Arlington Experimental Farm

Arlington Experimental Farm was a former federal agricultural research farm in Alexandria, Virginia that opened in 1900.[1] It was established by an Act of Congress, moving the Department of Agriculture's main research from the National Mall to Arlington.[2][3] It grew hemp beginning in 1903 (under the cultivation of Lyster Dewey[1]), or 1914.[4] In 1928, it was the largest United States Department of Agriculture experiment station in the Washington, D.C. area.[5] USDA researcher Vera Charles also worked at the station, collecting Cannabis seeds from across America and studying pests and pathogens that could diminish hemp crop productivity.[6] Cultivars developed at Arlington include Arlington, Chington, Ferramington, Kymington and Arlington; Chington and Kymington[a] were adopted "extensively" by seed farmers producing hemp in Kentucky.[9] The seeds were probably destroyed by the government in the 1980s.[10]

In the 1930s, research was transferred to Henry A. Wallace Beltsville Agricultural Research Center in Beltsville, Maryland.[11] The land the farm had occupied became Arlington Farms temporary housing during World War II and was developed for the site of The Pentagon and its parking lots.[1]

Footnotes

  1. ^ Kymington grown at the Arlington Farm averaged 10 feet (3.0 m) tall,[7] and some Chington plants were 20 feet tall.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Arlington Experimental Farm". Lyster Dewey archives. Retrieved April 27, 2020.
  2. ^ 56th Congress 1900.
  3. ^ Avery 1928, p. 4.
  4. ^ Avery 1928, p. 17.
  5. ^ Avery 1928, p. 1.
  6. ^ McPartland, Clarke & Watson 2000, p. 7.
  7. ^ Dewey 1928, p. 359.
  8. ^ Dewey 1928, p. 360.
  9. ^ Dewey 1928.
  10. ^ Hoeven 2019.
  11. ^ "USDA history exhibit, 1930–1939". United States Department of Agriculture.

Sources

Further reading

38°52′45″N 77°03′42″W / 38.87920°N 77.0616°W / 38.87920; -77.0616

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