THE HORTICULTURAL' SOCIETY OF NEW YORK 



in 1804, and was succeeded by his son Andre,* who conducted 

 the business along the same Hues until his retirement in 1843. In 

 that year Andre de Vilmorin transferred the business to his son 

 Louis, f who during his seventeen years of management devoted 

 particular attention to the improvement of plants by careful se- 

 lection. He was also a specialist in cereal crops. When Louis de 

 Vilmorin died, at the early age of forty-four, his oldest son was a 

 lad of seventeen, and an interregnum of several years followed, 

 during which the affairs of the firm were administered by the 

 widowj of the late proprietor. In 1866 she associated her son 

 with her in the management, and in 1873 Henry de Vilmorin§ 

 became sole proprietor, and conducted the business until his death 

 twenty-six years later; from about 1879 his younger brother 

 Mauricejl was in charge of some of the activities of the firm. 

 Upon the death of Henry de Vilmorin in 1899, the control of the 

 business of Vilmorin-Andrieux passed to his son Philippe, then 

 a young man of twenty-seven. 



Joseph-Marie-Philippe Leveque de Vilmorin was born in 1872 

 at Verrieres-le-Buisson, a suburb of Paris, where one of the Vil- 

 morin plantations and homes had been located since 181 5. From 

 childhood his training was planned to fit him for the management 

 of the great concern. Nature endowed him with a fine figure, 

 an attractive face, and a pleasing personality ; education added a 

 broad culture. His classical studies were commenced in France 



* Pierre-Philippe-Andre Leveque de Vilmorin, second head of the firm, 

 was born November 30, 1776, and died March 21, 1862. Like his father, he 

 was a horticultural writer of note. 



t Pierre-Louis-Frangois Leveque de Vilmorin, third head of the firm, 

 was born April 8, 1816, and died March 21, i860, just two years (to a day) 

 before his father. He was a cripple, but this did not deter him from horti- 

 cultural activity. 



t Elisa de Vilmorin (nee Bailly), who was a horticultural observer, ex- 

 perimenter, and artist of no mean ability, died August 5, 1868. 



§ Charles-Philippe-Henry Leveque de Vilmorin, fourth head of the firm, 

 was born February 26, 1843, and died August 23, 1899. He was one of the 

 French commissioners to the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago 

 in 1893. 



II Auguste-Louis-Maurice Leveque de Vilmorin was born in i<84Q, and 

 is still living. He was president of the Societe botanique de France in 

 1911. 



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