Chapter 4 - The founders

Abstract

This chapter presents biographies of notable people who were involved in the early years of weed science in the United States. Henry Luke Bolley was one of the earliest experimenters on the eradication of weeds in cereal grain fields by means of chemical sprays. It is not an exaggeration to claim that he introduced the idea of broadcast spraying of herbicides for selective weed control. Wilfred W. Robbins created the first university course on weeds at the College of Agriculture in Davis, California. He wrote the first textbook on weed control, which was responsible for the introduction of a course on weeds at many US universities. The first man to claim the title weed scientist was Alden Springer Crafts. Studies of dilute foliar applications of sodium arsenite for control of deep-rooted field bindweed led to Dr. Craft's primary research interest—the mechanism of translocation in plants, particularly phloem translocation. James W. Zahnley discovered the efficacy of sodium chlorate for control of field bindweed and Russian thistle and was involved in some of the first experiments on the herbicidal potential of sodium trichloroacetate (TCA) for control of perennial grasses. Thomas K. Pavlychenkowas was a pioneer in research designed to study the competitive interactions among crops and weeds. Erhardt P. (Dutch) Sylwester created weed control programs in Iowa based on the use of 2,4-D. His programs became the model for weed control in much of the US Corn Belt. Marion W. Parker as Director of the Crops Research Division of the US Department of Agriculture contributed to the development of the regional and national weed conferences, which were soon to become scientific societies. Biographical information on several other weed scientists is also included in the chapter.