Pennsylvania State University, Agricultural Experiment Station records

The Hatch Act of 1887 provided the Pennsylvania State College and other land-grant institutions with a permanent annual appropriation; its purpose was to fund agricultural experiment stations, promoting research and investigation, and to aid the Department of Agriculture in acquiring and diffusing innovative information in the field. The Agricultural Experiment Station at Penn State opened on 30 June 1887. It reported on samples of various agricultural products, identified plants, insects, and fungi, and performed various soil tests and fertilizer analyses. Reports and bulletins were mailed regularly from the institution free of charge to any Pennsylvania citizen who requested them. The Jordan Fertility Plots, which were established in 1882, were famous around the world for the results of their fertilizer analyses and soil testing. One of the most significant developments at the Agricultural Experiment Station was the completion of Henry Prentiss Armsby's respiration calorimeter in 1902. The calorimeter monitored the metabolism of cattle, the first such instrument large enough to do so. This innovative device became the basis on which the study of animal nutrition in America was founded. The Agricultural Experiment Station has produced numerous satellite centers, including the Erie County Field Research Laboratory (1948), the Southwestern Field Research Laboratory (1957), and the Rock Springs Agricultural Research Center (1959). These were established in order to obtain data pertinent to the various counties in Pennsylvania. Today, the faculty of Penn State's College of Agriculture conduct over two hundred and fifty experiments in the Agricultural Experiment Station as a part of their mission as a land-grant school.