The Morrow Plots is an experimental agricultural field at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Named for Professor George E. Morrow, it is the oldest such field in the United States and the second oldest in the world.
It was established in 1876 as the first experimental corn field at an American college and continues to be used today, although with three half-acre plots, instead of the original ten. The site was designated a National Historic Landmark on May 23, 1968. The fields are managed by the College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences.
The Morrow Plots occupy a central position on the campus of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), between the Main Quad and the South Quad. They are bounded on the south by West
Gregory Drive, the north by the Observatory, the east by the Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, and the west by the Undergraduate Library. The plots currently consist of three small fields, each one-fifth of an acre in size.
The northernmost plot has been continuously planted in maize (corn) since 1876. The middle plot was originally planted in a rotation of corn and oats, with the oats replaced by soybeans in 1968. The southern plot was originally planted in a rotation of two years of corn, one year of oats, and three years clover; this was replaced in 1901 by a rotation of corn, oats, and clover, and in 1953 by corn, oats, and alfalfa.
It is popularly believed that the University constructed its Undergraduate Library to the west of the Plots with three stories underground, so that the library would not block the sun from the Morrow Plots. However, the University master plan at the time called for a large open plaza on that end of campus, which was an equally important reason the library was built underground.
According to en.wikipedia
