Sunday, April 3, 2016

1860 - A Good Mind - Dr. E. Lewis Sturtevant






While poking around looking into the history of cucumbers at cuke.hort.ncsu.edu  I came across the name of Dr. E. Lewis Sturtevant. 

When I checked up on him I found he had written, and serialized in The American Naturalist, a large work called the History of Vegetables.  


Need I say more?!


This is the man.      
I like the look of him.  
In 1884 he said, "At present I know of no source from whence seeds can be secured true to name and true to quality. Competition amongst our seedsmen has forced the effort to buy cheap, and cheap seed must in general mean unreliable seed. When the demand of the public shall force the competition of seedsmen into seeking who shall offer the best for sale, instead of who shall offer the cheapest, new day will dawn upon us;...".



The reason Dr. Sturtevant belongs in this blog is his dedication to economic botany. 
Excerpted from the following preface to his Notes on Edible Plants is this example.
The idea of writing a history of food plants came to Dr. Sturtevant long before his retirement from active professional work — in fact must have been in his mind from college days. His books were well under way and much had been accomplished as early as 1880, for in April of that year he wrote to the Country Gentleman asking its readers to give him information on the introduction of food plants, for seeds of new or curious esculents, for reports on the foods of agricultural Indians, stating the purpose of these questions as follows: 
"I am collecting the material for writing a Flora Dietica, or a history of food plants, with especial reference to the distribution and variation of cultivated plants. My inquiries thus far embrace 1,185 genera, and (including probably some synonyms) 3,087 species of food plants." 
Then follow numerous questions, after which he further states: 
"Geographical botany, acclimatization through variations, the increase of varieties with the increase of knowledge and the spread of civilization, what man has done and what man can hope to do in modifying vegetable growth to his use and support — is a subject of great interest as well as importance; and it seems desirable that information which can be obtained now, while our country is not yet wholly occupied, should be put upon record against the time when the ascertaining of these facts will be more difficult."

The following  preface to his Notes on Edible Plants does his career the justice he warmly deserves. He lived a very interesting life in an interesting time which included the years of the Civil War. His many articles and books are listed at the end of this post.

The contents of the book were published twenty years after his death after they were organized and edited by U.P  Hedrick, Horticulturist, New York Agricultural Experiment Station. The thought of the amount of work that must of been is daunting. Upton was a brave man!    I have added the illustrations.

EDWARD LEWIS STURTEVANT
Edward Lewis Sturtevant, farmer, botanist, physician and author, was one of the giants of his time in the science of agriculture. Through natural endowment, industry and rare mental attainments, he accomplished more than most men in scientific research by his own efforts. But, possibly, he achieved even more through his influence on his fellow-workmen than by his own endeavors. Rare, indeed, are the men in any field of attainment who have furnished so freely as he from an inexhaustible store of information unfailing aid and inspiration to those who worked with him. The happy combination of these two qualities, work and ability to help others work, led Sturtevant to success significant enough to make him one of the honor men of agriculture in the United States. From this brief and incommensurate tribute, we pass to a sketch of Sturtevant's active life.
As to genealogy, the line of descent runs from Samuel, the first Sturtevant in America, who landed in Plymouth in 1642, through generations living in Plympton and Wareham, Massachusetts, to Consider Sturtevant who purchased a farm at Winthrop, Maine, in 1810. Here Dr. Sturtevant's father was born but later moved to Boston, the birthplace of Dr. Sturtevant. His mother was Mary Haight Leggett from a family of fighting Quakers who settled at West Farm, New York, about 1700.
Born in Boston, January 23, 1842, Sturtevant, as a child, was taken by his parents to Philadelphia and here, with little time intervening, his father and mother died. Young Sturtevant's aunt, a Mrs. Benson, became his guardian, and with her the lad moved to Winthrop, Maine, the birthplace of his father. His early school days were spent in New Jersey, though later he prepared for college at Blue Hill, Maine. His preliminary education finished, Sturtevant, in 1859, entered Bowdoin College, to remain until 1861, when, at the urgent call of the country for college men to serve in the civil strife then raging, he enlisted in the Union army.


Bowdoin College, 1858
To classical Bowdoin, Sturtevant owed much for his ability to write. Few scientists who have written so much and so rapidly, have written as well. His English is not ornate but is vivid, terse, logical, happy in phrasing and seldom at loss for the proper word. To classical Bowdoin, too, Sturtevant owes his remarkable ability to use languages. Greek, Latin, French and German in the written form were familiar to him, and he was able to read, more or less well, scientific treatises in several other of the European languages. Though he was not graduated with his class at Bowdoin, the college later gave him her degree of Bachelor of Arts and still later further honored him with her Master of Arts.
Sturtevant entered the Union army in September, 1861, as First Lieutenant of Company G, 74th Regiment of Maine Volunteers. It speaks well for the youth of barely twenty-one that the following January he became Captain of his company. Company G was a part of the 19th Army Corps which, during Captain Sturtevant's service in it, was stationed on the lower Mississippi where, possibly, its most important work was the siege of Port Hudson.



