Beal grew up in forested land surrounded by native plant and animal life.

While at MAC, he arranged for Liberty Hyde Bailey to work as an assistant to Asa Gray at Harvard University for two years during 1883-1884.

His contributions planted him as “one of the pioneers in the development of hybrid corn” in the late 19th century.

[6] Using his techniques, Beal was able to produce crops that bloomed earlier, were hardier, had more vigor, and had “better qualities” than traditionally grown varieties.

In addition to teaching his passion of botany, he also taught English, history, and civil engineering.

He arrived at Harvard to complete an undergraduate degree 3 years after Charles Darwin published The Origin of Species.

Darwin’s research on inheritance especially seems to have influenced Beal’s development of hybrid corn.

The goal of the experiment was to unearth one of the bottles every five years, plant the seeds, and observe the number that would sprout.

He was the author of The New Botany (1882), Grasses of North America (1887), Seed Dispersal (1898) and History of Michigan Agricultural College (1915).

"[20] As published in The Examiner of Hartford, Conn, on Dec 3, 1881: "If you have money to fool away, seed down your young orchard to clover and timothy, or sow a crop of wheat or oats.

But if the leaves are pale, the annual growth less than a foot on a twelve trees, and the fruit small and poor, something is the matter, and they are suffering for want of cultivation, or manure, or both.