TRhodora 
JOURNAL OF 
THE NEW ENGLAND BOTANICAL CLUB 
Vol. 22. January, 1920. No. 253. 
WILLIAM GILSON FARLOW. 
L. W. RIDDLE: 
(With portrait.) 
Dr. WinLiAM G. FAnLOw was born in Boston, December 17, 1844, 
and died in Cambridge, June 3, 1919. His father, John S. Farlow, 
was a successful Boston business man, and at the same time a lover 
of nature, of books, and of music. The library of the Massachusetts 
Horticultural Society is largely indebted to his interest and gener- 
osity. It was from his father that Dr. Farlow inherited or acquired 
the dominant interests of his life. His mother was Nancy Wight 
Blanchard, the daughter of an old Massachusetts family. In 1858, 
the Farlow family moved to Newton, where John Farlow had pur- 
chased an estate of such an extent as would enable him to satisfy 
his love for plants. The house stood in the midst of gardens and 
orchards, in what was then the country. Here the subject of this 
sketch passed the next four years, and the family tradition runs that 
his discovery of Hepatica in the neighboring woods proved to be the 
stimulus which awakened the desire for a knowledge of plants. At 
all events, his interest in Natural History was already established 
when he entered Harvard College in 1862. During his college days 
he took the courses offered by Professor Asa Gray, and served as 
president of that venerable institution, the Harvard Natural History 
Society. 
1 For permission to use the plate from which this portrait of Prof. Farlow is inte 
Ruopora is indebted to the courtesy of the editorial management of the Harvard 
Graduates’ Magazine. 
