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The Morrow Plots is an experimental agricultural field at the
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univers ...
. Named for Professor
George E. Morrow
George Espy Morrow (October 19, 1840 – Mar 19, 1900) was an American academic from Ohio. Born into a notable political family, he fought in the Civil War, then attended the University of Michigan Law School. After a decade as a newspaper editor, ...
, it is the oldest such field in the United States
and the second oldest in the world. It was established in 1876 as the first experimental corn field at an American college and continues to be used today, although with three plots of much reduced size, instead of the original ten half-acre lots.
The site was designated a
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...
on May 23, 1968.
The fields are managed by the College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences.
Description
The Morrow Plots occupy a central position on the campus of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), between the Main Quad and the South Quad. They are bounded on the south by West Gregory Drive, the north by the Observatory, the east by the Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, and the west by the Undergraduate Library. The plots currently consist of six small fields, each one-tenth of an acre in size. The two northernmost plots have been continuously planted in
maize
Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. The ...
(corn) since 1876. The middle plots were originally planted in a rotation of corn and oats, with the oats replaced by soybeans in 1968. The southern plots were originally planted in a rotation of three years corn followed by three years meadow; this was replaced in 1901 by a rotation of corn, oats, and clover, and in 1953 by corn, oats, and alfalfa.
It is popularly believed that the University constructed its Undergraduate Library to the west of the Plots with three stories underground, so that the library would not block the sun from the Morrow Plots. However, the University master plan at the time called for a large open plaza on that end of campus, which was an equally important reason the library was built underground.
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]
History
The Morrow Plots were begun in 1876 by Professor
Manly Miles
Manly Miles (July 20, 1826 – February 15, 1898) was an American zoologist and agriculturalist.
Manly Miles was born at Homer, New York, the son of Manly Miles, a soldier of the Revolution, and Mary Cushman, a lineal descendant of Miles Standish ...
,
[
] who established three half-acre fields with different crop schemes. These were expanded to ten plots in 1879 by
George E. Morrow
George Espy Morrow (October 19, 1840 – Mar 19, 1900) was an American academic from Ohio. Born into a notable political family, he fought in the Civil War, then attended the University of Michigan Law School. After a decade as a newspaper editor, ...
. At first, record keeping was not of the highest caliber, but by the turn of the 20th century it was clear that
crop rotation
Crop rotation is the practice of growing a series of different types of crops in the same area across a sequence of growing seasons. It reduces reliance on one set of nutrients, pest and weed pressure, and the probability of developing resistant ...
was a useful component in preventing the depletion of soil quality. In the early 20th century, the number of plots were reduced, and their size was also reduced, in order to facilitate expansion of the university facilities. The northernmost plots are the only ones that date to Miles' 1876 establishment; his other plots are now occupied by the
University of Illinois Observatory
The University of Illinois Astronomical Observatory, located at 901 S. Mathews Avenue in Urbana, Illinois, on the campus of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, was built in 1896, and was designed by Charles A. Gunn. It has been listed o ...
.
The results of the experiments which were carried out at the Morrow Plots showed that "soil quality is a vital component of agricultural productivity", and that the "use of science and technology ... increased crop productivity over four-fold."
Gallery
File:UIUC morrow plot.JPG, Looking north east toward Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology
The Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology (IGB) is ainterdisciplinaryfacility for genomics research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The Institute was built in 2006 to centralize biotechnology research at the University o ...
File:Morrow Plots UIUC.JPG, Looking north toward the Astronomical Observatory
See also
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Long-term experiment
A long-term experiment is an experimental procedure that runs through a long period of time, in order to test a hypothesis or observe a phenomenon that takes place at an extremely slow rate.
What duration is considered "long" depends on the academ ...
*
List of National Historic Landmarks in Illinois
There are 88 National Historic Landmarks in Illinois, including Eads Bridge, which spans into Missouri and which the National Park Service credits to Missouri's National Historic Landmark list. Also included are two sites that were once National ...
References
External links
The Morrow Plotsby the Department of Crop Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
*
{{National Register of Historic Places
National Historic Landmarks in Illinois
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
National Register of Historic Places in Champaign County, Illinois
Farms on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois