to thank Dr. William R. Woodward and others who organized and accepted me for this conference; Dr. Hamilton Cravens deserves credit for pushing me into this valuable experience. As events have turned out, my time behind the Berlin Wall also has proven to be a valuble historical lesson. I continued to receive great help in the Federal Republic. Prof. Dr. Harald Winkel and Dr. Klaus Hermann of the Universitat Hohenheim provided me with all possible facilities and comforts. I spent nearly three months in V their offices, without hearing a single complaint. Staff members at the Universitatsbibliothek Hohenheim pleasantly answered the daily requests and questions from the visiting foreigner. Others were also memorable, especially Herr Ebersbach of the Albrecht Thaer Bibliothek in Celle and Dr. Siegfried Heilenz of the Liebig Museum Giessen. I should also thank Prof. Dr. Volker Klemm of East Berlin, and Dr. Wolfgang Bohm of Gottingen for their time and expertise. Finally, I would like to thank Isabella Rohrbach, Iwo Emery, Elke Hahn, Laura Samaan-Berthold, Hamilton and Chris Cravens, Eric and Laura Elliott, and Richard Kremer for their help and hospitality, Despite my success in Germany, I did not retrieve all of the possible information. A long list of friends and colleagues have sent additional materials in the past few years, including: Dr. E. Patrick Munday, Dr. Ursula Schling- Brodersen, Dr. Maria Trumpler, Dr. Wolfgang Bohm, Dr. W. H. Brock, Dr. Hamilton Cravens, Dr. Anna Clark, Dr. Alan Rocke, and Margaret Harcourt-Williams. In nearly all cases, they supplied articles and documents, that, at least from my point of view, seemed crucial to this dissertation. In addition, loan librarians at Iowa State University and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte have cheerfully supplied scores, nay hundreds, of books and articles over the years. Leann Alexander of Iowa State, and Barbara Lisenby and vi Adrienne Cobb of UNCC deserve special thanks in this regard. I am especially indebted to Drs, Julia Kirk Blackwelder and Carole R. Haber, chairs of UNCC's history department, who have offered enough part-time employment over the years to keep this career afloat. My intellectual debts are also many. Major professor Dr. Alan I Marcus has guided and encouraged this project from the start. There is no more impressive teacher or scholar on any campus, and Iowa State is lucky to have him. The other members of my committee, including Dr. Robert E. Schofield, Dr. Andrejs Plakans, and Dr. Richard C. Kirkendall have taught me a great deal over the years, and each has added important comments to this paper as well. I might also mention inspiring teachers from the more distant past. These include C. Ellen Mease and Dr. Joseph Wall, who taught at Grinnell College during my time there, and a very remarkable history teacher, Peter Lalich of Athens High School. Finally, there's my best friend and wife, Kelly Applegate. She has stood behind me since the day we met, and it would have been impossible to finish this dissertation without her.' 1 INTRODUCTION Before the nineteenth century, notions of "science," "experiment," and "industry" were rarely found in studies of German agriculture. Instead, traditional agricultural practices and relationships dominated the German states' rural economy. As a result, most German agriculturists had very little to offer on foreign markets. The situation embarrassed domestic critics and appalled some foreign visitors, but there was little opportunity to foster change. The respected jurist Johann Jakob Moser, for instance,