THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
THEODORE S. HUBBARD. 
Theodore Sedgwick Hubbard was born in 1843, 
Cameron, Steuben County, N. Y. He is a descendant of 
William Hulbert, who was among the first settlers of 
Dorchester, Mass., in 1630. The subject of this sketch 
was educated in the common schools, at the academy at 
Alfred, N. Y., and the commercial college in Poughkeep¬ 
sie, N. Y. In the spring of 1866, he formed a partnership 
with three gentlemen of Steuben county under the title of 
T. S. Hubbard & Co., who purchased one hundred acres 
of land on Prospect Hill, near Fredonia, N. Y., and plant¬ 
ed a vineyard of twenty-five acres, and at the same time 
made his first planting of 30,000 grape cuttings, the 
besfinninor of a business which afterwards grew to such 
proportions that a single year’s planting had reached ten 
million. In 1873 to enable him 
to devote his time exclusively to 
the nursery business he sold his 
interest in the vineyard, moving 
into Fredonia. 
From the beginning he made 
it a fixed rule thoroughly to grade 
the stock to a high and uniform 
standard, and to make certain 
that it was invariably true to 
name, guaranteeing the same. 
He made himself master of the 
business by extensive travel, 
reading and careful observation 
and experiment in the field. 
These, combined with unswerv¬ 
ing honesty, integrity and fair 
dealing procured him success at 
the same time that older and 
better known houses were be¬ 
coming discouraged and going 
out of the business. He finally 
bought out the stock in trade and 
list of customers and thus ab¬ 
sorbed the business of such not¬ 
ed firms as Knox, of Pittsburgh ; 
William and Stephen Griffith, North East; A. S. Moss, 
Fredonia; Hasbrouck & Bushnell, successors to Dr, 
Grant, Peekskill; Hoag & Clark, I. H. Babcock and John 
Crane, Lockport ; leaving him for several years the only 
one in the East who grew grape vines on an extended 
scale, and placing him at the head of the business in the 
United States. He took the Wilder medal at a meeting 
of the American Pomological Society in Boston for ex¬ 
hibit of grapes, 157 varieties, believed to be the largest 
number ever exhibited in the United States in one col 
lection. He was the chief introducer to the trade of the 
Niagara grape, but was not connected with the Niagara 
Grape Company’s scheme of selling to vineyard planters 
for a certain proportion of the fruit. He also introduced 
the Prentiss and Eaton grapes. In 1887, Mr. Hubbard in 
order in part to relieve himself from the care of so exten- 
tensive a business, and to give him leisure for travel, 
reading and recreation, organized his business as a stock 
company under the name “ T. S. Hubbard & Co.” with a 
capital stock of $50,000, E. H. Pratt, a well known and 
thoroughly equipped nurseryman, of Rochester, taking a 
large amount of the stock and becoming secretary and 
general manager, while Mr. Hubbard removed with his 
family to Geneva, N. Y., where he now resides. W. L. 
Hart, his bookkeeper, became treasurer, and L. I. Young, 
his foreman, became superintendent of propagation. 
Mr. Hubbard retains a large interest in the business 
and gives it a general supervision, spending much of his 
time at Fredonia. The business under its present man¬ 
agement maintains the high standards which Mr. Hub¬ 
bard established, and notwithstanding the reduced general 
planting of grapes their sales have never been larger than 
the past season, and they are 
still recognized as taking the lead 
in their specialty. 
Mr. Hubbard was actively in¬ 
terested in organizing the Ameri¬ 
can Nurseryman’s Association, 
and early in its organization held 
the office of president. He is an 
elder and an active worker in the 
Presbyterian church, and is 
prominently connected with the 
work of the New York State 
Sunday school association. He 
married in 1873, Caroline Mills 
Gilbert, youngest daughter of 
Dr. John Gilbert, of Fredonia. 
They have three children, Flor¬ 
ence Mildred, now in Wellesley 
College : Theodore Gilbert, now 
in Cornell University, and Pom¬ 
eroy Benton, born respectively in 
1875, 1876 and 1878. 
A number of eastern nursery¬ 
men are looking to Colorado for 
the location of new nursery and 
orchard sites. Among these is J. W. Taylor, of Topeka, 
Kansas, a nurseryman of long e.xperience who ex[)ects to 
plant a big orchard in the Grand valley the coming spring. 
Secretary Morton submitted no estimate for an appro¬ 
priation to purchase seeds for distribution through con¬ 
gressional agencies, which has been in vogue so many 
years, but instead asked for $50,000 to publish and dis¬ 
tribute farmers’ bulletins of interest to that class of 
people. The committee, however, thought it desirable 
that the seed distribution should be continued and have 
provided an appropriation of $180,000 for that purpose 
and reduced the estimate for farmers’ bulletins to $20,000. 
The New Hampshire Horticultural Society has been 
incorporated by W. D. Baker of Rumney, G. A. Wason 
of New Boston, W. H. Stinson of Mount Vernon, Alonzo 
Towle of Freedom, and John W. Farr of Littleton. 
- r"" 
■ 
THEODORE S. HUBBARD. 
