Liberty Hyde Bailey (March 15, 1858 – December 25, 1954) was an American horticulturist and advocate for rural reform in the United States. He was cofounder of the American Society for Horticultural Science. During the Progressive Era, Bailey was instrumental in establishing the Cooperative Extension System, 4-H youth development programs, the nature study movement, parcel post, and rural electrification.:44 In 1903, Bailey founded the New York State College of Agriculture at Cornell University and served as its first dean until 1913. Bailey's work was influential in defining rural sociology as a distinct and valuable field of study in the United States.
Biography
Born in South Haven, Michigan, as the third son of farmers Liberty Hyde Bailey Sr. and Sarah Harrison Bailey. In 1876, Bailey met Lucy Millington who encouraged his interest in botany and mentored him. Bailey entered the Michigan Agricultural College (MAC, now Michigan State University) in 1877 and graduated in 1882 (he had taken a year off from study for health reasons). The next year, he became assistant to the renowned botanist Asa Gray, of Harvard University. This was arranged by a professor at MAC, William James Beal. Bailey spent two years with Gray as his herbarium assistant. The same year, he married Annette Smith, the daughter of a Michigan cattle breeder, whom he met at the Michigan Agricultural College. They had two daughters, Sara May, born in 1887, and Ethel Zoe, born in 1889.
In 1884 Bailey returned to MAC to become professor and chair of the Horticulture and Landscape Gardening Department, establishing the first horticulture department in the country.
