Waters, Henry Jackson

The following data is extracted from Centennial History of Missouri.

There is perhaps no man in Missouri more competent to speak with authority upon the question of scientific production in connection with the farm and the dairy than is Professor Henry Jackson Waters, who for a long period has made a very close study of the many topics relative to this broad field of labor. He was born in Center, Missouri, November 23, 1865, and in the acquirement of his education won the degree of Bachelor of Agriculture from the Missouri State University in 1886. In the same year he was appointed assistant secretary of the Missouri State Board of Agriculture, serving until the following year, and in 1837 he became assistant director of agriculture at the Missouri experimental station, where he continued his labors until 1891. In the following year he was appointed to the professorship of agriculture in the State University of Pennsylvania, where he continued his work as an instructor until 1895. In 1896 he was dean of the College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts of Missouri and also director of the experimental station, thus continuing until 1909. Through the succeeding nine years he was president of the Kansas State Agricultural College, doing much to improve the course of instruction and render the work of the institution of the greatest practical avail. In the meantime he had had further study abroad, going to Liepzic, Germany, where he remained in 1904-5 and in the latter year he also studied for a time in Zurich, Switzerland, thus gaining knowledge of the most advanced scientific methods followed in the old world. In 1913 the New Hampshire State College conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws in recognition of his scientific accomplishments. In 1918 he became managing editor o1 the Weekly Kansas City Star and still fills this position.

Professor Waters was lecturer on animal nutrition at the Graduate School of Agriculture of the Ohio State University in 1902 and before the Graduate School of Agriculture of Illinois in 1906. He did similar work in Iowa in 1910 and in 1909 he served as president of the Missouri State Board of Agriculture. He has membership in the Society for the Promotion of Agricultural Science, the Society of Animal Nutrition and many other scientific bodies that are solving the problems of bringing about maximum results in connection with farming and stock raising. In 1911 and 1912 Professor Waters was president of the Kansas State Teachers Association. In 1917 he was made chairman of the Council of National Defense for Kansas and continued to occupy that position until 1919 and was also state food administrator for Kansas in 1917. Professor Waters' contributions to the literature having to do with his chosen line of work are many and valuable. He is the author of a treatise on the influence of nutrition, ratio and quality of food, on economy of milk and beef production. He has written a most interesting and constructive work on the comparative value of root crops and silage for milk production and other articles on influence of shelter, on rate and economy of gain in cattle, comparative value of different coarse fodders for production of beef, methods of fattening and wintering cattle, growth of animals under adverse conditions, influence of nutrition on the form of animals and the duty of an agricultural college. His writings published in book form are entitled: Essentials of Agriculture, issued in 1915 by Ginn & Company and Agricultural Laboratory Exercises and Home Projects, which he prepared in collaboration with J. D. Elliff in 1919, this work also being issued by the same publishers.

Source: Centennial History of Missouri

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