728 



HORTICULTURE 



December 4, 1915 



W. ATLEE BURPEE 



In Fordhook, his beautiful home, 

 near Doylestown, Pa., at 6.45 Friday 

 evening, November 26, Washington At- 

 lee Burpee, one of America's most fa- 

 mous seedsmen and horticulturists, 

 died at the age of 57 years of an ill- 

 ness baffling in 

 its complications. 

 He became ill 

 several months 

 ago, and went to 

 Wernersville, Pa.. 

 to recuperate. His 

 condition grew 

 worse, and he 

 went to Philadel- 

 phia, occupying a 

 suite at the Ritz- 

 Carlton. Recent- 

 ly he was taken 

 to his country 

 home, and there 

 the engineers on 

 the Reading Rail- 

 way avoided bell- 

 ringing and whis- 

 tle-blowing that 

 they might not 

 disturb him. 



At his bedside 

 when he died 

 were h i s wife, 

 two of his sons, 

 David and W. At- 

 lee, Jr.; his sis- 

 ter, Mrs. A. B. 

 Scott, and her 

 husband, and Dr. 

 Frank B. Swartz- 

 lander, his life- 

 long friend and 

 physician. 



W. Atlee Bur- 

 pee was born at 

 Sheffield, N. B., 

 April 5, 1858, but 

 was predestined 

 to be a Philadel- 

 phian, his father 

 ha V ing married 

 the daughter of 

 his instructor in 

 medicine. Dr. 

 Washington L. At- 

 lee of Philadel- 

 phia, under prom- 

 ise that within 

 five years he 

 would move to 

 that city. He was 

 also predestined 

 to be a physician, 

 but objected to 

 that part of the 

 program, and at 

 the age of 18 



opened in connection with G. S. Ben- 

 son, Jr., a little store at 223 Chiirch 

 street, dealin,g chiefly in seeds, fancy 

 pigeons, poultry and dogs. Another 

 partner was taken into the firm the 

 following year, but the combination 

 proved unsuccessful, and two years 

 later he embarked under the firm 

 name of W. Atlee Burpee & Co., for 

 himself. The growth of the concern 



was steady until now it is the largest 

 mail order seed house in the world. 

 Immense seed farms are located at 

 Doylestown, Pa., Swedesboro, N. J., 

 and in the Lompoc Valley, California. 

 The headquarters of the firm in Phila- 



W. Atlee Burpee. 



delphia are located one on North 

 Fifth street and the other on York 

 avenue. 



While a Canadian by birth, Mr. Bur- 

 pee was a thorough American by pref- 

 erence, although he always maintained 

 a deep interest in matters connected 

 with the natives of the Dominion who 

 resided in his city. He was a life- 

 long director of the Canadian Society 



of Philadelphia, and was elected to 

 the presidency several times. 



Mr. Burpee's unprecedented success 

 brought him in touch with many other 

 interests, and he was a director of the 

 Market Street National Bank, the 

 Northern Trust 

 Company and the 

 Colgate Company. 

 He was a direc- 

 tor of the Whole- 

 sale Seedsmen's 

 League, ex-presi- 

 dent of the Amer- 

 ican Seed Trade 

 Association, ex- 

 president of the 

 National Sweet 

 Pea, Society of 

 America and vice- 

 president of the 

 National Sweet 

 Pea Society of 

 Great Britain. He 

 was a member 

 of the Trades 

 League of Phila- 

 del|)hia and the 

 P h i 1 a d e ! p hi a 

 Board of 'Trade 

 and a trustee of 

 the Howard Hos- 

 pital and Sanita- 

 rium Association 

 of Philadelphia 

 and of the Nation- 

 al Farm School. 

 He was also a 

 life member of 

 the Royal Horti- 

 cultural Society 

 of Great Britain 

 and the Society 

 Nationale Horti- 

 culture de FVance. 

 Mr. Burpee 

 married Miss 

 Blanche Simons 

 in 1892, and they 

 have three chil- 

 dren — David, 

 vVashington Atlee, 

 Jr., and Stuart 

 Alexander Bur- 

 pee. 



He is credited 

 with having done 

 a great deal of 

 charitable w o rk 

 among families in 

 Doylestown and 

 uei gh boring 

 town s. Several 

 years ago he gave 

 to Doylestown a 

 splendidly equip- 

 ped playground, known as the Blanche 

 Burpee Playgrounds. 



Our estimate of Mr. Burpee person- 

 ally and the heartfelt tributes to his 

 memory by others who knew him well 

 will be found on the editorial page and 

 in the columns herewith. More than 

 six hundred people attended the 

 funeral at Doylestown on Monday, in- 

 cluding many representatives of the 



