THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
49 
FRED G. WITHOFT. 
■ The subject of this sketch was born in Baltimore, Mary¬ 
land, of German parents. In 1849 they removed to 
Osborne, Ohio, where he received a common school educa¬ 
tion. In the winter of 1866-67 he graduated at Wilt’s 
Commercial College. His father was engaged in the 
manufacturing business and to make himself valuable in 
that line he started at the machinist trade and served 
three years with W. P. Callahan, builders of engines and 
mill machinery. His father having died suddenly while 
here at work and the close confinement indoors beginning 
to tell on his health, after six years at the trade, he con¬ 
cluded to engage in some outdoor work. He engaged 
with his uncle in the nursery business as traveling sales¬ 
man. In a few years he worked himself up to a partner¬ 
ship and manager of the sales¬ 
men. In 1888 desirous of placing 
himself in direct dealing with 
the farmers and fruit growers and 
having dealt largely with the well- 
known firm of N. H. Albaugh & 
Sons, at Tadmor, O., he urged 
to that end the formation of a 
large nursery company for the 
purpose of growing trees, etc., 
and selling them through its 
salesman directly to the customer 
on the guaranty of genuineness* 
He was the prime mover in the 
incorporation of the Albaugh 
Nursery and Orchard Co.; he in¬ 
terested therein about thirty 
prominent capitalists from Day- 
ton, O., and vicinity. At the 
organization of the company he 
was elected its vice-president and 
manager of salesmen. The busi¬ 
ness of the company has been 
very successful. They employ 
many salesmen, some of whom 
have been with Mr. Withoft in 
V the business for fifteen to eigh¬ 
teen years. The company has large orchards in Ohio, 
Kentucky and Georgia, and is planting many orchards on 
the share plan with some of its customers in selected 
localities. 
Mr. Withoft is also largely interested in the great 
Georgia, Kentucky and North Carolina orchards in the 
South, being president of the Ohio Fruit Land Co., Fort 
Valley, Ga., which owns the largest peach and pear 
orchards in the world. He is also treasurer of several 
other of the large southern fruit corporations. In these 
states are orchards containing over five hundred thousand 
peach trees in bearing, ten thousand pear, and other 
varieties of fruit. He is a member and officer of the 
Montgomery Horticultural Society and one of its most 
active members, taking part in all its discussions; also a 
member and constant attendant at the meetings of the 
State Horticultural Society. His knowledge of horticul¬ 
ture is wide and nothing of interest in the horticultural 
world escapes his notice. His two eldest sons, after pass¬ 
ing through college, have found prominent positions, one 
in the county treasurer’s office at Dayton, and the other 
as the assistant manager of the southern orchards, he 
having devoted a large part of his studies at the Ohio State 
University to horticulture. 
Mr. Withoft is not unknown in politics. He was nomi¬ 
nated for state senator in his district in 1889 and received 
the largest vote of any candidate on the state ticket, but 
it being an off year for republicans, the whole ticket was 
defeated. He has been director of the Dayton Work 
House six years. He is a member of the City Tax Com¬ 
mission, director of the Miami Building and Loan Associa¬ 
tion, of several manufacturing 
concerns, and of the Evenhig 
Press. He is prominent in the 
Masonic, Odd Fellows, Knights 
of Pythias and Commercial Trav¬ 
elers circles. 
For recreation and to gain 
further horticultural knowledge 
he arranges yearly excursions to 
the South, to California, Cuba, 
Mexico and other places. On 
these trips he and his amiable 
wife have made a host of friends, 
both at home and abroad, and 
this extensive traveling has made 
their acquaintance so large that 
there is not a week some of their 
friends are not calling upon 
them from a distance, when in 
the vicinity of Dayton. In re¬ 
modeling his home last year he 
dedicated a room to his friends, 
where they are always welcome 
and made to feel at home. 
FRED G. WITHOFT. 
Among the pears in market 
the Winter Nellis, with its 
beautiful gray-russet coat, fine-grained, buttery flesh and 
richaromatic juice, is still to be found in limited supply, 
says Garden and Forest of April loth. Easter Beurre, 
though not so beautiful, is much larger and is always 
prized for its melting quality and rich flavor, and 
good pears of this variety now sell for $1.50 a dozen. 
P. Barry is hardly yet at its best. It is a large 
and beautiful fruit with a vinous flavor, but its flesh 
somewhat stringy, so that it can hardly be called 
of the very finest quality. It commands as 
good a price as Easter Beurre, however, and will be the 
leading pear in the market when all others are past their 
season. The finest apples here now have been coming 
from Vermont and have sold for exceptional prices. 
IS 
a pear 
