1912] The Ottawa Naturalist. 103 



OBITUARY. 



I"ohn Craig, M. S. Agr., Late Professor of Horticulture, 



Agricultural College, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. 



The recent death of Prof. John Craig is deeply deplored by 

 his main- friends. Those who knew him when he lived in Ottawa 

 will remember his tall, manly figure; his rugged strength and 

 the iron-like grip of his hand. and. they can scarcely believe 

 that with his great physique serious illness could lay hold upon 

 him. But, he has been cut clown in the prime of life. He 

 died at Siasconset, Massachusetts, on August 10th, 1912, at 

 the age of 48 vears, after an illness of several months. 



When Mr. Craig came to Ottawa in 1890 he soon joined the 

 Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club, becoming a member that year, 

 and until he left the city in the autumn of 1897 he took an active 

 part in the Club's work. He was particularly interested in 

 botanv and w r as a leader in that branch. He contributed many 

 interesting articles on botanical and horticultural subjects to 

 The Ottawa Naturalist, both while he was in Ottawa and 

 after leaving here. He w r as Treasurer of the Club in 1897. 



Mr. Craig was born at Lakefield, Argenteuil Co., P.Q., in 

 1864. His father, the late William Craig, was manager of the 

 estate of the late Chas. Gibb, a noted horticulturist of Abbots- 

 ford, Quebec, a lover of fruits and flowers, from whom Mr. 

 Craig received the inspiration which decided him to make 

 horticulture his life's work. From the High School in Montreal 

 he went to the Agricultural College at Ames, Iowa, in 1885, 

 where he specialized in horticulture and economic botany, 

 becoming, in 1887, Assistant to Prof. J. L. Budd, Professor of 

 Horticulture, and, in 1888, Assistant to the Director, having 

 charge, while he held the latter office, of the Department of 

 Horticulture of the Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station. 

 In Januarv, 1890, lie entered the service of the Dominion 

 Government, becoming Horticulturist of the Central Experi- 

 mental Farm, Ottawa, which position he held until the autumn 

 of 1897. The work in horticulture developed greatly under him. 

 The use of Bordeaux Mixture in preventing the development 

 of certain diseases of fruit was practically unknown in Canada 

 when he began experiments and as early as 1890 we find him 

 trying different formulae to determine the best to use. To his 

 energy in rapidly spreading the good news of the possible control 

 of apple scab, is largely due the wide and early use of Bordeaux 

 Mixture in Canada. When the San Jose Scale was first discovered 



