HORTICULTURISTS 



HORTICULTURISTS 



1595 



until 1889. Mr. Saunders aided materially with advice 

 and good work in shaping and developing the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, and he was one of the ablest and 

 most influential men the Department has ever had. H<' 

 was one of the seven founders of the order of Patrons «( 

 Husbandry in ISG7, and wrote its preamble and con- 

 stitution. He was Master of the National Grange 

 during the first six years of its existence. 



He introduced into this countrj' many fruits of 

 economic importance. His knowledge of the flora of 

 the world was extraordinarj'. He was one of the first 

 to direct public attention to the proper environment 

 for fruits; southern fruits for southern states, northern 

 fruits for northern states. He introduced the hardy 

 Russian apples for the extreme North in 1870. Mr. 

 Saunders imported economic plants and trees of various 

 kinds from almost every part of the globe. The Po7i- 

 cirus trifoliata. widely growTi as a hardy stock for 

 citrous fruits in the South and West, was obtained by 

 him in 1869. He was endeavoring to secure a hardy 

 type of Japanese orange, and the trees froze in transit 

 from San Francisco to Washington, but the stocks 

 survived, and these proved to be the now well-known 

 P. trifoliala. He enlisted the aid of the late Prof. P. J. 

 Berckmans of Augusta, Georgia, in the work of saving 

 and perpetuating this stock. Mr. Saunders introduced 

 the kaki or Japanese persimmon into this country and 

 disseminated it widely in the South. His greatest suc- 

 cess, however, was the introduction of the Bahia or 

 Washington Navel orange, the seedless orange from 

 Brazil that practically revolutionized the orange indus- 

 try in California at that time, and brought in a 

 subsequent revenue of milUons of dollars. 



G. B. Brackett. 



Saunders, William (Fig. 1898), economic entomolo- 

 gist, horticulturist and the founder, and for quarter of 

 a century Director, of the Experimental Farms of the 

 Dominion of Canatla, was born in England in 1835, and 

 died in London, Ontario, September 13, 1914. Became 

 with his parents to Canada when a boy of twelve. He 

 started in business as a chemist and druggist and, as 

 years went by, prospered to such an extent that he was 

 able to devote his spare time and means to his favorite 

 pursuits of botany, entomology and horticulture. He 

 was one of the founders of the Entomological Society of 

 Ontario, editor of the "Canadian Entomologist" for 

 thirteen years, and author of the standard work, 

 "Insects Injurious to Fruits," which is regarded as a 

 classic by economic entomologists and fruit-growers. 



Deeply interested in horticulture, he established a 

 fruit-farm near London, and began his experiments in 

 hybridizing and originating new varieties. His earliest 

 efforts were devoted to the production of improved 

 kinds of small-fruits, and he succeeded in obtaining 

 satisfactory results with gooseberries, currants, rasp- 

 berries and grapes, and also with roses and other 

 ornamental shrubs. Many of his varieties are widely 

 known and extensively cultivated, and his Emerald 

 grape was considered the best of the Canadian sorts 

 at the Colonial Exhibition in 1886. During this period 

 he was an enthusiastic member of the Ontario Fruit- 

 Growers' Association, which he was largely instrumen- 

 tal in maintaining during its day of small things, and of 

 which he was president for some j^ears. 



In 18S6 he was appointed Director of the E.xperi- 

 mental P^arms, and by his untiring energy, remarkable 

 administrative ability, wide knowledge, both scien- 

 tific and practical, long business experience and agree- 

 able personahty, he succeeded in estabhshing the chain 

 of stations in all the provinces of Canada from the 

 Atlantic to the Pacific, and prescribing for each its 

 sphere of work in adaptation to its climate and local 

 conditions. The immense value of the results obtained 

 cannot be over-estimated; tliey will long continue to 

 sustain the reputation of this man of genius to whose 

 energy and ability they were due. 



1898. William Saunders. 



Among the many aspects of work which claimed his 

 attention, horticulture continued to have a foremost 

 place. Fur a long series of years Dr. Saunders carried 

 on hybridizing experiments in order to produce apples 

 hardy enough to withstand the rigors of the north- 

 western jirovinces, 

 and of good size 

 and quahty. Tak- 

 ing the wikl Sibe- 

 rian crab, which 

 grows freely in Sas- 

 katchewan, as the 

 female parent and 

 crossing it with the 

 hardiest Canadian 

 and Russian apples, 

 he gradually suc- 

 ceeded in obtain- 

 ing hardy varieties 

 nearly 2 inches in 

 diameter which 

 thrive in the far 

 North and with- 

 stand a tempera- 

 ture of even 60° 

 below zero. His 

 efforts with cereals 

 were equally suc- 

 cessful; his Marquis 

 wheat has proved 

 to be the best variety in all respects of those grown in 

 the western provinces, and has added milhons of dollars 

 to the value of their farm products. Q j g Bethune. 



Sharp, Francis Peabody, the leading pioneer pomol- 

 ogist of New Brunswick, and perhaps of Canada, was 

 born at Northampton, New Brunswick, in 1825, and 

 removed to Upper Woodstock in 1844, at which place 

 he resided until his death in 1903. Practically all of 

 this time he was engaged in commercial orcharding, 

 the growing of nur.sery stock, the testing of varieties 

 and the creation of new fruits. He was the first man 

 to introduce most of the standard varieties in the prov- 

 ince — this being prior to 1858; obtaining cions from 

 Canada, the United States and England. He devoted 

 many years toward the production of varieties specially 

 adapted to the New Brunswick climate and soil, the 

 necessity of which he always emphasized. He early 

 recognized the possibility of obtaining new and 

 improved varieties from seed, and he imported seed 

 from many sources for testing. In this manner he 

 originated Sharp's New Brunswick apple, which many 

 have regarded as being the Duchess of Oldenburg. 

 Later, Sharp started to produce better varieties by 

 hybridizing. Using the New Brunswick as one parent 

 in most c;uses, he made upward of 2,000 crosses, origina- 

 ting a number of varieties of proved local worth, of 

 which the best known is the Crimson Beauty. The date 

 of the starting of this wr)rk does not seem to be definitely 

 known but appears to have been about 1806. In an 

 address given before the Farmers' and Dairymen's 

 Association at Fredericton in 1896, Sharj) stated 

 that he and Peter M. Gideon were the first two men 

 in America scientifically to hybridize the apple and 

 pear. It would appear from this that Sharp was by 

 many years the first man to begin this important work 

 in Canada. Photographs and particulars are given 

 in the report of the New Brunswick Fruit-Growers' 

 Association for 1911. \^ Q. Titrney. 



Shaw, Henry (Fig. 1899), founder of the Missouri 

 Botanical Garden, i)opularly known as "Shaw's Gar- 

 dens," was born at Sheffield. England, July 24, ISOO, 

 and died at St. Louis, Missouri, August 25, 1.SS9. 

 He came to the United States in 1819 and engagetl in 

 the hardware business until 1840 in St. Louis, where he 

 continued to reside until his death. After retirement 



