20 



-> ■ ?' 



•;:?sr :f^-ymif^i/:r 



The Florists^ Review 



. '(Tv* '*.; •(^•* 'iy -sf. ••■r^^'T'ffWr;; 7T "'^ '^.TJT^T'Tj * ^^ ' 



August 10, 1916. 



OBITUARY 



Jackson Thornton Dawson. 



When the news spread August 3 that 

 Jackson Dawson, Boston's and New 

 England's grand old horticulturist, was 

 no more, there was a feeling of univer- 

 sal sadness among his hosts of friends, 

 and I am sure that a great many be- 

 yond the confines of the Old Bay state 

 will feel keen pangs of regret when 

 they read of the death of this able, 

 genial, warm-hearted and lovable man. 

 Mr. Dawson had been ailing for several 

 months, but until the last day or two 

 his condition was not regarded as crit- 

 ical and his friends felt sure that his 

 strong vitality would pull him through. 



Jackson Dawson was born in the 

 East Eiding of Yorkshire, England, in 

 1841. He came to America when quite 

 young and at the early age of 8 years 

 started to work in the nurseries of his 

 uncle at Andover, Mass. He moved 

 from there to Cambridge, Mass., a few 

 years later and worked for a consider- 

 able time in the noted nurseries of C. 

 M. Hovey & Co., at that time the Mecca 

 of new and rare plants in America. His 

 enlistment during the Civil war dated 

 from August 2, 1862, and he served 

 until the close of the great struggle. 

 He was severely wounded in the leg, 

 which bothered him to some extent the 

 rest of his life. While in the southern 

 states he studied the plants of that re- 

 gion carefully and sent home many 

 packages of seeds. 



In 1871 Mr. Dawson was offered and 

 accepted a position with the Bussey In- 

 stitute, Jamaica Plain, Mass., then in 

 charge of the late Francis Parkman. 

 After two years' service in the school 

 of horticulture there. Prof. C. S. Sar- 

 gent took the place of Mr. Parkman 

 and a little later became director of the 

 now world-famed Arnold Arboretum, 

 which is one of the departments of 

 Harvard University. Mr. Dawson was 

 appointed superintendent of the arbo- 

 retum over forty years ago and then 

 began his wonderful life work in the 

 propagation of hardy plants from all 

 parts of the temperate globe. As a 

 propagator, no matter whether it was 

 from seeds, cuttings, grafts^ layers, roots 

 or by some other method perhaps not 

 previously considered, the deceased had 

 no equal in America, and his wonderful 

 skill with admittedly difficult subjects 

 was even better known and appreciated 

 in Europe than in America. He some- 

 times tried his hand with cool green- 

 house plants, and the writer has seen 

 plants of Acacia pubescens seven feet 

 in height from grafts made in the mod- 

 est arboretum propagating house, only 

 one year from grafting. The way in 

 which he grew countless thousands of 

 rhododendrons, azaleas and other shrubs 

 was an eye-opener for even expert prop- 

 agators. 



Mr. Dawson had a great love for all 

 plants, and they certainly responded in 

 wondrous measure to him as a propa- 

 gator. Professor Sargent, with whom 

 he worked for the upbuilding of the 

 Arnold Arboretum for so many years, 

 thus referred to Mr. Dawson's place in 

 scientific horticulture: "Mr. Dawson 

 seems to be able to look at a plant and 

 tell you what its affinities are — that is, 

 what it may be grafted upon. He is a 

 real wizard in this line. He seems to 



Jackson Dawson. 



know the art of grafting by intuition 

 — what stock to use, in what condition 

 to use it and how to use it. This 

 knowledge and skill he has acquired 

 by patient practice and by love for the 

 things with which he works. Plants 

 seem to respond to affection, and he has 

 that aflfection in large measure. In 

 addition to the great number of trees 

 and shrubs he has raised here, no one 

 can tell how many hundreds of thou- 

 sands he has sent to every part of the 

 United States, and every part of the 

 countries of Europe." 



Mr. Dawson's skill as a hybridizer 

 also was quite pronounced. He raised, 

 among other roses of merit, Farquhar, 

 Dawson, William C. Egan, Lady Dun- 

 can and Professor Sargent. He dis- 

 covered the Scotch heather growing 

 wild in Massachusetts some years ago. 

 He propagated it freely from seeds and 

 cuttings and after proving its hardiness 

 to skeptics, popularized it in Massachu- 

 setts to such a degree that now whole 

 hillsides of some estates are being cov- 

 ered with it. His work with difficult 

 or intractable plants would take too 

 long to describe. Suffice to say that he 

 mastered .".11 of them; that many thou- 

 sands of people have enjoyed seeing 

 them and will ever hold in affectionate 

 memory their associations with our dead 

 friend. So long as the Arnold Arbo- 

 retum survives and the love for beauti- 

 ful trees and shrubs persists, the name 

 of Jackson Dawson w^ll be indissolubly 

 wrapped up with the people. 



The writer has freojently heard the 

 remark that Jackson Dawson had no 

 enemies, and he can well believe it. 

 Those privileged to work as his assistt 

 ants can well bear this out. Matthew 

 Daley worked under Mr. Dawson over 

 forty-four years and never had a quar- 

 rel. He says he was treated more as a 



son than as an assistant. A. P. Galder, 

 Sr., who knew him intimately since 

 1861, bears similar testimony. 



Mr. Dawson was a member of the 

 Massachusetts Horticultural Society and 

 secured numerous medals from that so- 

 ciety for his novelties. He joined the 

 Gardeners' and Florists' Club of Bos- 

 ton in 1887, served as a member of the 

 executive committee in 1888, as vice- 

 president in 1891 and 1892, the years 

 following the Boston S. A. F. conven- 

 tion, and as president in 1893. Of late 

 years he had been carried on the rolls 

 as one of the club's honorary members. 

 He also was a member of the Horticul- 

 tural Club of Boston. In 1911 Mr. 

 Dawson was awarded the George R. 

 White medal of honor by the Massachu- 

 setts Horticultural Society for the great 

 work he had done in advancing the in- 

 terests of horticulture. 



In 1866 Mr. Dawson married Mary 

 McKenna, who predeceased him. Of 

 eight children born, six survive him, 

 viz.: William F. Dawson, George Walter 

 Dawson, James Frederick Dawson, a 

 member of the firm of Olmsted Bros., 

 landscape architects; Henry S. Dawson, 

 who operates the Eastern Nurseries; 

 Mrs. Harold Blossom and Miss Laura 

 Blanchard Dawson. 



Funeral services were held at St. 

 John's Episcopal church, Jamaica 

 Plain, August 5, when there was a 

 large gathering of mourning friends. A 

 multitude of beautiful wreaths and 

 other floral designs were banked in the 

 chancel. The casket was covered with 

 beautiful flowers, including one of the 

 bonny purple heather. 



Among those connected with the hor- 

 ticultural trade noted were: Peter 

 Fisher, M. A. Patten, W. A. Manda, A. 

 E. Thatcher, W. J. Stewart, Charles S, 

 Sargent, David Welch, Charles W. 



