1887. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



51 



Marshall PInckney Wilder. 



On Thursday, December IH, the Hon. Mai-- 

 shall P. Wilder. America's greatest pomologist 

 and horticulturist, died at his home in Dor- 

 chester, a suburb of Boston, Mass. He had 

 reached the advanced age of 88 years. Less 

 than two weeks previous to his death Mr. 

 Wilder attended the special meeting of the 

 Massachusetts Horticultural Society; then 

 went to the meeting of the Agri- 

 cultural Society, and made an 

 address. On that day he took 

 cold, which was followed by the 

 fatal attack of rheuniatLsm. On 

 the day of his death as he was 

 seated in his arm ch;ur convers- 

 ing, without a raomerit's premo- 

 nition of any kind, he clap]ied his 

 hand to his heart and in an instant 

 he was dead. 



Mr. Wilder wa.s born at Rindge, 

 N. H . Sept. 2-3, 1708. He had but 

 such common school advantages 

 as came from going to the public 

 school and an academy. For this 

 his love for agriculture largely 

 accomited, a.s he early had the 

 choice of going to college or farm 

 work, and chose the latter. Later 

 on he became a very successful 

 merchant of Boston. The great 

 work of his life, which gained 

 the fame justly due him, both in 

 this country and abroad, was in 

 the field of horticidture and po- 

 mology. He ha.s himself said of his 

 work in these fields ; "Endowed 

 from my youth with a love for 

 rural Ufe and i-ural taste, I have 

 only obeyed the instincts of my 

 nature in devoting such time, 

 abiUty and means as I could com- 

 mand to the cultivation of the 

 eai-th. '' But it was in pomology 

 that he was most successful and 

 most widely known. His famous 

 Vear orchard consisted of 2500 

 trees and 800 varieties, and from 

 this more than 300 varieties of the Peai- have 

 been brought to a single exhibition, and for 

 several years he took the first premium of the 

 Massachusetts Horticultural Society for the best 

 collection. He exhibited at the Bay State Cattle 

 Show one hundi-ed varieties of Pears and 

 twenty of Grapes. Fruit trees and fi-uit cult- 

 ure, floriculture, flnra-hybridizing. and a 

 proper nomenclature in pomology-, received 

 his careful and assiduous attention, and these 

 labors have been followed by the most satisfac- 

 tory results. 



Floriculture was one of Mr. Wilder's early 

 and favorite piu-sults. His Camellia house is 

 supposed to have contained the best collection 

 in the country-, embracing at one time more 

 than three hundred varieties, and it wiU now 

 comijare favorably with those at home or 

 abroad. His later years have been given al- 

 most entirely to his favorite field of work. One 

 of the most eminent agriculturists of England 

 has spoken of him as " one who by his zeal, in- 

 dustry and determination has not only con- 

 ferred lasting benefits on his country, but has. 

 by careful researches in hybridization and 

 fruit culture, laid the horticulturists of all na- 

 tions under heavy obligations. " 



At the time of his death Mr. Wilder was 

 president of the American Poniological Soci- 

 ety, and this office he had, with the exception 

 of a single term, held permanently from the or- 

 ganization of the Society in 1848. It was in 

 this useful capacit}- that his name liecame the 

 most widely kno«-n throughout our country. 

 Either as president or as a trustee he was asso- 

 ciated with a number of other societies, banks, 

 etc. , at all the later periofis of his life. 



Although so well known as a horticulturist, 

 it was only in his 34th year that Mr. WiMer 

 actively entered this field of labor, doing so out 

 of a pure love for the calUng, and a.s a relaxa- 



tion from mercantile pursuits. For years 

 previous he had l>een a Boston merchant, and 

 in this he continued until within a few years 

 of his death, when he retired. From horticult- 

 ure he could never retire. His life in many 

 resjiects was that of the model amateur gar- 

 dener. It was his cu.stom to rise early, to de- 

 vote the morning to books and to the superin- 

 tendence of his garden and orchards; the mid- 



THE LATE MARSHALL P. WILDER. 

 Engraved exprtssly for Popular Gardentno. 



die of the day to mercantile business in the 

 city ; and the evening to his family and study. 

