1600 



HORTICULTURISTS 



HORTICULTURISTS 



The next edition, called the "eighth revised," 

 appeared in 1875, and had nearly 600 octavo pages and 

 over 500 engravings, not to mention a colored frontis- 

 piece and highly pictorial binding; and this was fol- 

 lowed, ten years later, by a revised reprint in plainer 

 and more tasteful style, illustrated with the largest 

 number of engravings yet reached, 519. This edition, 

 the last issued during the life of the author, sold well, 

 like all the others, and was long out of print and much 

 sought for. A so-called "twentieth" edition, revised 

 and enlarged by Mr. William H. S. Wood, with the 

 assistance of a number of high authorities, appeared in 

 1897, and contains over 700 pages and nearly 800 illus- 

 trations. A "twenty-first" edition has also appeared. 



GILBKRT M. TUCKER. 



Thorburn, Grant (Fig. 1903), founder of the seed 

 house of J. M. Thorburn & Co., New York, and hor- 

 ticultural author, was born in 1773 in Dalkeith, Scot- 

 land, and early came to New York to seek his fortune. 

 His father was a wrought-nail maker, and the son 

 engaged in the same trade in this country. He soon 

 married, and his wife attended a store which he estab- 

 lished in Nassau Street, near Liberty, for the selling of 

 "tape, ribbons, thimbles, thread, scissors, and Oxbery's 



needles." The living- 

 rooms were in connec- 

 tion. "A glass door 

 opened opposite the 

 fireplace, where she 

 rolled the dumpling or 

 broiled the steak with 

 one eye, and kept a 

 squint on the store 

 with the other." The 

 introduction of cut-nail 

 machines deprived 

 young Thorburn of his 

 trade, and the estab- 

 lishment of a preten- 

 tious grocery business 

 on the corner of Nassau 

 and Liberty streets 

 took away his custom- 

 ers. He therefore gave 

 attention to other 

 means of livelihood. 

 The women of the city 

 had begun to show a 

 taste for flowers. These were grown in pots, and the 

 pots were sold by grocers. In the fall of 1802, there 

 being various pots in his stock, Thorburn thought to 

 attract the attention of purchasers by painting the 

 pots green. Four pots were first painted. They sold 

 quickly. Then he painted twelve. They sold; and thus 

 the pot business grew. Thorburn had been in the habit 

 of buying his meat at the Fly Market, at the foot of 

 Maiden Lane. In April, 1803, he bought a rose geran- 

 ium there, thinking to be able by its means still further 

 to advertise his pots. But the next day a customer 

 bought both pot and plant; and Thorburn quickly 

 returned to the market and bought two more plants. 

 These sold; and thus the plant business grew. 



The man, George Inglis, of whom Thorburn bought 

 the plants, was alsp a Scotchman, and it was soon 

 agreed that one should grow the plants and the other 

 sell them. But the customers also wanted to grow 

 plants, and they asked for seed; and, as there was no 

 seedstore in New York, it was arranged that Inglis 

 should grow seeds also. This was in 1805; and in that 

 year Inglis, as an experiment, had grown a lot of seeds. 

 Thorburn bought these seeds for $15; and thus arose 

 the first regular seedstore in New York, and one of the 

 first in the United States. 



The seeds and plants continued to sell, and Thorburn 

 was obliged to import seeds. In 1805 or 1806 he ob- 

 tained a catalogue of William Malcolm & Co., London, 



1903. Grant Thorburn. 



the first plant catalogue he had ever seen, and he then 

 published one of his own. This led to more pretentious 

 writing, and "The Gentleman and Gardener's Kalen- 

 dar" was the first outcome. The third edition of this, 

 in 1821, by "Grant Thorburn, Seedsman and Florist," 

 contains the advertisment of "G. Thorburn & Son," 

 dealers in seeds, implements and rural books. 



Grant Thorburn was a prolific writer for the current 

 press on a variety of topics, under the nom de plume of 

 Laurie Todd. He was a unique character, and his his- 

 tory, "mixed with much fiction," as he himself says, 

 was the basis of John Gait's tale in three volumes 

 (London, 1830) of "Lawrie Todd, or Settlers in the 

 Woods." Thorburn left a most interesting autobiog- 

 raphy, which was published in New York in 1852. He 

 died in New Haven, Connecticut, January 21, 1863, at 

 the age of 90. The portrait in Fig. 1903 is reproduced 

 from his autobiography. See p. 1518. L. jj. B. 



Thurber, George, botanist, naturalist and editor, was 

 born in Providence, Rhode Island, September 2, 1821, 

 and died at his home near Passaic, New Jersey, April 

 2, 1890. In his early years he devoted himself eagerly 

 to the study of chemistry and natural sciences in gen- 

 eral, but especially to botany, so that at an early age 

 he was already well known as one of the most prominent 

 botanists of the country. This brought him in close 

 intimacy with John Torrey, Asa Gray, George Engel- 

 mann, Louis Agassiz and other eminent scientists, 

 whose warm friendship he enjoyed until his death. In 

 1850 he obtained the appointment as botanist, quart- 

 ermaster and commissary of the United States Boun- 

 dary Commission for the survey of the boundary 

 between the United States and Mexico. During the 

 following four years his botanical work consisted mainly 

 in the exploration of the native flora of these hitherto 

 unknown border regions. His herbarium collected there 

 comprised a large number of species new to scientists, 

 some of which have been named after their discoverer, 

 Cereus Thurberi being one of the most important; it is 

 now cultivated for its fruit in the desert regions of 

 North Africa. This historical herbarium formed the 

 subject of Dr. Asa Gray's important work "Plantae 

 Novae Thurberinanse," published by the Smithsonian 

 Institute. After his return to New York in 1853, Dr. 

 Thurber received an appointment to the United States 

 Assay Office, of which Dr. John Torrey was the assayer. 

 In this position he remained until 1856, when owing to 

 his strong sympathies with Gen. John C. Fremont, who 

 was the first presidential candidate of the Republican 

 party, he preferred to resign rather than sacrifice his 

 principles. During the following three years he was 

 connected with the Cooper Union and the College of 

 Pharmacy of New York City as lecturer on botany 

 and materia medica. In 1859 he was appointed 

 professor of botany and horticulture at the Michigan 

 Agricultural College, which position he held for four 

 years. This position he resigned in 1863 to accept 

 on the urgent invitation of Orange Judd, the 

 publisher the editorship of the "American Agri- 

 culturist," which he held to within a few years 

 of his death, when failing health prevented him 

 from continuing his ardent labors. In this position 

 he found his most congenial work and the real mission 

 of his life, for which his previous training had fitted 

 him so admirably. Few men have exerted so powerful 

 and effective an influence on progressive horticulture 

 and agriculture. The amount of his writings in the 

 "American Agriculturist" during the twenty-two years 

 of his connection with it was enormous, but as his name 

 but rarely appeared with his articles it would be impos- 

 sible to estimate the aggregate, yet whatever he wrote 

 bore the stamp of accuracy of detail and naturalness 

 of style. While in Michigan he revised and partly 

 rewrote Darlington's "Agricultural Botany," which was 

 published under the title of "American Weeds and Use- 



