Much of the signal work at the University of Missouri during Dr. William A. Albrecht’s tenure as head of the soils department was recorded as student papers. The slow, plodding work that identified correct ratios to complement the usual manuring and liming practices was accomplished in the 1930s. An example: Relation of the Degree of Base Saturation of a Colloidal Clay by Calcium to the Growth, Nodulation and Composition of Soybeans by Glenn M. Horner, a graduate student, 1935.
Other papers:
Calcium as a Factor in Soybean Inoculation by Robert W. Scanlan, graduate student, 1927;
Study of the Uniformity of Soil Types and of Fundamental Differences Between the Different Soil Series by Franklin L. Davis, 1936;
The Composition of Soybean Plants at Various Growth Stages as Related to Their Rate of Decomposition and Use as Green Manure by Lloyd Mildon Turk, 1932; Magnesium as a Factor in Nitrogen Fixation by Soybeans by Ellis R. Graham, 1938; Nodulation and Growth of Soybeans Influenced by Calcium and Hydrogen Ion Concentration in Putnam Belt Loam Soil by George Z. Doolas, 1936;
Effect of Nitrogenous Fertilizer upon the pH and Available Phosphorus of Soils Relation to the Yield of Cotton by Franklin L. Davis, 1939;
Calcium as a Factor in Soybean Inoculation by Robert W. Scanlan, 1928;
Behavior of Legume Bacteria in Relation of Exchangeable Calcium and Hydrogen Ion Concentration of the Colloidal Fraction of the Soil by Thomas M. McCalla, 1937.
Years of work with students served up the bedrock rationale for limestone, the acidic effect of some nitrogen fertilizers, and the effect of decades of fertilizer application on Sanborn Field, and in turn the cumulative effect of industrial farming on human health.
In all the above, it was Albrecht speaking through his students, often sidetracking him from his own publication work because students were more important, and he was godfather of all the above in any case.