JOHN H. KLIPPART, SECRETARY OF THE
OHIO STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE,
1856-1878*
by JOHN F. CUNNINGHAM
Dean Emeritus, College of
Agriculture, Ohio State University
When a man devotes his abilities and
his energy and his vision to
developing something that is of
fundamental interest to all the
people; and does such an outstanding
job that he wins the hearty
acclaim and the profound respect of his
generation; and when the
results of his work become so much a
part of our daily living that
we regard them as matter of fact and
forget their origin, he then
deserves a reminder in our everyday
thinking. His name, at least,
should be fairly familiar to the
average citizen and especially to
those in the field of his broad
activities.
Repeatedly have budding journalists
come to ask for some leads
that would help them prepare a story of
the life and work of John H.
Klippart. They would be referred to
sources where the facts were
available, but when their stories
appeared, practically all were
limited to the tips received during our
conversation. So, we choose
to offer a brief review of the
activities of one of Ohio's most pro-
ductive men. May it serve as a glow
from the embers of a great
enthusiasm, which yielded lasting
results even though its heat did
burn out, far too soon, the physical
being of an inspired citizen.
John Hancock Klippart was of German
descent. His grandfather
came to America with Lafayette during
the American Revolution.
At the close of the Revolutionary War,
he married a Virginia lady
and settled in Maryland. From there the
father of Secretary Klippart
migrated to Stark County, Ohio, in
1816, and there the subject of
this sketch was born on July 26, 1823.
His early education was quite
limited. As a boy he attended schools
operated by Irish schoolmasters,
but most of his boyhood was spent
working in a wool carding
factory and as an errand boy for a
country store. At fifteen he
entered a drug store in Canton as a
clerk and while there made
*This article, slightly abridged, was
read as a paper before the Kit-Kat Club of
Columbus, February 20, 1951.
51
52
Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
considerable progress in the study of
medicine. This knowledge
served him well in later years. From
1840 to 1847 he engaged in
mercantile business in Massillon and in
1847 was married. After
that he set up business for himself, in
dry goods, and then became
postmaster at Osnaburg, Ohio. From 1850
to 1853 he did contract
work in the building of the Pittsburgh,
Ft. Wayne, and Chicago
Railroad and in this venture lost all
that he had managed to save
in former years. From 1853 to 1856 he
edited the Democratic
Transcript of Canton and for a while during that period was asso-
ciated with Thomas Brown in editing the
Ohio Farmer of Cleveland.
In 1856 he was elected corresponding
secretary of the Ohio State
Board of Agriculture where he served
with brilliant success until
his untimely death in 1878.
During his service as secretary he
evidently was the power behind
the agricultural program of the state,
which was just swinging into
full action. At that time there was no
college of agriculture, no
agricultural experiment station, no
basic agricultural science to speak
of. What research there was was done by
private workers at their
own expense. It was a time that called
for level-headed leadership,
and for Ohio it was supplied by the
subject of our discussion.
During his service as secretary,
Klippart was called upon to serve
on many special missions. In 1860 he
was appointed a member
of a commission to visit Massachusetts
to investigate a serious
cattle disease then prevailing. His
account of that assignment ap-
peared in the next annual report. In
1865, under the authority of
the board of agriculture, he visited
Europe to investigate systems of
agriculture and agricultural
institutions of learning. In 1869 he
became assistant state geologist and in
1873 was one of the three
appointed commissioners of fisheries.
Through his report on the
feasibility of restocking the streams
of Ohio and Lake Erie the
legislature was led to appropriate
$10,000 for the purpose. His ability
as a scientist was recognized by
numerous scientific associations,
both in this country and abroad, by
election as an honorary member.
