1584 



HORTICULTURISTS 



HORTICULTURISTS 



cultivation of the grape, he argued that these latitudes 

 compared favorably with those of sunny France and 

 Italy in climatic and physical conditions favorable to 

 its introduction and development. With this aim 

 before him, he proceeded to demonstrate his theories. 

 Importing a lot of the best varieties of stocks from 

 Europe, even from distant Africa, he began the growing 

 of vines on his plantation in 1787. He set out several 

 acres on the warm southern slopes of the farm and gave 

 most careful attention to their propagation. He talked 

 learnedly about them to those whom he met and 

 impressed his views upon the large circle of friends who 

 gathered about and watched the progress of his new 

 venture. As we glance over the pages of the newspapers of 

 a century ago and read columns of matter concerning the 

 vineyard, one naturally wonders at its vast importance. 

 In fact, the 'Letters of a Farmer,' the news of the Old 

 World by the latest packet and events transpiring within 

 the borders of the infant Republic seemed subordinate 

 to the paramount interests of the viniculturists." 



The Pennsylvania Wine Company was organized to 

 take over the enterprise, the stockholders comprising 

 prominent men of the time. But the venture fell on 

 bad ways. Dissensions arose, and litigation followed. 

 "The devoted but aged Legaux, humbled and chagrined, 

 became like a hewer of wood and a drawer of water 

 where once he had been a gentle and influential .host. 

 In these latter days, the Sheriff came and went, for 

 the property was saved to the family by John Righter, 

 Legaux's son-in-law, who by dint of picking up the 

 shares here and there and buying off the claimants and 

 so on, kept the estate intact. But before this had been 

 accomplished Pierre Legaux, harassed, disappointed, 

 and even robbed by his malicious servants, annoyed 

 by the petty persecutions of neighbors, misunderstood 

 and maligned, finally succumbed to the combination, and 

 the spirit of the once cultured and ambitious French- 

 men passed into eternity, September 25, 1827." He 

 was buried at Barren Hill, Montgomery, Co., Pa. 



Lewelling, Henderson, pioneer nurseryman, was born 

 in Salem, North Carolina, April 25, 1809, of Welch 

 ancestry. At an early date he removed to Ohio and 

 there founded the town of Salem; he removed to 

 Indiana in 1831, founded another Salem, and to Iowa, 

 1839, there founding the town of Salem, and being of a 

 roving spirit and a horticultural turn of mind, he left 

 Salem, Henry County, Iowa, April 1, 1847. He joined 

 one of the first colonies of emigrants to cross the Rocky 

 Mountains to Oregon, where he left to posterity the 

 name of "Salem," now the capital of that great state. 

 True to his native inclinations, he took with him on his 

 long journey westward from Salem, Iowa, by wagon- 

 box and ox-team, in carefully prepared soil, 700 trees, 

 vines and shrubs, representing a large number of leadr 

 ing varieties of apples and pears, a few varieties of 

 plums and cherries and one Isabella grape-vine and one 

 gooseberry plant. His scheme to establish a nursery 

 in the densely wooded Northwest was so bold as to be 

 audacious and the trip by ox-team across the plains, on 

 a hitherto untrayeled route, was long and arduous. He 

 was advised repeatedly that his undertaking was hope- 

 less. The trip through dry, thirsty land and over lofty 

 mountain ranges was accomplished about the first of 

 October, and Mr. Lewelling arrived at the Dalles with 

 most of the trees alive. From that point he proceeded 

 by water route to the town of Milwaukee, where he 

 established the first nursery in the Pacific Northwest. 

 George Himes, historian of Oregon pioneer days says 

 it is an unquestioned fact that no other importation 

 made by the early settlers did so much to add to the 

 wealth and income of the people of Oregon as did Hen- 

 derson Lewelling's traveling nursery. Ralph Geer, also 

 a pioneer of 1847, in later years said: "That load of 

 trees contained health, wealth and comfort for the old 

 pioneers of Oregon. It was the mother of all the 



orchards west of the Rocky Mountains, and gave Oregon 

 a name and fame that she never would have had with- 

 out it. That load of living trees brought more wealth to 

 Oregon than any ship that ever entered the Columbia 

 River." Henderson Lewelling removed to California 

 in 1854 and lived quietly until the termination of his 

 life, December 28, 1878. G . B . BRACKETT. 



Lewelling, Seth, was born in South Carolina, March 

 6, 1819, and died at Milwaukee, Oregon, February 21, 

 1897. He was joint owner of an orchard on Cedar 

 Creek, near Salem, Iowa, with his brother Henderson, 

 and remained in charge of this orchard until 1850 

 when he crossed the plains to Oregon and became part- 

 ner in the business of Lewelling & Meek, Milwaukee, 

 Oregon. The nursery was not at first a success owing 

 to the lack of stock on which to graft; but in 1850 seeds 

 were brought to the territory by Mr. Pugh, and these 

 were purchased by Lewelling & Meek and in 1851 they 

 grafted 18,000 trees, and these apple trees sold readily 

 for $1 apiece, and plum, cherry, pear and peach trees 

 $1.50 each. 



Seth Lewelling began his horticultural career with the 

 beginning of the fruit industry in Oregon. He lived to 

 see the pioneer cabins replaced by stately mansions; 

 he lived to see the squatter claims become flourishing 

 orchards and fruit-farms; he lived to see the populous 

 East buy fruit from Oregon by trainloads and amount- 

 ing to many millions of dollars; all this in fifty years. 

 He was a horticulturist of the old school but he was not 

 averse to teaching the younger men the road to success. 

 He sold fruit in San Francisco in 1851 at $1 a pound, 

 and it was then that the sister state of California real- 

 ized that the gold in the mines was as nothing com- 

 pared to the revenue she could reap from fruit orchards. 

 She has steadily planted and is now the leading fruit- 

 growing state in the Union. Mr. Lewelling was the 

 originator of a number of fruits that have added 

 materially to the wealth of Pacific coast horticulture; 

 among these are the well-known Black Republican and 

 Bing cherries and the Golden prune. He records the 

 fact that he saw no fruit pests in Oregon until 1880; 

 this is true of all new countries; insect pests and fruit 

 diseases seem to follow colonization. Mr. Lewelling was 

 a prominent figure in the fruit industry on the Coast, 

 and he was one of the last survivors of the four pioneers 

 who started the first orchards in Oregon. 



G. B. BRACKETT. 



Lodeman, Ernest Gustavus (Fig. 1886), horticul- 

 tural investigator and writer, was born in Neufchatel, 

 Switzerland, May 

 3, 1867, and died 

 December 2, 1896, 

 when connected 

 with Cornell Uni- 

 versity, Ithaca, 

 New York. His 

 parents came to 

 America when he 

 was two years old, 

 his father becom- 

 ing, in 1870, pro- 

 fessor of modern 

 languages in the 

 State Normal 

 School of Michi- 

 gan. The son 

 entered the Agri- 

 cultural College of 

 Michigan, where 

 he graduated in 

 1889. Modest and 

 lacking in self-as- 

 sertion, he needed 

 encouragement 

 and Stimulus to 1886. Ernest G. Lodeman. 



