March 15, 1858

Liberty Hyde Bailey (March 15, 1858 to  December 25, 1954) was born in South Haven, Michigan, to a farming family, and he based his thinking on a view of rural life as a unique and precious aspect of American civilization. He taught classes in Practical and Experimental Horticulture at Cornell as a young man and wrote many books on related subjects. He hoped to change rural life, without exposing its denizens to the corruption of the city. His ideas shifted as the 20th century progressed, but he apparently held onto a hostility to religion. So he took an old theme in American history, the uniqueness of rural life and gave it a distinctive twist.

His books refer to cats from an agricultural perspective. We get a sense of his rhetorical skills in the textbook he wrote, First course in biology (1917.)

Why is hair better suited as a covering for the cat than feathers would be ? Scales ? Where are long, stiff bristles found on the cat? ...

In 1910 he edited the multi-volume Cyclopedia of American Agriculture: Farm and community. Here we read of the cat, that they are:

the natural enemies of game, and its food habits and the covers which it needs. ..... The cat alone is said to "destroy more game-birds than all the sportsmen, boys and collectors put together" .... Bills have been introduced in some of the legislative assemblies, providing for the control of the cats. These promptly have been defeated, since the farmers and other owners resent the destruction of their cats. ....

This excerpt is interesting for it illustrates what an old theme this complaint about cats is, although just last year, over a hundred years after this comment, the major newspapers were shocked by a study showing cats killed birds. But that is the subject of another post.

A Practical Guide to the Making of Home Grounds and the Growing of Flowers, Fruits, and Vegetables for Home Use (1918) repeats his complaints about cats:  "A person has no more right to inflict a cat on a neighborhood than to inflict a [loose] goat or rabbits."

Bailey is an underrated contributor to a multi-century dialogue about the meaning of American history, a discussion which may now be finished.