HORTICULTURISTS 



HORTICULTURISTS 



1569 



bleeding for yellow-fever, resulted in a libel suit, and 

 damages of 85,000, which nearly ruined Cobbett, and 

 sent him to England in June, 1800. In 1802 he began 

 "Cobbctt's Weekly Political Register," which he edited 

 for thirty-three years, and until his death, except dur- 

 ing an interval of imprisonment and a second with- 

 drawal to America. His real work was domestic reform, 

 and the circulation and influence of his journal were 

 immense. He wrote extensively and entertainingly on a 

 wide variety of subjects. As historical documents, his 

 works are indispensable. 



Cobbett's horticultural writings of chief interest to us 

 are "Cottage Economy," "A Year's Residence in the 

 United States of America," and, most of all "The 

 American Gardener" (1821), which was reproduced 

 with considerable modifications as "The English Gar- 

 dener," in London, 1827. The American edition of 

 Wm. Forsyth's excellent "Treatise on the Culture and 

 Management of Fruit Trees," was published at New 

 York and Philadelphia in 1802, and in Albany in 1803, 

 and was one of the most influential books on fruit- 

 growing in the period before orcharding over large areas 

 gave rise to essentially American horticultural writings. 



WiLHELM Miller. 



Cole, Samuel W., nurseryman, author and editor, 

 was born in the town of Cornish, Maine, in 1790, and 

 died at Chelsea, Massachusetts, Decembers, 1851. At 

 about the age of twenty he left his native state and 

 passed two or three years in New Jersey and Pennsyl- 

 vania in teaching. Soon after his return he published 

 the "Columbian Spelling Book," a collection of poems 

 called "The Muse," and in 1835, the "Yankee Farmer;" 

 the latter he removed to Portland, Maine, and con- 

 tinued there about three years, in connection with a 

 seedstore and agricultural warehouse. In 1839 he came 

 to Boston and continued connected with the agricul- 

 tural press to the time of his death and was editor of the 

 "New England Farmer" during the years 1849, 1850 

 and 1851. Mr. Cole pubhshed the "American Fruit 

 Book" in 1849, and a book on "Diseases of Domestic 

 Animals," which have passed through several editions. 

 He also established and carried on the Winnisimmet 

 Nurseries in Chelsea, Massachusetts, during the years 

 from 1840 to 1850. Wm. P. Rich. 



Coleman, Norman J., lawyer, agricultural journalist, 

 first Secretary of Agriculture, and horticulturist, was 

 born near Richfield Springs, New York, May 16, 1827, 

 and died in St. Louis, Missouri, November 3, 1911. 

 He was granted the degree of Bachelor of Law 

 from the University of Louisville (Kentucky), and for 

 some years was a practising attorney at New Albany, 

 Indiana, and later in St. Louis. With an intense love 

 of rural pursuits, he gave up his lucrative law practice, 

 purchased a country home near St. Louis, and began 

 the publication of "The Missouri Valley Farmer," 

 now known as "Coleman's Rural World," one of the 

 pioneer agricultural papers of the Mississippi Valley. 

 He was Lieutenant-Governor of Missouri, 1874 to 

 1878; served as a member of the Board of Curators of 

 the Missouri State University for sixteen years and 

 was, for a number of years, a member of the Mis.souri 

 State Board of Agriculture. He wiis Secretary of Agri- 

 culture during the administration of President Cleve- 

 land, being the first to hold this position after its crea- 

 tion as a cabinet office. Through the "Rural World" he 

 issued a call for "a meeting for the purpose of advan- 

 cing and directing the fruit-growing interests of Mis- 

 souri and the West." As a result, on January 5, 1859, 

 "The Missouri Fruit Growers' Association," since 1868 

 known as the "Missouri State Horticultural Society," 

 was organized. Mr. Coleman was the first president 

 of this organization and served in this capacity for 

 periods aggregating nearly a decade. This is the oldest, 

 permanent fruit-growers' organization west of the 

 Mississippi and its annual reports, covering a period 



100 



of more than half a century, are an important adjunct 

 to the Uterature of the horticultiu'al ilevelopment of 

 the section. In his official positions, Mr. Coleman's 

 energies were largely devoted to the organization of 

 horticultural interests. His horticultural writings occur 

 mainly in the Reports of the Missouri State Horti- 

 cultural Society and in the columns of "The Rural 

 World." J. C. Whitten. 



Conard, Alfred Fellenberg, nurseryman and original 

 president of The Conard & Jones Co., of West Grove, 

 Pennsylvania, was born in Philadelphia, in 1835, and 

 died December 15, 1906. He was descended from 

 German Quakers, who joined William Penn's Colony 

 in 1683. His early life was spent on his father's farm 

 near West Grove, where later he learned the nursery 

 business under the personal supervision of Thomas 

 M. Harvey. Soon after 1862, with Charles Dingee, 

 he established a nursery business under the firm name 

 of Dingee & Conard. This prospered, and about 1869, 

 the firm turned its attention to the propagation of 

 roses by a new process introduced by Antoine Wint- 

 zer, an expert Alsatian propagator. This was a suc- 

 cess so far as the production of roses was concerned, 

 but the wholesale demand at that time was small and 

 the problem soon presented itself of how to market 

 their rapidly increasing stock. With rare foresight 

 Mr. Conard conceived the idea of disposing of it at 

 retail through the mails. 



The company issued at first a very modest cata- 

 logue. It was skilfully prepared, and offered bedding 

 plants, shrubbery, bulbs, .seeds, and the hke, in addition 

 to their attractive list of roses. This, acconipanied by 

 wise advertising, brought in orders quite satisfactorily, 

 and strictly fair and honorable treatment of customers, 

 good healthy stock and careful packing soon established 

 for the company an enviable reputation, and their 

 trade extended to all parts of the world. 



About the year 1892, Mr. Conard and Mr. Wintzer 

 having previously become separated from the Dingee 

 & Conard Co., associated themselves with S. Morris 

 Jones, and organized the Conard & Jones Co., for the 

 purpose of continuing the growing and distribution of 

 roses, flowering plants, and the like. As a specialty, they 

 took up the improvement of the canna. 



Mr. Conard was a man of very retiring nature, and 

 for this reason was not so prominent in the trade gen- 

 erally as his long experience and extensive knowledge 

 of the floral business would have warranted. He was 

 scholarly in his tastes, methotlical and precise in his 

 habits, well read and well informed. He. was particu- 

 larly proficient as a mail-order salesman, and was the 

 first advertiser in any line of business to contract with 

 advertising concerns to place the business on a per- 

 centage basis, a plan that has now been almost univer- 

 sally adopted. Thomas P. Conard. 



Coxe, William, pioneer pomologist, was born in 

 Philadelphia, May 3, 1762, and died on his farm on the 

 Delaware River near Burlington, February 25, 1831. 

 He deserves special remembrance for his excellent and 

 now scarce book, "A View of the Cultivation of Fruit 

 Trees, and the Management of Orchards and Cider," 

 with accurate descriptions of the most estimable varie- 

 ties of native and foreign apples, peajs, peaches, plums 

 and cherries cultivated in the Middle States of America. 

 This was printed at Burlington, and ijublished at 

 Philadelphia in 1817. Grapes and small-fruits were not 

 included in the scope of his book, but an article of his 

 in the "American Farmer" for July, 1828, shows that he 

 was acquainted with many varieties of grapes, and had 

 done much grafting. His book was a standard until the 

 time of the Downings, and was freely used by other 

 authors. The illustrations were excellent for their time, 

 but show only the size and outline of a fruit, and 

 whether it was dotted, splashed or streaked. (Fig. 

 1858.) 



