The Gardener in the Public Service 



A criticism freqiientl\- hearil aiiiung men who ha\e 

 chosen the profession of gardening as their life work, 

 is that the opportunities do not come to them which 

 they consider as rightly theirs, as practical horticul- 

 turists and floriculturists, to demonstrate their ability 

 in the de\'elopment of our public park systems. They 

 contend that this work is usually assigned to men 

 whose required knowledge is composed more of theory 

 than practice and that he of practical knowledge must 

 submit to the planning and dictates of him who is 

 frequently entirely dependent on the other's practical 

 experience to carry out his ideas. 



There is some basis for such contentions, but we 

 have observed that those cities which can boast of 

 the most beautiful parks, in most instances have had 

 associated with their de^•elopment men w'hose train- 

 ing began in the school of early apprenticeship and 

 continued through gradual advancement, until a thor- 

 ough knowledge, through struggle and hard eilort. 

 was mastered — the sort of knowledge which fits a man 

 for successful achie\-ements. 



^^'e are glad to present to our readers the life his- 

 torv of such a man ; a man whose name remains linked 

 with one of the finest park systems in the United 

 States, that of Hartford, Conn., and who in a com- 

 paratively short time has established his reputation in 

 the Middle West by developing one of the finest park 

 systems there, in the city of Alinneapolis, I\Iinn. 



Air. Theodore Wirth, to whom we refer, was born in 

 1863 in Winterthur, Switzerland, the son of Conrad 

 Wirth, a school teacher. His parents resided opposite 

 a florist's establishment and already as a schoolboy 

 he showed a leaning toward the florist's and gardener's 

 business, spending most of his leisure and play hours 

 in the greenhouses and gardens of his florist neighbor. 

 After he graduated from the high school of his native 

 town he entered as an apprentice in the establishment 

 of Stahl Brothers, nurserymen, florists and landscape 

 gardeners at Flawil, St. Gall, which was at that time, 

 and is still, one of the leading commercial horticultural 

 establishments of Switzerland. After three years of 

 a])!)renticeship he took a special cnurse in engineering 

 at a Technicum in Winterthur. and from there on 

 started out as a professional gardener. 



During the National Exhibition in Zurich in 1883 Mr. 

 W'inh was employed in the landscape department, as- 

 sisting in the laying out and maintenance of the 

 exhibition grounds. From there he went to London, 

 England, where he was employed for two years by a 

 grower and florist. During the first year he worked 

 in the greenhouses and in the second year he was in 

 charge of the decorating department, consisting mostly 

 of plant, cut-flower and window-box decoratitins at 

 private residences in all parts of the city. This work 

 brought him daily to the Covent Garden flower mar- 

 ket, where he purchased most of the plants and flowers 

 necessary for the decoration work. Mr. \\'irth also 

 worked for a few months at the orchid houses of 

 Sanders & Company in St. .\lbans. In 1886 he went 

 to Paris and was employed in the Jardins des Plantes 

 for about one vear. and at a commercial establishment 

 for six montlis. He then returned to Switzerland, 

 taking a position on a large private estate near Con- 

 stance. During the winter'^of 1887-1888 he entered the 

 service of the City (lardener of Zurich in order to be 

 able to visit the night schools of that city to perfect 

 himself in the English language, having previously de- 

 cided to go to .America. 



In April, 1888, Mr. Wirth landed in Xew \ ork and 



for a sJKirt time entered the serxice of a private gar- 

 dener in Morristown, N. J. From there he went to a 

 rose grower in South Orange, X. J., until a position 

 promised him in Central Park, New York City, became 

 open. He entered the service of the New York Park De- 

 partment as a gardener in the Summer of the same 

 year, serving in the greenhouse, planting and forestry 

 crews for one year. Ha\-ing chosen landscape garden- 

 ing as his -specialty, .Mr. Wirth made use of his leisure 



MR. THEODORE WIRTH. 



time to stud}' that special branch nf the profession. 

 Aided by his education in engineering, he found much 

 pleasure and inspiration in landscajje designing, which 

 studies in later years were of much help to him in his 

 park work. Mr. Sam Parsons, superintendent of 

 parks, and Mr. j. F. Huss, then general foreman of 

 construction, assisted his aspirations and ambitions, 

 which at that time were the desire to gain and retain 

 a responsible position in that department. During the 

 construction period of Morningside Park, Mr, Wirth 

 was advanced to a foreman's position, but soon after, 

 through political change of administration, he was dis- 

 missed with hundreds of other employees. Through the 

 recommendation of .Mr. S. Parsons, Mr. Wirth then 

 took charge of the improvement of different private 

 estates on Long Island, in Connecticut and several places 

 on the Hudson River, and was also in the employ of the 

 State nf Xew York .it the Niagara Falls State Reser- 

 vation. 