In his first official report-for the
year 1857--Klippart gave a
broad and detailed analysis of Ohio
agriculture with a wealth of
wise comment. At that time he was
thirty-four years old but evi-
John H. Klippart 53
dently had a fine grasp of facts and a
judicial attitude toward what
was good for agriculture. After
presenting a clear argument favor-
ing organized weather observations in
various parts of the state
and suggesting the purchase of a set of
necessary meteorological
instruments he observed:
Labor decreases in cost just in
proportion as it is intelligently directed
and performed; and information of the
kind indicated in the preceding
paragraph, thoroughly and widely
disseminated, will greatly aid in directing
the operations of the agriculturist in a
more profitable manner.... Men of
comprehensive views, however, are
rapidly becoming convinced that our
increasing civilization demands a
corresponding advance in the method of
tilling the soil. This end can be
attained only by educating those who are,
and those who are to be[,] engaged in
agriculture, in all that pertains to their
avocation. The successful handling of
the plow, or any other agricultural
implement, argues of itself no more
proficiency in agriculture proper, than
does the skillful handling of a razor in
the hands of a barber argue a
thorough knowledge of surgery, as was
once supposed. To handle imple-
ments properly, is indicative of a
knowledge of the mechanical portion
of agriculture only; there is a very
dose relation between the sciences of
Geology, Mineralogy, Botany, Zoology,
and Entomology of the State, and
its agriculture.
Again he declared:
Education is everything to a free
people. It is justly regarded as the
most efficient means for the
promulgation of such principles as contribute
to the permanency of our institutions. .
. . There have been established in
our midst, by and with the consent of
the Legislature, and encouraged and
patronized by the Farmers, law schools,
theological schools, and medical
schools, but nowhere within the
boundaries of the State has there been es-
tablished by legislative authority, and
encouraged and patronized by the
government, an agricultural school.
He then proceeded to develop an
extensive and logical argument
favoring institutions for developing
training in the sciences and
practices of better agriculture, citing
what already had been started
and was well under way in some of the
countries of Europe. This
was before the original land-grant
college act of Senator Morrill of
Vermont was passed by congress in 1858
and vetoed by President
Buchanan. Klippart was thoroughly sold
on the merits of education
in agriculture and had the ground
pretty well prepared for develop-
54
Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
ing the benefits of the land-grant act
that was reintroduced and
passed later and signed by President
Lincoln in 1862. There were
other matters in our national picture
that demanded attention in
the middle 1860's, however, and nothing
was done in Ohio with
the land grants for college assistance
until about 1870.
In the meantime, the records show that
the issue was kept alive
by the state board of agriculture, and
this means that Secretary
Klippart was the central force. He was
ably supported, of course,
by Norton S. Townshend, who had started
a school for farmers at
Oberlin in the middle 1850's, and who
was a very active member
of the board. But it may well be
assumed that there was one single
influence that was working, during the
war, favoring agricultural
college training and that was the state
board, led by its indomitable
secretary.
During this period of general
agricultural awakening there was
no college or experiment station, so
the spirit of progress, through
publicity and research, was kept moving
by way of the publications
of the state department, supported by
the few farm papers of that
day, which were also influential and of
whose ranks the secretary was
a notable graduate. In his state
position Secretary Klippart com-
manded great power and influence, and
the trend of rural develop-
ment was largely at his direction.
Included in the report of the board for
1857 is Klippart's treatise
on "The Wheat Plant." This is
a well written study of 254 pages
and was regarded as of such value that
it was later published in
book form and had wide distribution and
acceptance. It was illus-
trated with a number of excellent
lithographs.
Also in this report he had an article
on rainfall in Ohio, illustrated
with a number of full page maps, in
great detail, all drawn by the
author. In order to encourage
successful breeders, feeders, and
general farmers to share their
experiences, cash prizes of $50 each
were offered for essays on such
subjects as Domestic Animals, In-
jurious Insects, Beneficial Birds,
Grasses, Soils of Ohio, Drainage,
and Hedging.
Upon accepting the assignment of
corresponding secretary of the
board of agriculture, Klippart began
the prosecution of a zealous
John H. Klippart 55
program in the interest of agriculture
which, of course, was the
leading industry of the state. His
office was the nucleus about which
revolved the thinking and planning of
those interested in the ad-
vancement of farming technique and the
improvement of rural
living. In addition to the management
of the office and attending
to the many chores that drifted in from
the various county agri-
cultural societies he delegated to
himself the task of gathering
helpful and authoritative information
regarding definite phases of
agriculture.
