STATE HOUTfCUI-TURAL SOCIETY, 



HORTICULTURAL BIOGRAPHY. 



JOSEPH CURTIS — THE PIONEER NURSERY-MAN OF ILLINOIS. 



The following biographical sketch has been kindly furuished, at 

 the request of several of the older members of this Society, by B. O. 

 Curtis, of Paris, 111., a son of the pioneernursery-man : 



Joseph Curtis was born in New Jersey, May 29, 1786, and removed 

 with his parents, when a boy, to near Manchester, Adams county, Ohio, 

 where he lived fifteen years. He then made an exi)erimental nursery and 

 orchard, devoting much of his time to fruit raising and experimenting in 

 a horticultural way. He raised new varieties of apple from the seed, and 

 tested both in nursery and orchard the best Varieties that could then be 

 obtained. He grafted and Inidded on young seedling trees (which was the 

 usual way of propagating the fine varieties at that time) standing in the 

 nursery rows ; but not having as many stocks as he wished, he thought, 

 why not graft on pieces of roots? and adopting this mode, found that the 

 grafts did well. So far as he knew, this was an invention of his own, 

 having never seen or heard of it. He continued to practice this for many 

 years, and also to graft small trees at the collar. 



Neither of these modes, i. e., grafting on pieces of roots and on small 

 trees on the collar, had ever been practiced in the nurseries of the United 

 States until after his introduction of them. A man, whose name I have 

 forgotten, learned root-grafting of him in this country at an early day, 

 and took it to the Eastern States and sold it as a secret art, charging one 

 hundred dollars each for individual rights. 



Another mode of raising trees, that originated with him, is that which 

 he styled propagating by genuine roots. To obtain these roots the grafts 

 were planted a little deeper than usual, or the earth drawn up to yearlings, 

 either of which would cause the cion to put out roots freely. These grew 

 stronger than the seedling roots below, and were esteemed genuine, and 

 preserved to multiply the varieties. Pear grafts thus managed did partic- 

 ularly well, and in three years made good sale-trees on their own roots. 

 Early in April the surplus genuine roots of both apple and pear sale-trees 

 were cut off and planted in borders six»feet wide, by laying them flat on 

 the surface and covering with two or three inches of soil. The following 

 spring they w^re taken up, divided, and the sets planted in nursery rows 

 four feet apart and one foot in the row. Two-year old trees were also 

 layered in this manner to obtain the genuine roots. A large supply of 

 these roots once obtained, he cut them in lengths of four or five inches 

 and planted fhem upright in nursery rows, with the tips of the roots barely 

 above the surface of the ground. 



Having heard the glowing accounts of the beautiful and fertile prairies 

 of Illinois, early in the year 181 7 he determined to push farther west, to 



