Lyster Hoxie Dewey (1865–1944) was an American botanist from

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

. Lyster Dewey was born in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

, Michigan on March 14, 1865. In 1888, he graduated from

Michigan State Agricultural College Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

where, for the next two years, he taught botany.

Career

Dewey was hired as an assistant botanist of the

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...

in 1890. He served in that role until 1903 when he became the botanist in charge of

fiber Fiber or fibre (from la, fibra, links=no) is a natural or artificial substance that is significantly longer than it is wide. Fibers are often used in the manufacture of other materials. The strongest engineering materials often incorpora ...

investigations and fiber plants research at USDA's

Arlington Experimental Farm Arlington Experimental Farm was a former federal agricultural research farm in Alexandria, Virginia that opened in 1900. It was established by an Act of Congress, moving the Department of Agriculture's main research from the National Mall to Arl ...

. In 1911, he was the U.S. representative to the International Fibre Congress, held in Surabaya on

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mos ...

island, in the Dutch East Indies (present day Indonesia).

Publications

His publications comprised bulletins of the United States Department of Agriculture, on: * the production of fiber from flax, hemp (''

Cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: '' Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternative ...

'' species),

sisal Sisal (, ) (''Agave sisalana'') is a species of flowering plant native to southern Mexico, but widely cultivated and naturalized in many other countries. It yields a stiff fibre used in making rope and various other products. The term sisal may ...

, and

manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

plants * the origin of

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor pe ...

and classification of the varieties of cotton plants (''Gossypium'' species). * investigations on

grasses Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns ...

and invasive troublesome

weed A weed is a plant considered undesirable in a particular situation, "a plant in the wrong place", or a plant growing where it is not wanted.Harlan, J. R., & deWet, J. M. (1965). Some thoughts about weeds. ''Economic botany'', ''19''(1), 16-24. ...

s. He wrote about growing exotically named varieties of hemp on USDA research land in Virginia known as the Arlington Experimental Farm, site of the present day Pentagon.

Personal Diaries

Dewey began keeping personal diaries in 1896 and wrote in them nearly daily until his death in 1944. He recorded everything from quotidian activities such as where he dined that day, who he met at the office, how his wife and family spent their afternoons; he recorded important current events, such as presidential inaugurations, developments in the many wars that occurred during his lifetime, notes on the weather, modes of transportation and his personal reflections. Dewey recorded in his diaries much of the field observation and study he conducted on industrial hemp”numerous crops of diverse varieties which he grew on U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) research plots just outside Washington, D.C. where he lived with his family.

Taxonomist abbreviation

References

External links

* *
Lyster Dewey diaries web site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dewey, Lyster Hoxie American agricultural writers American botanical writers American pamphleteers American male non-fiction writers American taxonomists 1865 births 1944 deaths Cannabis researchers Scientists from Michigan United States Department of Agriculture people Michigan State University alumni Michigan State University faculty People from Lenawee County, Michigan 19th-century American botanists 20th-century American botanists 20th-century American non-fiction writers