J. C. PLUMB, 



MILTON. WISCONSIN. 



DIED MARCH 19. 1899, AGED 70 YEARS. 



[See Frontispiece.] 



Mr. J. C. Plumb died at his home in Milton, Wis., March 19, after 

 more than a week of intense suffering, caused by accident. While 

 hauling- a load of wood, a wagon wheel came off, throwing Mr. Plumb 

 to the ground under the falling wood. 



Mr. Plumb was born in Stockbridge, Mass., December 1, 1828. In 

 1810 he moved with his father's family to Oberlin, Ohio, where he 

 studied for two years in the public schools. The family in 1843 

 moved to Lake Mills, Wis., where one of the brothers of Mr. Plumb 

 had already engaged in the nursery business, which he and his 

 father before him had followed in Massachusetts. With such 

 environment and training, it was natural that Mr. Plumb should 

 soon engage in the business which he followed most of his life, for 

 he was born with a love for horticulture. 



When he was sixteen years of age, his father planted some trees 

 and put them into his charge with the promise that if he took 

 proper care of them they should be his. This was his start in the 

 nursery business. And that he gave them the proper care no one 

 who knew him needs to be told. He soon became a partner with 

 his brother in the nursery business and followed this work most, if 

 not all, of the time until his death, making a period of fifty-four 

 years in which he was actively engaged in horticulture. 



For a few years he resided in Madison, Wis.; from whence he came 

 to Milton in 1867. The following year with his son, Malon J., he 

 established the Green Hill Nursery, and carried on a business of 

 great value to the little village in which he lived. At one time the 

 annual planting of this nursery was 100,000 trees, one year reaching 

 325,000. 



Mr. Plumb's natural qualifications for this work were strengthened 

 by the fact that he was a close student, not only of books, but also 

 of nature. His principal interest was in trees and fruit, especially 

 the apple. He was deeply interested in geology also. His constant 

 observations gave him a practical knowledge of the soils in every 

 part of Wisconsin, and to a large extent in other neighboring states. 



From its beginning, Mr. Plumb was greatly interested in the Wis- 

 consin Horticultural Society, of which he was an honorary life 

 member. He is sometimes spoken of as its father. He called its 

 first meeting, was its first secretary and wrote the constitution first 

 adopted. Since its organization he had served constantly as 

 chairman of its standing committee on nomenclature. He has also 

 held the offices of vice-president and corresponding secretary. He 



