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HORTICULTURISTS 



HORTICULTURISTS 



His best known publications are: "Amateur Fruit- 

 Growing," 1894; "Vegetable Gardcnii-.g," 1896; "For- 

 estry in Minnesota," 1898; "Principles of American 

 Forestry," 1903; "Farm Hedges and Windbreaks," 

 1906; "Popular Fruit Growing," 1909. 



He was one of the pioneers who helped to put agri- 

 culture in its proper place in the state of Minnesota. 

 He was instrumental in establishing the College of 

 Forestry and started the summer work in Itasca Park, 

 thus giving the forestry students six months of practi- 

 cal work under good supervision. j^j; jjqy Cady. 



Gregory, James J. H., farmer, .seedsman, and author, 

 was born at Marblehead, Massachusetts, November 7, 

 1827, and died February 20, 1910. He was educated in 

 the pubUc schools at Marblehead, two years at Middle- 

 bury College, and graduated from Amherst CoUege in 

 1850. He taught in Maiblehead, Hingham and Lunen- 

 berg. The starting of the seed business was almost an 

 accident. He was reading the "New England Farmer" 

 and saw the request for a good winter squash, and as 

 his father had recently raised some splendid squashes 

 from seed that "Old Marra Hubbard" had given him, 

 he sent the inquirer some of this seed. The man was 

 so well pleased that he wrote articles for several papers 

 e.xtolling these squashes, and soon the Gregory Seed 

 Business was thriving, sending Hubbard squash seed 

 to all parts of the United States. Naturally the busi- 

 ness started in the home, the attic being used for the 

 purpose; in a very short time it was necessary to move 

 to larger quarters. He branched out with other seed, 

 both vegetable and flower, and at the time of his death 

 was carrying on one of the largest seed establishments 

 in the country. During his career he introduced many 

 new varieties of vegetables, several of which are the 

 standards in the market today. His seed-farms com- 

 prised over 400 acres where he grew pedigreed stock; 

 he always felt that by growing his own seeds he was 

 less liable to mistakes and eoul<l, himself, select the 

 most perfect types. His reputation for choice varie- 

 ties was so renowned that the firm became the head- 

 quarters for stock seeds for other well-known concerns. 



He wrote and distributed many thousands of copies 

 of treatises on various agricultural subjects, such as: 

 "Onion Raising," 1865; "Squashes: How to Grow 

 Them," 1867; "Cabbages and C.auUflower," 1870; 

 "Carrots, Mangold Wurtzels and Sugar Beets," 1877; 

 "Fertilizers," 1885. In his early life he lectured exten- 

 sively on agricultural and horticultural subjects. 



Mr. Gregorj^ was a philanthropist of renown. He 

 gave large sums of money for the establishment of 

 southern schools and colleges, the Gregory Institute of 

 Wilmington, North CaroUna, being founded by him. 

 He served his native town in many responsible capaci- 

 ties and filled many public offices. Edgar Gregory. 



Hall, Dr. George R., plant collector, was born in 

 Bristol, Rhode Island, in 1820, and died in Milton, 

 Massachusetts, December 24, 1899. He was a graduate 

 of Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut, in the class 

 of 1842. He studied medicine at the Harvard Medical 

 School, class of 1846, and on receiving his degree went 

 to China, where he practised medicine in the foreign 

 settlement in Shanghai. He abandoned the practice 

 of medicine in 1854 and went to Japan, where he 

 traveled extensively and collected the plants which 

 bear his name, among which may be mentioned Loni- 

 cera japonica var. Halliana, Pyrus Halliana, Magnolia 

 stellata (M. Halliana), Zelkova Keaki, Retinospora, 

 Thijopsis, and Lilium auratum which flowered in this 

 country one month earlier than in England. In 1864 

 he planted at Bristol many Japanese evergreens at 

 that time very rare in this country. In 1876 he made a 

 second visit to Japan. 



