Background

Joseph E. Wing was born on September 14, 1861, at Hinsdale, New York, the son of William Harrington Wing and Jane Bullard. He was a descendant of Daniel Wing, who emigrated to Boston in 1632.

When Joseph was six years old, his family went to Mechanicsburg, Champaign County, Ohio, where his father bought a small, infertile farm.

Education

He was educated in the district school, the village high school, and Elmira Academy in New York.

Career

Except for a year in northern Florida, he worked on his father's farm until March 1886, when he went west. Not liking mining, his first work there, he became a cowboy on the Range Valley Ranch on the Green River in Utah, and had become foreman and part owner before he returned to Ohio in 1889 to manage the home farm in cooperation with his two brothers. His plan for making Woodland Farm profitable included the raising of sheep and of alfalfa, a crop then little known east of the Mississippi. Both sheep and alfalfa proved successful, and "Joe" Wing, or "Alfalfa Joe, " as he was often called, began to advocate the improvement of farm lands by the use of lime and phosphates, and the growing of sweet clover, soy beans, and other legumes. He became the first strong propagandist for alfalfa in the central and eastern states, was largely responsible for its prominence there, and came to be recognized as an authority on the type of soil suitable for its culture, and on methods of seeding and handling the crop. His Alfalfa Farming in America (1909) became the standard work on the subject.

He lectured widely on subjects connected with farming at institutes and colleges, and soon after returning to the home farm began to write for agricultural papers, including the Country Gentleman and the Ohio Cultivator. In 1896 he was invited by Alvin H. Sanders to write for the Breeder's Gazette. Two years later he joined the Gazette as staff correspondent and became a national figure in agricultural journalism. Taking advantage of Wing's love of the road, Sanders sent him throughout the United States and over much of Europe to secure material for his articles. In time he became a very proficient photographer and furnished his own excellent illustrations. During the Taft administration he was sent to South America and Europe by the tariff commission to study methods and costs of wool production.

His books include Sheep Farming in America (1905), Meadows and Pastures (1911), and In Foreign Fields (1913). While successfully practical, he was at the same time a dreamer, something of a poet at heart, and a lover of natural beauty. He died on September 10, 1915, at Marion, Ohio, after a lingering illness of pellagra.

Achievements

• Joseph Elwyn Wing was one of the best-known agrarians of the North American continent, who was interested in raising of sheep and of alfalfa and wrote several works for agricultural magazines, and lectured on farm subjects.

Works

More photos

• book

  • For Better crops

    (This reproduction was printed from a digital file created...)

  • Farm Science

    (Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We h...)

  • Alfalfa Farming in America

    (Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We h...)

  • Meadows and Pastures

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

  • Sheep Farming in America

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

  • The Winter Lamb: The Dorset Ewe in America

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

  • In Foreign Fields; Sketches of Travel in South America and Western Europe

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

Connections

On September 19, 1890, Joseph E. Wing married Florence Staley, by whom he had three sons.

Father:

William Harrington Wing

Mother:

Jane Wing (Bullard)

Wife:

Florence Wing (Staley)

Son:

Andrew S. Wing

Son :

David Grant Wing