In his introduction to the report for
1858, Secretary Klippart ex-
pressed regret that a monograph on
underdraining (which he had
written after extended research) could
not be included because it
would make the volume too large. This
was a monumental study of
the practices of underdraining land,
with the best current methods
and equipment fully described. Somewhat
abridged, it appeared in
the report for 1860. It also was
published in book form, widely dis-
tributed, and translated into foreign
languages. The subject was
timely and through the effects of this
treatise a great campaign of
tile drainage was instituted on
thousands of Ohio farms.
In this same report also appeared a
comprehensive monograph on
the "Meteorology of Ohio"
prepared jointly by Prof. W. W. Mather
and Secretary Klippart. The treatise
embraces extensive data of
weather statistics compiled and
tabulated by Klippart from reports
of many observers. As Klippart
remarked: "Too little attention has
been paid to meteorological
observations throughout the state. The
systematic observations of years, in
many places, are to be compiled,
digested and discussed, before we can
expect to understand fully
all the elements of our climate."
Thus we have some knowledge of
the serious thought that was given to
the subject of climatic con-
ditions and weather changes many years
before the National
Weather Service was established in
1870, under the Army Signal
Corps, and taken over by the United
States Department of Agri-
culture, as the Weather Bureau, in
1891. Today the weather service
applies to aeronautics, shipping,
commercial and industrial interests,
as well as to general agriculture. It
has been administered by the
Department of Commerce since 1940.
56 Ohio State
Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
In this same report for 1858 is an
extensive treatise on "The
Rapacious Birds of Ohio" which was
prepared for a double purpose.
One was to inform the agricultural
public that many of the rapacious
birds were their best friends, the
vigilant and constant destroyers of
enemies of the farmer. A full
description of the various hawks and
owls was necessary so that beneficial
birds would not be mistaken
for injurious ones. The other was to
preserve, in permanent form, a
history of the birds of Ohio. This
section, in which twenty-nine
species are described, was prepared by
John Kirkpatrick and had
appeared previously, in large part, in
the Ohio Farmer, of which
Klippart had been editor for a period.
It was suggested, in the first
place, by Ohio's veteran naturalist,
the renowned Jared Potter Kirt-
land, who had said that "in
consequence of the changes produced by
man, many species are becoming scarce,
while a few that in the first
days of the settlement of our State
were comparatively numerous
had ceased to visit us, and could not
strictly be included in our
fauna." Previous to that time Dr.
Kirtland had written his "Report
on Birds" for the Ohio Geological
Survey.
In this same volume, also, was a
monograph on the "History,
Culture and Varieties of Indian
Corn" prepared by Secretary Klip-
part. This was followed by an essay on
"The Oat Plant," translated
from the German by Klippart; and an
extensive article on cattle
feeding also translated from the
German.
In this same volume, from his pen,
appears a treatise on "The
Skin, Wool and Breeding of Sheep."
At that time Ohio was stepping
into leadership among the states in
sheep production, a leadership
held for many years. The pinnacle was
reached in the 1870's and
1880's. While some of the mountain
states of the West now lead in
total numbers, Ohio is still the leader
among states east of the Mis-
sissippi River in total numbers and
leads all of the states in the Union
in numbers of purebred flocks. The good
effects of the leadership
of a century ago still hold.
In this same report, also, there is a
comprehensive essay of his on
"Butter, Cream, Cheese and
Dairying." These essays were in effect
textbooks for the use of those who
wished to improve their methods.
In his report as corresponding
secretary in this same volume he
John H. Klippart 57
laid the foundation for a program of
permanent soil improvement,
not alone through fertilization and
deep tillage, but more especially
through the agency of underdrainage. He
mentions that drain-tile
factories were being established in
many places in northern Ohio
where clay soils prevailed largely,
especially in the easterly, non-
glaciated portions. He also urged the
importance of a geological
survey from the standpoint of
agriculture. Arguing further in this
connection he said:
The growing industry of the State
demands that the utmost amount pos-
sible should be realized from our
productive resources. The initiatory step
to this devoutly wished for consummation
is a geological survey, and the
next step will be to secure the
facilities of imparting a thorough knowledge
of the soil, as well as the manner of
producing from it the largest possible
profitable results. This can be done
only by the establishment of agricultural
schools and colleges, either with or
without model or experimental farms.
