Charles Vancouver Piper
Charles Vancouver Piper was a prominent botanist born on June 16, 1867, in Victoria, British Columbia, who later moved to the Washington Territory. His early interest in botany led him to join the Young Naturalists Club and pursue a formal education at the University of Washington Territory, where he earned a bachelor's degree at just eighteen. He subsequently obtained a master's degree from Washington State Agricultural College and another from Harvard University. Piper’s scientific career began as a botany instructor at Washington State Agricultural College, later transitioning to the United States Department of Agriculture in 1903, where he focused on forage crop investigations.
Piper was a prolific researcher and author, publishing several significant works, including *Flora of the State of Washington* and *The Soybean*. He was instrumental in the foundation of the American Society of Agronomy and served as its president in 1914. Known for his contributions to agricultural science, particularly in the study of Sudan grass and soybeans, Piper's work greatly advanced the field of botany and plant pathology. He passed away on February 11, 1926, in Washington, DC, just days after suffering a stroke.
Subject Terms
Charles Vancouver Piper
Botanist and agronomist
- Born: June 16, 1867
- Birthplace: Victoria, British Columbia
- Died: February 11, 1926
- Place of death: Washington, DC
Contribution: For most of his life, Charles Vancouver Piper was a botanist and agronomist who specialized in studying soil in relation to food production and human activities in an attempt to save damaged or polluted areas and conserve soil. His research helped identify more than one hundred plant species, introduced the Sudan grass—an important component of hay crops—to North America, and helped golf courses improve their turf grasses. Piper was also an author who published a number of books on these subjects.
Early Life and Education
Charles Vancouver Piper was born on June 16, 1867, in Victoria, British Columbia. Soon after his birth, his family moved to the United States’ Washington Territory, and Piper grew up near Seattle. From an early age, Piper was interested in botany and plants, joining the Young Naturalists Club in 1883. He attended the University of Washington Territory and earned a bachelor’s degree in 1885, when he was only eighteen years old. He went on to earn a master’s degree in 1892 from the Washington State Agricultural College (known today as Washington State University). In 1900, he earned a second master’s degree from Harvard University. Piper was awarded an honorary degree from Kansas Agricultural College in 1921.
Scientific Career
After receiving his master’s degree from the Washington State Agricultural College, Piper began teaching botany at his alma mater in Pullman. He remained there until 1903, working not only as an instructor of botany and zoology but also as a researcher, an entomologist, and a plant pathologist. His only sabbatical was a one-year fellowship at the Gray Herbarium of Harvard.
In 1903, Piper began working for the United States Department of Agriculture in Washington, DC. He continued to work for this organization for the remainder of his life. From 1903 to 1905, Piper was appointed to work on the grass herbarium in the Office of the Agrostologist. His position and title changed in 1905, and Piper was put in charge of the Office of Forage Crop Investigations, a position he held until 1926. A year later, in 1906, after completing extensive research in Washington, Idaho, and Oregon, Piper published Flora of the State of Washington. This first book was followed with Flora of Southeast Washington and Adjacent Idaho in 1914 and Flora of the Northwest Coast in 1915.
Along with his government work, Piper held other positions and continued his own research. In 1907, he and other scientists founded the American Society of Agronomy. He presided as president in 1914, the same year he published Forage Plants and Their Culture. His investigation of turf grass, which he started in 1912, acquainted him with the US Golf Association’s Green Section in 1920, and he remained a part of this organization until his death.
Throughout his life, Piper focused on botany, collecting and describing new species of plants, and finding solutions to common agricultural problems. He is best known for his use of the Sudan grass as a forage plant and his investigations of the soybean. The information he gathered on the soybean was published in The Soybean in 1923.
Personal Life
On February 8, 1926, Piper suffered a stroke. He died three days later, on February 11, 1926, in Washington, DC.
Bibliography
“Biographical/Historical Note.” Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections. Washington State University, n.d. Web. 30 July 2013.
Moss, Richard J. The Kingdom of Golf in America. Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 2013. Print.
Piper, Charles V., and William J. Morse. The Soybean. New York: Smith, 1943. Print.
Witteveen, Gordon. A Century of Greenkeeping. Chelsea: Sleeping Bear, 2001. Print.
Woods, Micah. “Charles Vancouver Piper: The Agrostologist.” Green Section Record 44.2 (2006): 17–20. Print.