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AMERICAN POMOEOGICAE SOCIETY 
Through the great work of his colaborators, Marshall P. Wilder, Chas. 
Downing and others, Mr. Strong became intensely interested in horticulture 
and abandoned the law for this profession. His work, ‘’Grape Culture” is 
one of the best that has been written (1867) along this line and was a text- 
book for a quarter of a century. 
His book on “Fruit Culture” first published in 1886 and running through 
several reprints was one of the most popular contributions to pomological 
literature of that day, and its text is still of value to home orchardists,. 
His Gardner’s Manual was also a clear, condensed, practical helpful 
book to private culturists. 
Mr. Strong was a benefactor in the introduction of new plants and trees 
from foreign countries. 
He was a contemporary of the Mannings at Salem, Mass., and of Horace 
Hunnewell of Wellesley. He shared the views of the latter concerning civic 
improvement and in order to obtain the great floral wealth he desired for 
clothing the bleak hills of Massachusetts, he established extensive nurseries 
at Waban and proceeded to make a town beautiful. He was among the first 
to discover the immense floral value of rhododendrons and azaleas for that 
section, and his extensive landscape plantings gained him notoriety through- 
out the plant world and these plantings not only beautified Waban and made 
it a valuable suburb, but it stimulated the desire amongst Massachusetts 
horticulturists to establish larger and better parks and plant collections. 
And he did much to aid in the establishment of Arnold Arboretum in 1872, 
“a tree garden to last a thousand years,” and of which the first permanent 
plantings were not made until 1886. 
Mr. Strong’s personality is intimately interwoven for more than half 
a century with the progress of Massachusetts horticulture, floriculture and 
landscape art. 
He became a member of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society in 
1848 and for a period of 56 years thereafter was actively interested in its 
work, serving in the several capacities of a member, a committeeman and 
president of the Society. He was president of the Society 1871-74 and in 
1872 he visited Paris as a delegate to the Pomological Congress, and 
through his friendship with Andre Francois Michaux of France, received 
under the will of that dignitary a bequest of $8,000 for the “Slocielty of 
Agriculture and Arts of the State of Massachusetts, Boston.” This money 
was paid to the Massachusetts Horticultural Society by Mr. Strong. Some- 
time later the Massachusetts Society for the Promotion of Agriculture 
claimed the legacy and after considerable controversy, the legacy was 
turned over to the latter Society. 
Mr. Strong became a member of the American Pomological Society in 
1869 and for nearly a half century he rarely missed a meeting. He did 
much for American fruit culture, especially the grape and pear industries 
and he was regarded as a leader among old line pomolo f gists. He was the 
oldest member of the American Pomological Society at the time of his 
death. 
Mr. Strong retired from active business in 1890 and the last two decades 
of his life were spent in further developing Waban into a beautiful suburb 
of Boston. Waban with its wooded streets and open parks is a lasting testi- 
