THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
37 
W. T. HOOD. BILTMORE FOREST SYSTEM. 
W. T. Hood was born at Parkersburg, Pa., September 
28, 1846. In the winter of 1865 he began work for the 
late Samuel C. Kent, in the latter’s nursery, at $150 per 
year and board. On March 17, 1866, he ploughed the 
first furrow to start the Richmond nurseries of Franklin 
Davis & Co. The second year he received $200, and the 
third year $400, with promotion to the position of fore¬ 
man. When he began budding it was considered a good 
day’s work to bud 1,500 to [,8oo, and exceptional work 
when the 2,000 mark was reached. The third season Mr. 
Hood beat the record by budding 4,300, which was 600 
more than any other of the five budders had accomplished. 
Mr. Hood continued as foreman of the out-of-doors 
department until January, 1876, when he bought a one- 
third interest in the Richmond 
Nurseries, with which he was 
connected until February i, 1887, 
when he became associated with 
C. W. Winn, under the name of 
Hood & Winn, Old Dominion 
Nurseries. Two years later, Mr. 
Winn withdrawing to go into the 
tobacco business, the nursery 
business was continued under 
the style of W. T. Hood & Co. 
In speaking of his early life, Mr. 
Hood said: “ I give credit to 
Mr. Kent for my coming to Vir¬ 
ginia, my intention having been 
to go West; and I cannot say 
too much in praise of him and 
his good wife, with whom I made 
my home until their return to 
Pennsylvania in 1887.” 
Mr. Hood has always been 
temperate, having never tasted 
wine ; and as a boy he would not 
even move the jug about in the 
harvest-field. He obtained a 
start by being very saving during 
his early business life. He has 
always been very successful in managing colored labor, 
accomplishing more than most men with the “ hands.” 
“ I have never regretted coming to Virginia,” said he, 
“ as I know of no place in which I had rather live.” Mr. 
Hood has been married for thirteen years, and has one 
child, a boy, ten years old. 
Directors of the old Chautauqua and North East Grape 
Union, and other leading grapemen, met at Brocton, N. 
Y., last month and organized the Chautauqua Grape Co., 
with a capital of $20,000 and 12 stockholders. Jonas 
Martin, of Brocton, is president; Otis M. Hall, Pomfret, 
secretary. Whenever it is possible to form a union that 
will control 85 per cent, of the acreage, this new company 
will disband it its favor, 
The first practical application of forest management in 
the United States has been initiated in North Carolina, 
known as the Biltmore estate, owned by George W. Van¬ 
derbilt and superintended by Gifford Pinchot. It covers 
7,282 acres. An illustrated exhibit of it occupied a prom¬ 
inent position at the Columbian Exposition in the 
forestry building. Mr. Pinchot is a well posted forester 
and understands what he is about. His report of the first 
year’s work, commenced May i, 1893, on this estate is 
very creditable. It gives an elaborate description of the 
locality on the French Broad river in the western part of 
that state, its configuration, its geological deposits, its 
meteorological peculiarities, its natural species of trees, its 
injured-forest condition, arising from haphazard cutting of 
the better trees, frequent fires 
and the browsing of cattle. Mr. 
Pinchot says that “ at the time 
when the forest management was 
begun on the estate, the condi¬ 
tion of a large part of the forest 
was deplorable in the extreme.” 
By cutting such trees as were 
necessary to begin the improve¬ 
ment amid the widespread chaos, 
and selling the same for lumber, 
cord wood and railroad ties, there 
was realized a balance, net, of 
$392 40, the first year. It is pre¬ 
sumptive that with judicious and 
economic management, the pro¬ 
fits will augment from year to 
year, and instead of raiding the 
forest for money considerations, 
it is fitting it to be a profit in¬ 
vestment for all the years to 
come. 
A nursery has been established 
on the estate, already containing 
more kinds of trees and shrubs 
than there are in the botanical 
gardens at Kew, near London, 
and the number is being steadily increased. It is the 
intention to plant these along a line of a road to be 
called the “ Arboretum Drive.” This road, about five 
miles in length, will run through some of the most beauti¬ 
ful portions of the estate, and will be lined for a hundred 
feet on either side by the plants of the collections, making 
this arboretum the finest in existence .—Minnesota Hor¬ 
ticulturist. 
Brownei.l Moukison, AnuA.NY, Ore. —“We cannot afford to be 
without The National Nurseryman, if we are a long way from 
Roche.ster.” 
Thomas Meehan & Sons, Germ.antown, Pa.— “ We appreciate 
tlie work The National Nurseryman is doing and believe that the 
nursery business is all the better for having such a trade journal. We 
hope it may continue to prove successful.” 
W. T. HOOD. 