. . . The agricultural intelligence
intended is that which is based upon the
attachment to the soil and to the
country, in patriotism and devotion to the
avocation. . . . Where this intelligence
exists and is applied, there also is
considerable augmentation of income. . .
. But this should not be the
privilege of some, but the common boon
of all.... The principal element
in progress, whether political or agricultural,
is general instruction. . . .
The necessity of agricultural institutes
or schools is sufficiently established.
In this same volume appeared a
"Communication on the Use of
the Microscope." It was an extract
from a letter from Joseph Sulli-
vant, a leading citizen of early
Columbus, a highly intelligent man
who had more to do than any other with
the early program of study
in the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical
College, which later be-
came the Ohio State University.
It is appropriate to mention, also, the
fact that Joseph Sullivant's
brother William was a leading American
authority on mosses, as
well as being the leading banker in
central Ohio. Specimens from
the collections of William Sullivant are
still to be seen among the
botanical collections of the Ohio State
University. It is also interest-
ing to note that William Sullivant was
an intimate associate and
fellow worker with the great American
botanist Asa Gray; and he
commissioned Gray to buy a microscope
for him when Gray made
a trip to England. This letter ends with
the following remarks:
58
Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
The higher purpose of your organization
will be fulfilled when you
become the source whence emanates all
that is new and valuable in the
agriculture of Ohio; when your reports
disseminate, from time to time,
to the farmers of the State, the
results of your own original researches and
experiments, as well as substantial and reliable information
gleaned from
other sources in all the departments of
rural affairs.
Thus was stated, clearly and
definitely, the province of the state
board, in the judgment of one of the
most alert and intelligent
citizens of that day. It was in
striving to measure up to that estimate
that Secretary Klippart made his
outstanding contribution to agri-
cultural advancement through his
twenty-two years of public life.
I have devoted considerable time and
space to the report for 1858
for no special reason except that it is
typical of the twenty-one that
appeared under the sponsorship of
Secretary Klippart. In addition
to the various treatises, translations,
and technical communications,
of course, appear the official records
of the board for which his
office was responsible--reports of
meetings, including records of
useful discussion; a detailed report of
the state fair; and reports of
all of the county agricultural
societies and county fairs. A number of
essays on practical farm subjects by
men whose names have since
made rural history, are to be found
within these pages. Not only
his own writings and translations but
the productions of those whom
he induced to contribute combined to
make the Klippart program
productive to an outstanding degree.
For several years a quota of the yearly
reports of the board were
printed in German. This was started
early in the career of Secretary
Klippart. On the inside cover of the
report for 1858 appears the
following: "The Ohio State Board
of Agriculture, established by act
of the legislature, desires to exchange
its annual report, and receive
those of other societies. They wish,
also, to correspond with agri-
cultural societies in other countries,
and to exchange fruits, seeds,
implements, etc." This was printed
in French, English, and German
in the order named. At the same time a
number of copies of the
entire volume of 632 pages were printed
in the German language.
Many have thought that publication in
German was largely for
the benefit of the thousands of German
farmers who had settled in
John H. Klippart 59
Ohio, mostly in the western counties, a
part of the great migration
from Germany following 1848. However,
the desire of Klippart to
encourage exchanges with agricultural
leaders in other countries
may have been an important factor in
this rather unusual procedure.
The plan seemed to find continued
favor, since in the report for
1875 we find a joint resolution
relative to printing copies of agri-
cultural reports. It provided that
there should be an edition of
20,000 for 1875 and the same number for
1876, "of which ten
percent shall be printed in
German." It also provided that the secre-
tary of state should apportion to
"members of the general assembly
the number of German copies for each
member to be determined
from a list supplied the secretary of
state by the committee on agri-
culture from each house."
