in 1896 , carver started to teach and do research with plants at the tuskegee institute. he taught classes on africulture, and through his experiments he found new ways to help the poor struggling farmers of the south. here farmers had been growing cotton, which wore out the soil. he showed farmers how to plant differrent crops like peanuts to make the soil richer. after a while farmers did what he said were growing wore and more peanuts. they were now making more money from peanuts than from cotton.