84 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



grafts came from the fruit yard of Henry Ward Beecher. In 1899 

 not a tree had been grafted or a stone moved in the last fifty years, 

 and those old, grim, moss-covered walls, built with his own hands 

 so long before, still stand as everlasting sentinels to protect what 

 still remains of his boyhood's efforts at home making. 



After this, he worked a full year for Capt. John Peters, on the 

 farm and in his iron works, making more time working nights here 

 than he lost during the next five years. He next worked two sum- 

 mers for D. C. Whittlesy, who offered to raise his wages two dollars 

 per month if he would stay on. 



In 1 85 1 he returned to New Jersey and taught school three 

 terms at Mt. Pleasant, Warren county. Here, aided by his pupils, 

 he walled in two rods of ground, which was divided into small plats, 

 one of which was assigned to each pupil for growing vegetables and 

 flowers. Each received special instruction from his teacher as best 

 how to grow each variety successfully. This is thought to be the first 

 school horticultural garden substantially fenced and kept up for 

 years, in the United States. David R. Warbasse, then one of his 

 students, is now one of the best orchardists in New Jersey, and took 

 fourteen first prizes at their state fair in 1899, for finest apples. 



In the spring of '53, the five Gaylord brothers met in serious 

 council, which resulted in the selection of the fourth brother, Edson, 

 to go west and search out homes for the five. April found the young 

 prospector in Kenosha, with cane and satchel. Traveling nearly al- 

 ways on foot and alone, he passed over much of southern Wisconsin, 

 northern Illinois as far south as Quincy, over southern Minnesota, 

 and twice over eastern and northern Iowa. On Oct. 21, 1853, he 

 set his first stakes, and in December completed his pioneer house 

 without nail or sawed board. It was eighteen by twenty-four, mor- 

 tared inside and out, two stories high, with large stone chimney and 

 fireplace. He selected his land on and adjoining what is now the 

 site of the city of Nora Springs, la. There were several hundred 

 acres of this land, mostly very heavy timber. 



As an early pioneer, Mr. Gaylord ran many risks and endured 

 great hardships. On the 14th of Nov., '53, he rose at three o'clock 

 in the morning to cut the first log for the first school and meeting- 

 house in northern Iowa, from McGregor west to the Missouri. It 

 was dark as Egypt, and he cut by guess, giving a few blows and 

 feeling to find where they fell. In the spring he burned lime for 

 the school house. Mr. Gaylord burned the only lime and made all 

 the brick (except one small kiln) to supply the country for many 

 years many miles in every direction. He cleared fifty acres of very 

 heavy timber, handling most of this twice over with his own hands. 