The breadth of Klippart's interest is
indicated by a note appearing
in the report for 1859. He said:
I have endeavored to present in the
Annual Reports from time to time
such portions of the Natural History of
the State as might be deemed
"interesting and useful." In
the Report for 1857, an outline of the Geology
of the State and a local catalogue of
existing land shells were presented;
also, rain charts of the several
seasons of the year. In the Report for 1858,
the Meteorology of the State was given
at length and in detail. I have
deemed a catalogue of the indigenous
plants of the State as being no less
interesting and useful.
The catalog then presented, from the
pen of J. S. Newberry,
M. D., was the first effort toward
recording the complete flora of
the state.
During the Civil War he was frequently
dispatched by Governors
Tod and Brough with important messages
to Nashville, Cold Harbor,
and elsewhere. In 1865 he was deputed
to examine institutions for
teaching agriculture as well as to
observe the systems of agriculture
in Great Britain and the countries of
continental Europe. His report
of his tour, in the report for 1865,
contributed largely to, if it was
not the sole cause of, the introduction
of the Percheron horse from
France.
During the period of reconstruction
following the war there was
great improvement in agricultural
practices and the first general
60
Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
appreciation of the importance of a
knowledge of the natural
sciences to the business of farming. At
the same time the gates
seemed to be opened to the utility of
labor-saving devices and
machinery, so that production could be
increased with less effort
on the part of the operator. The result
of that development, which
has increased through the years, is
that today one farm operator
can feed several times as many urban
dwellers as was possible more
than a century ago. This was all the
result of a new drive of in-
ventiveness in relation to farm
operations. The old idea that using
labor-saving machinery indicated a lazy
spirit was replaced by the
idea that, with the same amount of
exertion, the operator could
produce more. There is probably no
better and more complete
record of the productive inventions of
that period than is found
in the agricultural reports of the
Klippart regime. Through the de-
scriptions of the various machines and
devices that were exhibited at
the state fairs, and meticulously
reported by Secretary Klippart, one
can trace clearly the trail of
invention and adaptation and improve-
ment that has made the American farm
the most productive in the
world and which has resulted in the
highest type of rural living to
be found anywhere.
In the twenty-one volumes that I have
gone through in preparing
this review there is an average of over
650 pages per volume. The
monographs and translations prepared by
Klippart himself range
from one to eleven per volume and from
a few pages each to 254
pages in one instance, 150 in another,
and 145 in still another, many
of these being illustrated with
drawings by the author. This writing
job was, in itself, something of a task
in view of the fact that these
monographs are all on technical or
scientific subjects. When it is
recalled that practically single-handed
all of the annual reports had
to be compiled and edited, all of the
statistics had to be gathered
and tabulated, all office
correspondence had to be handled, office
calls had to be met, and a state board
had to be satisfied, we must
admit that the secretary was a busy
man.
He devoted his life to American
industries. His religious views
were liberal and he conformed to no
special creed. His writings
have been quoted all over this country
and in Europe. He was a
John H. Klippart 61
member of the Central Acclimatization
Society of Prussia and of the
Imperial Agricultural Society of
France. The California Natural
History Society elected him a
corresponding member and his services
were attested by the Cincinnati Natural
History Society. He was a
member and contributed to the program
of the American Association
for the Advancement of Science and was
vice president of the
Natural History Society of Columbus.
At the time of his death it was ordered
"that the rooms of the
Board be draped in mourning for thirty
days." His funeral was
attended by many state officials
including the members of the
supreme court and, of course, the
members of the state board of
agriculture. The funeral discourse was
delivered at his home by
Edward Orton, president of the Ohio
State University, who re-
viewed the characteristics of his life,
his motives, desires, aspirations,
and religious belief. He emphasized
what he called the eager love of
knowledge that was manifest in his
mature years. This was a fire
that never went out-that never burned
low. His eye had been
opened to the order of the world. He
had come to see that number
and right and law underlie the varied
phenomena that pass before
us and the charm of this knowledge was,
for him, never worn out.
While his range of interest was wide it
was especially natural science
in its latter phases that attracted him
most strongly. His early and long
continued identification with the
agricultural interests of the state obliged
him to extend his range of thought and knowledge over a
wide field, for
agriculture is in some sort an epitome
and condensation of all science.