 Mr. Wilder believed above all eLse in the un- 

 ion of intelligence with horticulture. He was 

 the warm friend of every effort made for the 

 dissemination of gardening information. From 

 the fii-st he has given hearty encouragement 

 and support to Popular Gardening, express- 

 ing his faith in its successful future. When 

 the paper was enlarged he was one of the first 

 subscribei's to renew at the present price. We 

 have the pleasure of ])resenting a perfect fac- 

 simile in reduction of his brief note to us on 

 tliat occasion, and this will be prized by all 

 who cherish the memory of the gieat horticult- 

 urist. It was a pleasant thought to him, that 

 while at his 27th year there was not a single 

 horticultural society in America, his life had 

 been spared to see more than 1500 of these and 

 similar associations in existence. In the bring- 

 ing about of such an improved state of things, 

 and in the advancing of horticulture and pomol- 

 ogy among the masses in general, no one man, 

 by direct or indirect meiins, has done more 

 for America than Mai-shall Pinckney Wilder. 



Grafted Stone Fruits. 



.1. I., BCDI), AMES, IOWA. 



From a Western standpoint we feel like scold- 

 ing about friend Purdy's positive statement 

 that only budded trees of the stone fruits 

 should be planted, and that not one root graft 

 in ten of the Peach, Plum, Apricot or Cherry 

 can be made to grow. 



On account of tendency in our soil to root 

 killing we often lose thousands of Eastern trees 

 of hard}' varieties bu<lded on such tender sorts 

 as Mazzard and Myrobolan. We are often 

 forced to use such stocks when hardier ones are 

 not obtainable, but we set the grafts down to 



the upper bud of the scion, which sufficiently 

 protects the tender roots. We even use safely 

 seedlings of the Peach for the Chickasaw Plums 

 in central and northern Iowa by giafting with 

 rather long scions, while stocks budded at the 

 crown usually root kill the first winter after 

 setting. We find no trouble in securing a good 

 stand of the stone fruits by crown grafting 

 when the following simple rules are observed : 



1. The scions must l>e kept 

 quite dry. If slightly shriveled 

 they are all right, but if buds are 

 slightly started, and the bases of 

 the scions show signs of callousing 

 they will rarely unite with stock. 



2. We practice what is known 

 as "side grafting," with the wedge 

 of the scion level. If the usual 

 direction is followed of making 

 the " outside of the wedge thick- 

 est " we cannot expect success. 



3. We tie giafts firmly with 

 waxed thread and coat the cut 

 siu-faces and points of union with 

 cold "alcoholic plastic." We find 

 the modem linseed oil plastic 

 unfit for use on the stone fruits. 



4. After grafting pack away 

 so that the scions are left mainly 

 exposed to the cellar air, so they 

 will not absorb too much water. 



5. Keep grafts in a cool cave 

 with earth covering overhead. 

 In a common cellar the changes 

 of temperature and moisture of 

 air is not favorable to any kind 

 of grafts. If the cave is too 

 warm open up when the air is 

 cold, and keep carefully closed 

 when external air is warmer than 

 that of the cellai'. If giafts can 

 be kept near\\j donnanf it is best 

 not to plant until the gi'ound is 

 settled and warm enough to plant 

 early Com. I wiU only add that 

 the Plum and Apricot we find 

 quite as easy to crown graft as 

 the Apple, and far easier than the 



Pear, but the Cherry and Peach need a careful 

 compliance with the above simple riUes. 



The Size of the Cluster. 



D, L. MARVIN, WATERTOWN, N. T. 



The judges at our fairs have always awarded 

 prizes to the largest clustei-s of Grapes, a cus- 

 tom that prevails in Europe as well. Is there 

 a good reason for such action ? It may lie 

 well enough in amateur competitions, but in 

 general not, for a small, or medium-sized 

 cluster is usually the preferred one with both 

 producers and consumers. One of the most 

 important demands for Grapes is that from ho- 

 tels, restaurants, and boarding-houses, for des- 

 sert use, and here there is a decided preference 

 for handsome, small clusters, as large ones for 

 all guests cannot be so well afforded. And no 

 one likes to destroy the beauty of such by di- 

 viding them up by cutting. Smallness of the 

 clusters accounts in part for the great popu- 

 larity of the Delaware. 



Another objection to large clusters is that 

 they are usually shouldered, and the shoulder 

 seldom ripens ^vith the other parts. Besides 

 partial gieenness of large shouldered clusters 

 there is trouble in handling such, the berries 

 often getting bruised or torn off in taking 

 them from the basket or Ijox, and the blossom 

 getting rubbed off as well. 



Perhaps our best Grapes for hotel purposes 

 and general table use, are finally to come from 

 the seedlings and descendants of the old Taylor 

 Grape. The clustei's ot Elvira, one of the fam- 

 ily, are the right shape and size to fill this de- 

 mand. Unfortunately, the skin of this one is 

 so tender, the berries usually bursting in ripen- 

 ing. But the defect is cured in several of the 

 seedlings I have seen, and which have a tough 

 skin and never crack. 



