4 8 
crops. At this place in the year 1847, tne "Farmers' Club" 
was founded. 
George Blight was active in the "Philadelphia Society 
for Promoting Agriculture," he serving as chairman of its 
committee of arrangements, at its annual exhibition, held at 
Rising Sun Village, October 16th and 17th, 1850. At this 
exhibition, Mr. Blight was given premiums for working oxen, 
also for superior other animals, his specialty being "blooded" 
cattle. 
Shortly after Martin Baumann became successfully 
established in Germantown, there was an exodus of educated 
gardeners to America. Several of these were gifted men, 
and they came for several reasons. William Saunders had 
been educated for the Presbyterian ministry, but finding it not 
to his liking, he abandoned it for gardening. Thomas 
Meehan was a Chartist, therefore a marked man, and finding 
it impossible to hold a position in England, he decided to 
emigrate to Pennsylvania. Robert Robinson Scott had been 
a strenuous advocate of the "Young Ireland Party," both in 
England and in Ireland, and was forced to "go somewhere 
else." William Bright tiring of the British Army, sought 
freedom from its restrictions in the "new country." These 
came to Philadelphia to better their conditions, and at dif- 
ferent times, each temporarily entered the employ of Robert 
Buist. All were active, progressive men whom the fates 
decreed to place in Germantown to occupy important places 
in the advancement of its floriculture. 
William Saunders, the eldest of the quartette named, 
was born in St. Andrews, Scotland, December 7, 1822, and 
died at Washington, D. C, December 12, 1900, at which 
place he long occupied the position of Chief of the Experi- 
mental Gardens of the United States Department of Agricul- 
ture, and where also he served with William R. Smith and 
John Saul as the Parking Commission, whose work made the 
streets of Washington the pride of every American visitor. 
William Saunders was an expert draughtsman, a skilled land- 
scape engineer, and after holding important positions in 
