HORTICULTURISTS 



HORTICULTURISTS 



1591 



Gage being originated in 1783 and the Imperial Gage 

 in 1794. The "Treatise on Horticulture" mentions that 

 in 1790 no less than twenty-five quarts of Green Gage 

 pits were planted, from which seedlings were obtained 

 of every color and shape, it being probable that the 

 Washington plum was originated in that year. Before 

 the death of this William Prince, the nursery business 

 had been taken up by his sons, William and Benjamin; 

 the former on new ground, called the Linnean Botanic 

 Ciarden and Nursery, the latter at the original place, 

 caUed The Old American Nursery. l B. Prince. 



Prince, William, third proprietor of the Prince 

 Nurseries at Flushing, was born November 10, 1766, 

 and died April 9, 1842. During his hfetime, the Prince 

 Nursery was one of the centers of horticultural and 

 botanic interest in America, and reached the height of 

 its fame. He continued the work of his father in the 

 introduction of all foreign trees and plants of value, 

 the discovery of unknown American species and the 

 creation of new varieties from seed. One of the trees 

 introduced to great popularity by William Prince was 

 the Lombardy poplar. In 1793, he bought additional 

 property of 80 acres at Flushing. For fuUy fifty years, 

 the nursery was conducted much less for profit than from 

 a love of horticulture and botany. It was designed to 

 contain every kno^\Ti kind of tree, shrub, vine and 

 plant known to England and America that possessed 

 any horticultural merit. The catalogues from 1815 to 

 1850 ranked among the standard horticultural publica- 

 tions of the countr)-. The number of varieties of fruits 

 cultivated seems scarcely credible in these days, when 

 man}' nurseries are conducted solely for profit, and 

 only the trees or plants which find a ready sale are 

 propagated. In 1828, Mr. Prince wrote and pubUshed 

 the "Treatise on Horticulture," which was the first 

 work of the kind produced in America, l B Prince 



Prince, William Robert (Fig. 1893), fourth proprietor 

 of the Prince Nursery at Flushing, was born November 

 6, 1795, and died March 28, 1869. He inherited his 

 father's love of botany and his gjreat energy. He was 

 connected with the American Institute, National Pomo- 



logical Society, 

 Massachusetts 

 Horticultural 

 Society, and 

 many other im- 

 portant organi- 

 zations, in whose 

 transactions he 

 took a promi- 

 nent part. In 

 1830 he wrote, 

 with the assist- 

 ance of his 

 father, the 

 "Treatise on the 

 \'ine," a work 

 of high impor- 

 tance. In 1831 

 he issued the 

 "Pomological 

 Manual" in two 

 volumes, an im- 

 portant treatise 

 on all fruits ex- 

 cept apples. In 

 1846 he pub- 

 lished the "Man- 

 ual of Roses." 



In his early 

 manhood, Mr. 

 Prince botanized 

 through the en- 

 tire line of At- 

 1893. Wm. Robert Prince. lantic States in 



company with Professor Torrey, of Columbia, and Pro- 

 fessor Nuttall, of Harvard. The oldest cedar of Lebanon 

 in the United States, as well as the oldest Chinese 

 magnolias, sahsburias, Mt. Atlas cedars, paulownias and 

 purple beeches are to be found today in the grounds of 

 the Prince homestead, together with many other unique 

 specimens. When the disease of the Irish potato 

 caused a fear that it would have to be replaced by some 

 other vegetable, he imported the Chinese yam or potato 

 (Dioscorea Batatas), paying .?600 for the tubers. 

 About the same time he introduced sorghum, or 

 Chinese sugar-cane. He was unwearied in his endeavors 

 to promote silk-culture in the United States. He 

 imported not only the silk-worms but the mulberry 

 trees to feed them, and built a large cocoonery for their 

 accommodation. l B. Prince. 



Pringle, Cyrus Guernsey (Fig. 1894), plant-breeder 

 and botanist, was born in Charlotte, Vermont, May 6, 

 1838; die.1 in Burhng- 

 ton, Vermont, May 25, 

 1911. He early devoted 

 himself to horticultural 

 and botanical hues of 

 study and work. In 

 the late sixties, he con- 

 verted the home farm 

 into a nursery, special- 

 izing on hardy bulbs, 

 and had growing at 

 one time over one 

 hundred species and 

 varieties of Iris and 

 nearly all known spe- 

 cies of LiUum. From 

 the more usual types 

 of plant - culture, he 

 turned to the then rela- 

 tively new field of 

 pi ant -breeding. He 

 first worked with the 

 potato, later with the 

 cereals, garden vege- 

 tables and fruits. Dur- 

 ing the decade 1869-79, he devoted practically all his 

 attention to this work with rare skill, insight, and success. 

 Among his many productions the following are notable 

 (see article by Wm. Stuart in "The Country Gentle- 

 man," June, 1905): Potatoes — Snov\-flake (Early Rose 

 X Excelsior, introduced 1873), Alpha (Early Rose x 

 Sebec, introduced 1874), Ruby (Early Rose x White 

 Peachblow, introduced 1875), Trophy (Early Rose x 

 Excelsior). Tomato — Conqueror. Wheats — Defiance 

 (Gold Drop X White Hamburg, introduced 1877), 

 Grandee (Little Club x Lost Nation), Champlain 

 (Black Sea x Gold Drop, introduced 1879), Green 

 Mountain, Pringle's Nos. 5 and 6: Oats — Pringle's 

 Progress, Pringle's HuUess, American Wonder. 



He was at the same time training and inspiring others 

 in this work and generously distributing his hybridized 

 potato .seed. This early work entitles him to a leading 

 place among the pioneer plant -breeders in America, 

 and he would no doubt have continued in this fielil 

 and become one of its greatest leaders had not family 

 griefs driven him from home. He then, following the 

 advice of .\sa Gray, turned to botanical explorations. 

 He secured many of the specimens for the Jesup col- 

 lection of North American woods in the .\merican 

 Museum of Natural History, New York City, the finest 

 collection of its kind in existence, together with much 

 of the field data on the distribution of the forest trees 

 for the "United States Census Report" of 1880. He 

 had previously begun collecting Vermont plants for 

 Dr. Gray and soon achieved a world-wide reputation 

 as the "prince of botanical collectors." His journeyings 

 extended from northern New England into Canada, 



1894. Cjrrus Guernsey Pringle. 



