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and chestnuts, but his own time was largely devoted to breeding work 

 with a wide range of other plants, a continuation of much of the 

 work he had been doing at Little Silver. The move to Chico, Cal., 

 resulted in a great loss to his breeding work. Some of his material 

 was left at Little Silver, much of it died in the uncongenial climate 

 at Chico, and other promising plants were lost in the long shipment 

 across the continent, both going and coming. 



In 1916 he was transferred to the office of Horticultural and 

 Pomological Investigations where he was permitted to devote himself 

 to plant breeding along such lines as looked promising to him, while 

 at the same time he continued his work with chestnuts and chinqua- 

 pins and a few drug plants. 



Dr. Van Fleet was born at Piermont, N. Y., June 18, 1857. His 

 early years were spent on a farm but later he lived at Williamsport, 

 Pa. In early Hfe he made a study of birds, his first book being 

 " Bird Portraits," published in 1888, apparently being a reprint of 

 magazine articles, one of which dates back to 1876. He was also a 

 successful taxidermist, having studied under Maynard, and trained 

 several of the leading taxidermists of his generation, including 

 Charles H. Eldon of Williamsport, Pa. At nineteen he spent a year 

 in Brazil, first connected with a party constructing a railroad around 

 some of the rapids of the upper Amazon, and later in connection 

 with the Thomas scientific expedition collecting birds and plants. 



August 7, 1883, he married Sarah C. Heilman of Watsontown, 

 Pa., who was associated with him in his medical practice and in his 

 breeding work, and has been a sympathetic and helpful companion, 

 and who survives him. 



His was a most lovable personality. Those who came into con- 

 tact with him day after day appreciated best his sterling qualities. 

 He was kindly and considerate and nothing was too much trouble, 

 and yet he had an intolerance of hypocrisy and cant that was almost 

 violent. He was steadfast of purpose and there is nothing that 

 shows this better than his lifelong work in plant breeding and the 

 ruthless manner in which he rooted out his inferior seedlings as soon 

 as he felt them to be valueless. His likes and dislikes were strong. 

 Above all, he was modest and retiring in the extreme. He not only 

 avoided, but shunned publicity. He avoided the outdoor meetings of 

 the American Rose Society in the National Rose Test Garden as 

 much from the fear of publicity that we, his friends, could not 

 refrain from giving him, as for any other reason. He regretted in 

 his later years that he had given up, during his editorial career, the 

 little public speaking that he had previously done and had gotten so 

 out of practice that, with his disposition, he could not again take 

 it up. 



He was an amateur musician with a thorough knowledge of 

 orchestral and band instruments, harmony, theory, and orchestration 

 but during the last few years none but intimate frequenters of his 



