Once he began college, and had been given a chance, he excelled in his studies, and completed undergraduate school with honors at Iowa State College. After Carver received his M.S. degree, Booker T. Washington, the President of Tuskegee Institute sent him a letter asking him to teach there. Carver accepted and would spend the rest of his life there. At Tuskegee, Carver was made the first director of agriculture, where he was given a barren twenty-one acre area to work on. Carver and his students planted cow peas, a legume.
Legumes are plants that have nitrogen-fixing bacteria on their roots.
These bacteria take nitrogen form the air and convert it into nitrates, which are used by the soil as fertilizer. He then planted sweet potatoes and cotton. By the time he planted the cotton, the soil had become so rich that he was able to harvest five hundred pounds of cotton for every acre of land. Carver suggested to area farmers to plant peanuts, which are rich in nitrates. This would allow a successful tobacco and cotton crop.