I 
iiiAwiyin 
EXCELSIOR 
■41 Park Row, New York, 
82 Buffalo ht.. llovkt-gtcr, 
$3.00 PER YEAR. 
Single No., Eight Cents 
FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, MAY U, 1870 
[Entered according to ACt of Congress, in the year m by l). D. T. MoouK. ln the Clerk’s Office of the BUtrlct Court of the Unite d St ates for the Southern District of New Yo rk.) 
works. Mr. Thomas is a sincere anti greatly 
respected member of the Society of Friends. 
His extensive reading, excellent memory, 
love of anecdote and rare conversational 
powers make him a most agreeable and en¬ 
tertaining social companion. Of late years 
he has been much confined to bis home by 
Illness, hut without serious interruption of 
his literary work. 
We give in connection with bis portrait 
glimpses of his home and home grounds, en¬ 
graved from stereoscopic views thereof. 
They require no explanation ; they tell their 
own stow well. 
of Rural Affairs” is his 
work—most of the mat¬ 
ter being from his pen 
and many of the illus¬ 
trations from hi3 pencil. 
At the organization of 
the Western New York 
Fruit Growers’ Society, 
Air. Thomas was elected 
President, which posi¬ 
tion ho continued to hold 
threo years, during which 
time a volume of its trans¬ 
actions was published. 
had not proved by fruit¬ 
ing ; and the first adver¬ 
tisement. which he pub¬ 
lished was on this basis 
—nothing offered to the 
public not first proved by 
himself. This plan was 
laughed at by some of his 
cotemporaries as imprac¬ 
ticable, but he adhered 
to it uniformly as long 
as he continued to propa¬ 
gate and disseminate 
tubus trial §d. 
EMINENT HORTICULTURISTS—V 
Joint J. Tkomna 
Was horn in 1810, in what is now the town 
of Ledyard, Cayuga Co,, N. Y. His earlier 
years were spent on a farm and in a fruit 
and flower garden, and his education was 
V* In this connection it is 
proper lo look at the lesson 
which the career of Mr. 
Thomas teaches, to wit: 
^ that there is no limit to the 
t acquirements a young farm- 
'■A er may make who chooses 
to employ his leisure in pro* 
h 1- litable study. The farm and 
Vk \\ V/\\ garden arc not only Schools 
xA of Industry but of Knowl- 
edge. Every man, woman 
and child may enter upon 
the responsibilities of life 
a jrv-yfi? therefrom .qualified for great 
M jf Ji\f usefulness and for the liigll- 
]( a est social and home eujoy- 
men Is. No one who knows 
John J. Thomah will he- 
■xifA 1 ? lieve that he could Dave ac- 
quired more real, refined, 
mental polish had he dc- 
jjj voted the best years of his 
V life to classical studies. No 
/ man will believe that such 
tuition could have made 
him more useful to his fel¬ 
low men. Every faculty of 
his mind has been quickened 
into activity by the study of 
the natural objects which 
have constantly surrounded him. No ele¬ 
ment of beauty has been overlooked. Every 
fiber of the being and sense Goo has given 
him has responded to the language which 
trees, plants and flowers, and running 
brooks and velvet lawns, have made vocal— 
a language which every farmer’s hoy and 
girl who runs and romps may read and 
understand. We wish there were more 
JonN J. Thomases to exemplify what coun¬ 
try life iu its highest sense may become—to 
mainly acquired at home. 
He gave early attention to 
the study of the Natural 
Sciences, especially Botany, .J 
Chemistry, Geology and Bzk 
Alineralogy. On some of 
these sciences lie has fre- 
qucntly given courses of AC* m 
lectures. When Lwelvcyears J^J 
of age he commenced the z&j j> if 
study of Euclid’s Geometry, fff-'.r. 
and mastered a proposition 
a day. At the age of seven- ^ 
teen, his health failing, lie 
devoted a whole season to ft ‘tl 
examining and studying the ^ 
native plants on the borders wL^r- 
of Cayuga Lake. A few years 
later, he began the study yk 
and cultivation of fruits. In (fi ll TO 
1880 he removed to Palmyra v 
and started a small nursery, 
spending a portion of his 
time as bookkeeper in a ^ • 
bank. The following year 
he joined Wm. R. Smith 
at Macedon iu founding the 
nursery there, with which 
he was connected until 1850, 
when he removed to Union 
Springs, transferring the 
business to E. W. IIerendeen. At Mace¬ 
don, be made extensive plantations of 
specimen grounds, embracing many hundred 
varieties of trees, shrubs, etc. 
When he commenced examining and prov¬ 
ing fruits, lie procured, with the help of his 
lather, David Thomas —well known as one 
of the most useful men of his day in New 
A ork State, serving the public as the first 
engineer to survey the route of the Erie 
Canal, and as an active promoter of agricul¬ 
tural and horticultural improvement—many 
new sorts from various sources iu Europe 
and the United States. But he found the 
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