VOL. XXX. No. 19. 
WHOLE No. 1*93. 
PRICE SIX CENTS. 
82.50 PER YEAR. 
[Entered according to Act ot Congress. In the year 18 74, by the Kural Publishing Co mpany, In the office of t ’he Librarian ol Congress ut Washington.! 
WILLIAM SAUNDERS. 
Among the industrial men of the country 
Mr. William Saunders holds a worthy and 
prominent place—that prominence having 
been enhanced of late year? by the wonder¬ 
ful growth of the Order of Patrons of Hus¬ 
bandry, of which he is the conceded Founder. 
But aside from the prominence thus attained, 
and this reason for it, Mr. Saunders merits 
a position as an industrial man per se, both 
for his acquirements in and contributions to 
general horticulture and landscape garden¬ 
ing. He hag not been an aggressive man in 
the sense that he has sought to make a noise 
for notoricty’3 sake. He is a modest man— 
not without his own opinions, however, 
which he takes good care to defend when 
they are assailed. His work is unostenta¬ 
tiously, yet thoroughly done. It has been 
criticised, and will be ; but whose work is 
not ? His connection with the Department 
of Agriculture, ns Superintendent of its 
Grounds and Gardens, has been, so far as we 
have knowledge, entirely creditable to him¬ 
self, taking into account the means at his 
disposal and the difficulties that always meet 
a Government officer in the prosecution of 
his own plans. We do not happen to know 
any man who could have done better in his 
place, and the number is small who would 
have acquitted themselves as well. Person¬ 
ally und socially Mr. Saunders is one of the 
most genial of gentlemen, cordial, warm¬ 
hearted and sympathetic, and numbers 
among the prominent horticulturists of the 
country a vast number of warm friends. 
WiLLLAH Saunders was born at 9t. An¬ 
drews, Fifes hire, Scotland, in December, 
182ii, and educated in that city of univer¬ 
sities, We have heard it stated that he was 
intended to be educated for the ministry : if 
so, the intention mu3t have been early aban¬ 
doned, for he was articled as an apprentice 
to a gardener, leaving college for this pur¬ 
pose before the completion of his 16th year. 
After serving out his apprenticeship he was 
employed as journeyman in various localities 
in Scotland and England, under the instruc¬ 
tions of noted horticulturists, his earnest 
studies and close attention to business soon 
gaining him an appointment to an important 
and responsible position. 
In the early spring of 18-18 he sailed from 
London for New York. On his arrival here 
his letters of inti’oductiou at once secured 
him employment in his profession, in which 
he has been constantly and actively engaged 
up to the present time. For several years 
he was engaged in general and ornamental 
gardening in various States, and in 1854 lo¬ 
cated at Germantown, Pa., as a landscape 
gardener and garden architect. At that time 
landscape gardening was but sparingly pa¬ 
tronized. The era of large city parks and 
extensive private pleasure grounds being in 
its infancy, the limited experiencies of the 
city architect were considered amply suffi¬ 
cient for the decoration of the grounds sur¬ 
rounding the suburban villa, and the mini¬ 
mum of interesting or useful adornment was 
reached at a maximum amount of expense. 
An impulse toward a higher class of rural 
improvements, however, had already been 
given, and Mr. Saunders soon found himself 
actively employed, his services being in con¬ 
stant demand and his works giving much 
satisfaction to all who availed themselves of 
his cultivated taste. 
Perhaps the most strictly peculiar charac¬ 
teristic of Mr. Saunders is that he never 
attempts any practical application without 
first becoming thoroughly acquainted with 
the fundamental principle upon which it is 
based. He is the very extreme reverse of a 
routine practitioner. So far does he carry 
out thi3 idea that he has repeatedly an¬ 
nounced in ills writings that “more real 
progress would result from the constant 
explanation of principles only than can ever 
follow the enunciation of merely practical 
details,*' This system of studying primary 
principles has enabled him to add materially 
to the progress of horticulture. As examples 
mention may be made of the valuable infor¬ 
mation resulting from his investigation of 
the cause of mildew of the foreign grape, 
even when cultivated under glass. Not con¬ 
tent to know that it could be eradicated by 
sulphuring the plants, he discovered its 
cause, and basing a process of culture upon 
this discovery, no curative meusures are 
necessary. Finding that this mildew was 
produced by aridity in the atmosphere, it 
was a simple process of reasoning to limit 
ventilation to one series of openings at the 
highest poiut of the structure, so as to avoid j 
air currents and to keep the atmosphere duly 
charged with humidity. 