The breadth of the field that interested
him can be judged in some
degree from the books that he gathered.
One of the choicest private col-
lections of scientific works to be found
in this state is sheltered under
this roof. His wide and catholic range
of sympathy and thought are in-
dicated here.
An outstanding characteristic of
Secretary Klippart was his deep
desire to extend and publicize the
knowledge that he had, as well
as the knowledge of other men that could
be made available. He
was a vigorous advocate of the
adaptation of science to the practical
operations of life. He regarded science
as the remedial agent for the
ills and problems of the world. He was
strong for spreading the
62 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
gospel of practical know-how based on
scientific principles and in
this ministry he was constant and
untiring.
Secretary Klippart prized science for
its power of practical service,
and nothing could stir his indignation
more quickly and more deeply
than for a scientific man to keep to
himself some important fact
that he had determined. To his way of
thinking it was sacrilege for
science to hide its fact under the veil
of exclusiveness.
Another characteristic of this
man--perhaps his outstanding one
-was a driving spirit that led him to
perform intellectual toil that
finally proved beyond his physical
strength. In the words of President
Orton: "The steadiness of his
application and his mental energy,
even when disease had laid its hand
upon him, shamed many of us
who were in sounder health. The
disposition to labor, the impulse
to act on, was too imperious for even
his strength. I take it that he
was clearly a victim of prolonged
overwork."
Perhaps the most intimate analysis of
his life and work appeared
editorially in the Ohio State
Journal, written by one who knew him
rather intimately. It is, in part, as
follows:
Mr. Klippart was in many respects a
remarkable man. As a student
nothing seemed to appall him. His
capacity for work was beyond the com-
prehension of those who frequently came
in contact with him. His research
was endless and his retentive faculties
amazing. He absorbed much and
forgot no material points. During his
life he accumulated a private library
on scientific subjects which is
pronounced the best in Columbus and which
probably has but few superiors in the
country. He read French and German
and was a subscriber to all the leading
scientific periodicals printed in those
languages. He was an indefatigable
worker practically, and in the pursuit
of book learning; and was a deep
thinker and ready, concise writer. He was
an excellent geologist and left his
lasting mark in that connection in the
Report of the Ohio Geological Survey.
He applied an extensive knowledge
of Botany in many of his writings and
was well versed in anthropology and
archaeology. For more than 20 years he
was editor of the Ohio Agri-
cultural Reports which rank second to
no similar publications in this or any
other country; and during that time he
has written several valuable books
on agricultural subjects which are
standard. He was a man of great ver-
satility in scientific matters and at
the same time unassuming and seemingly
indifferent to promotion; beyond
temptation to conspicuous places of profit
which would in any degree withdraw him
from his favorite studies. He was
John H. Klippart 63
enthusiastic in science and practical in
the application of his scientific
knowledge to agriculture. He always seemed to be best
pleased when he was
able to promote the agricultural interests of the state
and he undoubtedly
exerted a powerful influence toward the
advancement of Ohio. It is safe
to say that there was not a prominent
agriculturist in the state who did not
know John H. Klippart personally and
there is probably not a Buckeye
farmer, who reads, who has not known of
him and looked upon him as an
authority. He was completely at home in
any scientific circle and was
thoroughly conscientious and unselfish
in the application of his knowledge.
Without an intimate acquaintance with
his personal graces, his habits of
study and his devotion to the
agricultural interests of the state the reader
cannot fully appreciate the loss
sustained in his death. He was a thorough
gentleman, honorable in all his public
and private transactions and made
a pleasing impression on all who came in
contact with him. In his death
a useful, amiable man passes away.
He was a one-man institution with a
prophetic vision, and a tre-
mendously productive leader in the
interests of the basic industry
of a great state. He wrote history in
the most effective way that
history can be written-and that is
while it is being made. Also, he
was an integral part of the history
that he was recording; but he was
modest in taking credit for himself.
For almost half of his years he
was a citizen of Columbus and he rests
in Greenlawn Cemetery.