Harris, John S., horticulturist and pomologist, was 

 born in Seville, Ohio, August 17, 1826, and died at La 



Crescent, Minnesota, March 24, 1901. His ancestors 

 were hardy pioneers of Massachusetts and Connecticut, 

 and his own parents were pioneers in Ohio. Mr. Harris 

 early became a skilful propagator of plants under the 

 direction of his father and at the age of eleven had a 

 small nursery and garden of his own. After his father's 

 death in 1844, he was apprenticed to a cabinet-maker 

 to learn the business. In 1847 he enlisted for the Mexi- 

 can war and served under General Scott in the campaign 

 resulting in the capture of Mexico City. After his 

 return from the war, he stayed in Ohio a year or so 

 and then went west to Wisconsin, traveling over Wis- 

 consin, Iowa and Illinois. In 1851 he settled at La 

 Crosse and engaged in mai'ket-gardening. The soil 

 proving too poor and sandy, in 1856 he removed to 

 La Crescent and started in the fruit, garden and floi'ist 

 business. 



He planted his first orchard in 1857 and continued 

 planting trees, plants and shrubs until the last few 

 years of his life. It was his pride that he had tried 

 nearly every variety of apple that offered any likeli- 

 hood of being valuable to Minnesota planters. The 

 winters of 1872 and 1884 destroyed nearly all of his 

 trees but he continued planting. He began to attend 

 fairs and exhibit fruits of his own growing in 1S64. In 

 1866 he helped organize the State Horticultural Society 

 and his is the first name on the roll of the Society. In 

 1868 he was elected vice-president and in 1869, presi- 

 dent. He held the office of president until 1871, and 

 again from 1881 to 1884. He was a member of the 

 executive cammittee from 1884 until his death. He 

 was elected to the Board of Managers of the State 

 Agricultural Society in 1875 and held the office for 

 twelve years. Mr. Harris exhibited at the state fair 

 everj- year and his exhibits were always interesting 

 and valuable as showing the pomology of the state. 

 He was one of the first men to be made an honorary 

 life member of the Horticultural Society. He enjoyed 

 writing for the agricultural papers and conducted a 

 column in the "Farm, Stock and Home" for many 

 years. Mr. Harris probably had a closer knowledge 

 of pomology in the Northwest than any other man in 

 the United States and did his full share in the develop- 

 ment of horticulture throughout Minnesota. 



Le Roy Cadt. 



Heikes, William Fletcher, nurseryman, was bom at 

 Dayton, Ohio, on April 2, 1837. He succeeded his 

 father in tlie nursery business near Dayton, in 1839. 

 In 1872 he established near Huntsville, Alabama, what 

 eventually became the largest nursery of its kind in 

 the United States. He was instrumental in introducing 

 systematic grading and was the first nurseryman to 

 use a caUper to determine tree grades. He was also 

 the first nurseryman to ccUar nursery stock and keep 

 it in cold storage during the shipping-season. Mr. 

 Heikes originated the double root-grafting method of 

 propagation of nursery stock. He was state vice- 

 president for Alabama of the American Pomological 

 Society for many years. He was president of the 

 Alabama Horticultural Society from its origin in 1903 

 to the time of his death in Cleveland, Ohio, on Friday, 

 August 25, 1911. p. F. Williams. ' 



Henderson, Peter (Fig. 1881), leading market-gar- 

 dener, florist, seedsman and author, was born at 

 Pathhead, near Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1822, and died 

 in Jersey City, January, 17, 1890. He was trained in 

 Old World methods of gardening, came to America in 

 1843, worked under Thorburn and Robert Buist, 

 and then in 1847 began business in Jersey City as a 

 market-gardener, with a capital of .S500, saved by 

 three years' hard work. He continued to hve there 

 until his death. The pubhcation of "Gardening for 

 Profit" in 1865 marks an era in American horticulture. 

 It was the first American book devoted entirely to 

 market-gardening, and it helped to induce many per- 



