THIRTY-THIRD BIENNIAL SESSION 
289 
OBITUARY. 
Edward Okie Painter. 
EDWARD OKLE PAINTER, the elest child of George and Charlotte 
Dadswell Painter, was born in Ontario, N. Y., on November 3rd, 1860. His 
early boyhood was spent in Webster and Fairport, N. Y., and when a lad of 
sixteen years of age he went with his parents to DeLand, Florida. 
His opportunities to obtain an education were very limited, consisting 
of about four years study in the public schools of the State of New York. 
However, he possessed an unusual thirst for knowledge and was a great 
reader. He was also an exceptionally close observer and had no difficulty 
in grasping the most minute details. Ih his studies and investigations he 
made a specialty of agriculture and horticulture, in which he became a master, 
and was considered one of the most advanced men in these lines in the 
South. 
As a young man he cleared land and set out an orange grove for him- 
self at DeLand, Fla., and worked for others. “The Florida Agriculturist” 
was then and for many years afterward the only agricultural publication in 
Florida. From the lowest position on this paper he rose to a full journey- 
man printer and later on was promoted to the position of foreman. 
In the fall of 1883 he went to Louisville, Ky., where on October 3rd 
of the same year he was married to Miss Martha S. Brinly, the daughter 
of T. E. C. Brinly of that place. For the two succeeding years he made his 
home there during which time he was employed as a printer in the jobbing 
department of the Louisville Courier Journal. 
Returning to Florida in 1885 he purchased a half interest in the Florida 
Agriculturist. Later he bought the whole interest, paying for part of it 
with an orange grove which he had set out. He continued as editor and 
owner until 1907 when he sold all of his rights and interests in this publica- 
tion. 
In the early days of horticulture in Florida, fertilizers were hedged 
about with walls of secrecy and mystery and when he began his experi- 
mental work in fruit and vegetable growing at DeLand he was met with op- 
position and refusal in his endeavor to procure raw fertilizer materials. 
He finally succeeded through a friend in securing several hundred pounds 
of various raw materials and with these began the mixing of fertilizers ac- 
cording to his own ideas. He operated extensive experimental grounds in 
connection with the publication of this paper. On these grounds careful 
experiments and records were made in the application of different plant 
foods in different proportions, and as a result, in the course of years, he 
gained an accurate knowledge as to the plant food requirements of the vari- 
ous crops and the needs of different soils, which could not have been gained 
in any other way. 
In 1890 he began manufacturing fertilizers for his friends. In 1897, 
after his business has increased to such proportions as to make it necessary, 
he made his headquarters in Jacksonville. Until 1901 the business was 
owned and operated by him individually, at which time it was incorporated 
under the laws of the State of Florida. 
