Mar. K), 1912 



PROF. A. J. COOK, HORTICULTURAL COM- 

 MISSIONER OF CALIFORNIA 



Something of the Life History and Doings of the 

 Man who has been Asked by the Governor of 

 California to Step up Higher 



BY E. R. ROOT 



For three or four issues back I have been 

 telling something about the lives of emi- 

 nent beekeepers who have ended their labors 

 in this world, and who have gone to the 

 great beyond. In this issue I ha\e a more 

 l)leasing task — that of saying something 

 about the life-work of a man who is still in 

 the tlesh, and wlio, it is to be hoped, will 

 be with us many years to come. I refer to 

 none other than Prof. Albert J. Cook, who 

 has just been appointed Horticultural Com- 

 missioner of California. He needs no intro- 

 duction to our older readers, for his contri- 

 butions have graced these columns for many 

 years. 



For twenty-seven years Professor Cook 

 was instructor and Professor of Entomology 

 and Zoology in tlie Micliigan Agricultural 

 College. During the latter part of 189.> he 

 was called to take a similar position at Po- 

 mona College, Claremont, Cal., where he 

 has labored for 17 years more. By the way, 

 long service anywhere always speaks well 

 for any man. 



During the latter part of last fall the Cali- 

 fornia })apers announced that Professor 

 Cook, of Pomona College, was about to be 

 promoted again — to receive the appoint- 

 ment of State Commissioner of Horticul- 

 ture under Governor Johnson. Later on 

 this ai)pointment was duly confirmed. The 

 (lovernor, in exiilanation, says he appointed 

 Cook "solely upon his merits," and that 

 "his position is one of the most important 

 ofTices in the State." And as one of his co- 

 laborers has well said, "this is the crowning 

 event in Professor Cook's remarkable career. „ 



. . Xo other man in the Stale nor in the 

 country at large could bring to this particu- 

 lar work more clean-cut and indubitable fit- 

 ness than Professor Cook." 



Professor Cook will have placed at his dis- 

 posal $100,000 to carry on the work in his 

 department, and the responsibility of ap- 

 pointing capable men to assist him is con- 

 siderable, as the Governor says. When°we 

 consider the fact that California probably 

 ])roduces more fruit than any other State in 

 the Inion, and is destined to go still fur- 

 ther, and that the keeping of bees is one of 

 the big industries of the State, this appoint- 

 ment looms up large. Indeed, we doubt if 

 there is another commissioner of horticulture 

 in all the Inited States who has a larger 

 field of work than our own Professor Cook. 

 I say "our own," l)ecause he has been so 

 closely identified with the beekeeping in- 

 terests of the country. Himself the author 

 of one of the moht widely sold bee books, 

 "The Beekeeper's Guide," a prolific writer 

 for the bee journals, a number of times pres- 

 ident of the North American and National 



150> 



Beekeepers' Association — well, we have a 

 right to claim him, as much as have the- 

 horticulturists of the country. 



I think it is fair to say that Prof. Cook is 

 distinguished, not so much for the great 

 things he may have discovered in science 

 (and he has done his share), but rather be- 

 cause he has been a great teacher. Hun- 

 dreds of his students, some of whom have 

 made their mark in the world, bear testi- 

 mony to what he has done for them. He is 

 loved and admired by his fellow-professors, 

 and adored by his students, both at the 

 Michigan Agricultural College and Pomona 



Professor A. J. Cook as he appeared when he was 

 conducting his experiments in bee culture at the 

 Michigan Agricultural College. 



College. The Pomona College paper, just 

 received, is full of expressions of love and 

 regret that he is to leave. I make just one 

 extract: 



The loss to Pomona College will be felt most keen- 

 ly by all of the students who have known Professor 

 Cook personally. His genial nature, his great 

 heart, his tremendous and infectious enthusiasm, 

 his keen interest in the personal welfare of every 

 student under him— these things have made him 

 greatly beloved by all. His interest in his students 

 has never, through all the years, been a perfunctory 

 one, but always a living, active interest, that went 

 right out and fought for them: an interest that not 

 only helped them to find their life work and get in- 

 to it, whatever it might be, but ever afterward sup- 

 ported and encouraged them to great efTorts. In a 

 (luiet way. unknown to the public, he has even 

 financially assisted deserving students to complete 

 their work, and for this he has been repaid in some 

 things l)eyond the value of money— loyalty and 

 love. ,, 1 •■ 



An indefatigable worker himself, he has 

 the rare faculty of inspiring his students, 

 and all those with whom he comes in con- 

 tact, with his own habits of industry, zeal. 