The investigations of Mr. Saunders into 
blight or mildew which retards the profitable 
culture of many of the finest varietios of our 
native grapes were no less valuable. This 
species of mildew he found to prevail only 
in wet seasons, or during continued heavy 
dews in clear weather. As a remedy he 
erected a covered trellis, in order to arrest 
1 radiation and cooling of the foliage, thus 
; keeping the leaves dry. Subsequently he 
used the hardier varieties as a covering with 
equal effect. A marked improvement in 
plant propagation resulted from his invest! 
gations into the principles governing this 
operation. These he elaborated in an article 
to one of the horticultural journals in the 
year 1850. In this paper he demonstrated 
the principle that, roots were formed on cut¬ 
tings most certainly when the base of the 
cutting was placed in a medium 30° warmer 
than the atmosphere in which the buds were 
exposed, in accordance with these deduc¬ 
tions he Btrongly advised planting trees 
during early fall instead of spring ; also the 
planting of cuttings at the same period, of 
such plants as are usually propagated in the 
open ground. The result of his thennomet- 
rieal tests showed that during the month of 
October the soil near the surface averages 
many degrees warmer than the atmosphere 
during the same time, thus providing nat¬ 
urally the best conditions for success. These 
practices are now very prevalent among 
planters aud propagators. 
In garden architecture Mr. Saunders in¬ 
troduced the mode of fixing glass roofs in¬ 
stead of covering with a series of movable 
sashes, which, in the days of cheap glass, re¬ 
duced the cost of such structures nearly 
fifty per cent. He has also published much 
valuable advice on the heating of glass struct¬ 
ures, aud within a few years lias strongly 
advocated, us he has strongly practiced, a 
great improvement in fixing hot water-pipes 
where heating by this mode is adopted. Mr. 
Saunders brought the same philosophical in- 
'WIILILI^A.Ivr SAUNDERS. 
vestigations into his study of landscape gar¬ 
dening, and it is known, at least to a few 
who can fully appreciate his efforts, that no 
practitioner of the present time lias truer 
artistic qualifications for the creation of 
economic and tasteful arrangement in land¬ 
scape than he possesses. 
Mr. Saunders was for a long series of 
years one of the most active and constant 
contributors to tliohorticultural journals of 
this country. Fie has also been an active 
worker und promoter of Rural Clubs, Fruit 
Growers' Societies, Horticultural and kin¬ 
dred associations. He lias not, so far as we 
are aware, ever published any exclusive 
work (although his writings would fill many 
volumes if collected), frequent offers from 
publishers to do so having been declined by 
him for lack of time and opportunity to un¬ 
dertake the labor. 
For several reasons, among others declin¬ 
ing health, caused by incessant and severe 
labors, Mr. Saunders was induced in the 
fall of 1802 to accept an appointment in the 
Agricultural Department of the Government. 
This, although at first looked upon as of u 
temporary ehax-acter, has been extended up 
to the present Lime. 
In the first paragraph of this article we 
speak of Mr. Saunders as the conceded 
Founder of tliB Order of Patrons of Hus¬ 
bandry. This is correct, and yet, in “ vindi¬ 
cation of the truth of history,” it is proper 
to say that his friend Mr. O. II. Kelley first 
proposed to Mr. S. that “ some such organ¬ 
ization among farmers as that of the Masonic 
Order would be advantageous in linking to¬ 
gether as a party the cultivators of the soil.” 
This was in 18(57, and, as we read in “ The 
Grange Illustrated, or Patron's Hand-Book,” 
(noticed elsewhere in this paper,) “Ondue 
consideration of the idea, and after divesting 
it of all extraneous features, making it purely 
and simply an industrial organization, Mr. 
Saunders stated his conclusions, which had 
the effect of enlisting and consolidating the 
valuable advice and assistance of Messrs. 
Kelley, Thompson and other efficient gen¬ 
tlemen in perfecting the organization.” 
Mr. Saunders was elected the first Master 
of the National Grange which was organized 
at his office on Four and a-half Street, Wash¬ 
ington, D. C., on the 4th of December, 1867. 
About the. 1st of January, 1868, Mr. S. issued 
a circular “explaining very clearly and for¬ 
cibly the considerations which had led to the 
formation of the Order and its purposes and 
aims.” This circular was widely distributed 
among agriculturists, and undoubtedly exer¬ 
cised great influence, by imparting informa¬ 
tion concerning its principles and objects, in 
securing r,he establishment of the Order and 
its subsequent remarkable success. 
The work already cited (“The Grange Il¬ 
lustrated,”) thus speaks of the subject of our 
sketch in giving an aecouut of the origin of 
the Order of Patrons of Husbandry Of 
Mr. Saunders but little more need be said. 
He is, par excellence, the founder of the 
Order. To his clear perceptions, his exten¬ 
sive literary and scientific culture, anti his 
sturdy, strong common sense, it owes those 
features which have made it so acceptable 
to all who have investigated its history and 
principles. His deliberate but sound judg¬ 
ment, his wisdom and faithfulness in council, 
his thorough devotion to the interests of the 
Order, liis remarkable foresight in compre¬ 
hending its possibilities in the future, and his 
unimpeachable integrity, have won for him 
the confidence of the Patrons of Husbandry 
all over the country.” 
