THE MINNESOTA 



HORTICULTURIST. 



VOL. 25. DECE/VIBEI^, 1897. NO. la. 



Ii^ ]V[enQoriaEQ. 



MICHAEL PEARCE. 



CHOWEX, MINN. 

 Died October 6, 1897, aged 70 years. 



The death of the subject of this sketch removes from our midst 

 one of the most rug-ged and striking- characters. Born and brought 

 up on an Ohio farm, in a line fruit growing country, he brought to 

 the northwest a love for horticulture, which was ever a strong 

 guiding principle of action in his afterlife. Failure had no other 

 result with him than to incite to further effort. His was a cour- 

 ageous and persevering nature. In speaking of him, one who knew 

 him well said: " I think the reverses he met with in his first experi- 

 ence in fruit growing only stimulated hiin to keep on, and he was 

 finally rewarded. His faith in growing fruit in Minnesota never 

 wavered." He was, indeed, one of the hardiest pioneers in north- 

 western fruit growing, and as such his name will be remembered 

 and honored in the annals of our association. 



Mr. M. Pearce was born at Trenton, Butler county, Ohio, May 2, 

 1827, and had at the time of his death juet rounded out the full allot- 

 ment of years of three score and ten. In 1854 he came to Minnesota 

 with his brother-in-law, the late Col. George, of the 2nd Minn. Vol. 

 Inf., and located at first at Orinoco, where he engaged in fanning 

 and sheep raising. At that early day his love for horticulture 

 showed itself in an investment of $12 00 in currants and apple trees, 

 bought of the late L. B. Hodges, at that time an agent for a New 

 York nursery. The outcome of this early trial was, in the words of 

 his wife, " The trees could not stand our old fashioned winters and 

 just froze to death. The currants, the sheep made a breakfast of. 

 He found that sheep and cattle did not agree well together." 



In 1866 he removed to Rochester, where under the influence of the 

 late Dr. P. A. Jewell, founder of the Jewell Nursery, he soon em- 

 barked in the nursery business. In 1886, he started the nursery and 

 fruit garden at Chowen, in the Lake Minnetonka region, where he 

 continued to reside during the closing years ot life, and where he 

 passed quietly away at the last. 



