February 23, 1883

A legislative act established the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station (AAES) to conduct scientific research related to the state’s agricultural industry. Focused on finding ways to improve cotton production, the AAES in 1886 initiated the nation’s first experiment to show the benefit of rotating cotton with other crops. Now known as the Old Rotation, the study proved that a cotton/legume crop rotation would allow soil to indefinitely support cotton cropping. The experiment, which continues to this day on Auburn University’s campus, is the oldest continuous cotton experiment in the world and was added to the National Register of Historical Places in 1988.

Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.

The Old Rotation, National Register of Historic Places site, 2007. (Rivers Langley, Saverivers, Wikimedia)

The Old Rotation, National Register of Historic Places site, 2007. (Rivers Langley, Saverivers, Wikimedia)

The Old Rotation, National Register of Historic Places site, 2007. (Rivers Langley, Saverivers, Wikimedia)

The Old Rotation, National Register of Historic Places site, 2007. (Rivers Langley, Saverivers, Wikimedia)

Alabama Polytechnic Institute, Auburn., April 15, 1918. (Richards Film Service, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.