THE MINNESOTA 



HORTICULTURIST. 



VOL. 35. AUGUST, 1907. No. 8. 



\i} jyTeir^orian^. 



A. W. SIAS, 



POMONA, MO. 



Died December 24, 1906, aged 74 years. 



In preparing this memorial of our departed brother we cannot 

 do better than quote the exact language of another departed 

 brother, the late John S. Harris, in a sketch prepared by him at the 

 time of the removal of Mr. Sias from the state in 1890, and pub- 

 lished in the report of this society for 1891. It is almost like a 

 voice from the dead to those of the older members who were 

 famiUar with the literary work of Mr. Harris : 3 



"Mr. Sias was born at Derby, Orleans county, Vermont, May 3, 

 1832. His youthful days were spent on his father's farm, the old 

 homestead that descended from his grandfather, which was located 

 in the midst of some of the finest views and most beautiful forest 

 and mountain scenes in all New England ; and there is no doubt but 

 this scenery and the surroundings of his earlier years gave him 

 that love for trees which has been a characteristic of his after life 

 and of late years has been his ruling passion. In the spring of 185 1 

 he accompanied his parents to western New York, where they lo- 

 cated on a farm situated in the midst of the greatest nursery dis- 

 trict and the then best fruit region in the United States, near the 

 city of Rochester. For a few years he divided his time between 

 assisting a corps of engineers in surveying railroad lines from 

 Rochester to Niagara Falls, and later on the Toledo, Wabash and 

 Western road ; attending the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, and as a 

 traveling agent for the nursery firm of Nelson & Barker, near 

 Rochester. He came to Minnesota in 1859, and for a time made his 

 headquarters at St. Charles, in Winona county. Some time in 

 1863 he removed to Rochester, Olmsted county, and immediately 

 started the College Hill Nurseries, making a specialty of apple trees 

 and evergreens. I first made his acquaintance at the state fair held 

 at Rochester in October, 1866, where he rendered me valuable assist- 

 ance in arranging my show of fruits, flowers and vegetables so 

 that the display should make the most favorable impression upon 



