HORTICULTURISTS 



HORTICULTURISTS 



1593 



made cheerfully for the good of horticulture. His col- 

 lection of orchids was one of the largest and rarest of 

 that time, and was donated to the Boston Botanic 

 Garden. He was the legal counsel of the Massachu- 

 setts Horticultural Society, and an extremely prudent 

 counsellor. To I\Ir. Rand's knowledge of books is due 

 much of the success of the Society's excellent and 

 voluminous hbrary. G. B. Brackett. 



Rawson, 'Warren 'W., market-gardener, was bom 

 in Arlington, Massachusetts, January 23, 1847, and 

 died August 9, 1908. He was educated in the schools 

 of Arlington, Cotting Academy and Commercial Col- 

 lege. He entered into partnership with his father in 

 the market-gardening business in 1867, and in 1872 

 bought out the business, which he continued with 

 success until his death. His plant is now the largest in 

 New England devoted to market-gardening. 



H. W. Rawson. 



Reasoner, Pliny Ford, florist, horticulturist and nur- 

 seryman, was bom at Princeton, Illinois, May 6, 186.3, 

 and attended the common and high schools of his 

 native town. He was very fond of plants when quite 

 young and had the largest and finest garden in his 

 neighborhood. He went to Florida in 1882, settled 

 near Manatee, devoting his life to collecting and cul- 

 tivating tropical and semi-tropical plants. Not long 

 after reaching Florida, he was joined by his younger 

 brother Egbert N. Reasoner, and together they estab- 

 hshed the Royal Palm Nurseries under the firm name 

 of Reasoner Bros. He began an extensive correspond- 

 ence in many languages with directors of botanic gar- 

 dens and plant-lovers and -growers in various parts of 

 the world, and he introduced many hundreds of troiiical 

 and semi-tropical exotics. These were tested in the nur- 

 sery and sent out to plant-growers in general. He was 

 horticultural commissioner in permanent charge of the 

 sub-tropical exposition at Jacksonville, Florida, 1887-8, 

 and one of the three Florida commissioners at the 

 Cotton States Centennial Exposition at Atlanta in 

 1888. He died at Manatee of yellow fever September 

 17, 1888, at the age of 25. At t'he time of his death, he 

 was gathering together materials and notes with the 

 intention of writing a great encyclopedia of tropical 

 horticulture and floriculture. He had a genial, kindly 

 disposition and his intense enthusiasm for the cultiva- 

 tion of plants was contagious. His plant importa- 

 tions may be found scattered all over the lower South 

 in all the extensive collections of that region. 



Chas. T. Simpson. 



Rock, John (Fig. 1896), nurseryman, was born in 

 Germany in 1836 and died August 8, 1904. His name 

 was Johann Fels, 

 which he translated 

 into English on 

 coming to America 

 at the age of 15. 

 He began in New 

 York at once, at the 

 bottom of the florist 

 and seedsman busi- 

 ness and rose slowly 

 until 1861 when 

 he volunteered (5th 

 New York Zouaves) 

 and fought till the 

 close of the Civil 

 War. Returning to 

 horticulture, he set- 

 tled in California in 

 1866 and built u]) 

 one of the best ami 

 largest nurseries in 

 the United States. 

 He went to Europe 1896. John Rock. 



many times, was in touch with nurserjmien, botan- 

 ists, horticulturists, all over the world, had extensive 

 experiment grounds, tested thousands of new things, 

 originated or brought into notice innumerable varie- 

 ties of worth and at the time of his death, had 500 

 acres in nursery, at Niles, California. John Rock's 

 scientific spirit, his wide and ever-increasing knowledge, 

 his very high standards of business and his unselfish- 

 ness made him during his long life the leader of Pacific 

 coast nurserymen. He introduced more valuable 

 plants and varieties to American horticulture than any 

 other man of his period. His connection with Japan, 

 India, Australia and with the great establishments 

 abroad was close and constant. He did much to 

 encourage men like Luther Burbank, and his collec- 

 tions were always at the service of students and the 

 PubUc. c. H. Shinn. 



Roeding, Frederick Christian, nurseryman, was bom 

 in Hamburg, Germany, on December 31, 1824, and 

 died July IS, 1910. His boyhood and early training 

 were passed in Germany which fitted him for the 

 successful commercial career which he subsequently 

 achieved. He went to Chile and Peru in 1846. 

 Three years later he left for California where he first 

 went in for mining, but he soon abandoned this 

 and became a member of the firm of Larco & Co., 

 which afterward became known as the firm of R. 

 Feurstein & Co., of which he was the senior mem- 

 ber. He re-organized, and was one of the prime 

 movers of the German Savings and Loan Society of San 

 Francisco, and was vice-president and cashier for a 

 period of twenty-five years. As early as 1869, his far- 

 seeing judgment in the future of California's basic 

 industry led him, with a number of other German 

 associates, to buy 80,000 acres of land in Fresno County 

 in the San Joaquin Valley. Shortly after this body of 

 land was acquired, two sections, 1,280 acres, was 

 deeded to the Southern Pacific Railroad Company for a 

 town-site, by him and his associates, and it was on part 

 of this land which comprises the best business and resi- 

 dential section of Fresno City today. 



It was not until 1883 that he became actively engaged 

 in horticultural work. It was in that year that the 

 Fancher Creek Nursery was estabhshed. Possibly the 

 chief event associated with his name is in connection 

 with his work in the introduction of the SmjTna fig 

 in California in 1886, and his untiring efforts in prov- 

 ing the necessity for caprification of this fig in order 

 to produce it successfully. The first Smyrna figs, now 

 known as CahmjTna, were produced through artificial 

 poUenization in 1890, but it was not until 1901 that the 

 first commercial product consisting of thirteen tons 

 was placed on the market as a result of the poUeniza- 

 tion of the httle fig wasp, Blastophaga grosnoru/n, which 

 was imported the year previous with the assistance 

 of the United States Department of Agriculture and 

 established in some Capri fig trees on the Roeding 

 place. 



His name will always be associated with the City of 

 Fresno, through his donation in 1903 of a piece of land 

 for park purposes known as Roeding Park, consisting 

 of 117 acres of ground in the immediate vicinity of the 

 town. George C. Roeding. 



Rogers, Edward Stamford, grape - hybridizer, was 

 bora in Salem, Massachusetts, June 26, 1826, and died 

 in Peabody, Massachusetts, March '29, 1890. He was 

 the originator of forty-five seedling grapes known as the 

 Rogers' hybrids. He was the fir,«t man to recognize the 

 possibihty of the probable value of V. Labrusca x V. 

 nnifera hybrid varieties. For the female plant he used 

 Carter or Mammoth Globe and fertilized with Black 

 Hamburg and White Chasselas from an adjacent cold 

 grapery; this work was accomplished in the summer of 

 1851, and the clusters were carefully inclosed in sacks. 

 As a result of these poUinations, he secured about 