 A part of Sturtevant's time in the army was spent on the staff of General Nickerson, 3d Brigade, 2d Division, serving with the rank of Captain. Possibilities of further service, higher promotion, or, on the other hand, death or wounds on the battle field, were cut short by an attack of typhoid malaria which so incapacitated him that he returned home in 1863, his career in the army ended.

Locally improvised structures that provided housing for the Port Hudson garrison, 1863–1864, Library of Congress collection.
The next landmark in Sturtevant's life is a course in the Harvard Medical School from which he received a degree in 1866. But, possessed of a degree from one of the leading medical colleges in the country, he did not begin the practice of medicine, and, in fact, never followed the profession. We may assume, however, that the training in a medical school turned his attention to science, for, possibly, the best science in American institutions at this time was to be found in a few leading schools of medicine. The year following the completion of the medical course was spent with his brother Thomas in Boston.

In 1867, E. Lewis, Joseph N. and Thomas L. Sturtevant purchased land at South Framingham, Massachusetts. The farm soon became famous, under the name " Waushakum Farm," for a series of brilliant experiments in agriculture which are still models in experimental acumen and conscientious execution. 

Here, almost at once, E. Lewis Sturtevant began the foundation of a great agricultural and botanical library, one possibly not surpassed in these fields of science by any other private collection, while, as it was eventually developed, for Prelinnean works it is still unsurpassed by any other American library. Here, too, almost at once, Sturtevant started the studies of cultivated plants recorded in this volume.


Go to a huge illustrated litho map and explore the world of 1898!  It is like a vacation. :-)

The immediate concern of the Sturtevant brothers, however, was the development of a model dairy farm of Ayrshire cattle. Waushakum Farm soon became the home of this breed. Several scientific aspects of this work with Ayrshires are worth noting. Milk records of the herd and of individual animals, covering many milking periods, were kept and still constitute, according to dairymen of our day, a most valuable contribution to dairying. As an outcome of their researches with this breed, a monograph of 252 pages was published on Ayrshire cattle by the brothers in 1875. Out of their work with Ayrshires came the North American Ayrshire Register published by E. Lewis and Joseph N. Sturtevant in several annual volumes. These books are still in use by breeders of Ayrshires and are of permanent value as records of the breed. E. Lewis Sturtevant in particular gave attention to the physiology of milk and milk secretion. His studies of fat globules in milk of different breeds of cows attracted much attention in the agricultural press, and he was soon in great demand as a speaker before agricultural and dairy associations.

But even in these first days on Waushakum Farm, the Ayrshires did not occupy all of his time. One is amazed in looking through the agricultural papers of the late sixties and early seventies at the number of articles signed by E. L. Sturtevant — still in his twenties. These early articles show originality, intense curiosity in regard to everything new, scientific imagination, a mind fertile in fruitful ideas and tremendous industry. These first articles in the press, too, show that he early possessed initiative, a trait which he retained throughout his scientific life. In all of his work it was seldom that he had to seek ideas or suggestions from others, though he was possessed of a mind which appreciated new trains of thought, and many there were of his day who could speak of his kindly interest in the work of others.
Indian corn attracted Sturtevant from the first. No sooner had he settled on Waushakum Farm than he began a botanical and cultural study of maize which he continued to the time of his death.  The first fruits of his work with corn was the introduction of an improved variety of Yellow Flint, the new sort being called " Waushakum." This variety was wonderfully productive, yields of 125 bushels of shelled corn to the acre being common. 



Breeding this new variety was a piece of practical work that brought the head of Waushakum Farm more prominence in agriculture than any of his scientific work, "scientific farming" at that time not being in high repute with tillers of the soil.

Sturtevant wrote much on Indian corn, contributing many short articles on its culture on the farm and several long treatises on its botany and the classification of its many varieties. Perhaps the most notable of the scientific articles are in the Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Society for August, 1894, and Bulletin 57 on Varieties of Corn from the United States Department of Agriculture. The last-named work is a monograph on maize which is still the best authority on this valuable plant and a permanent tide mark, as it were, to show Sturtevant's ability in working up the history of cultivated plants. Besides setting forth the botany of corn, this bulletin describes 800 varieties, gives their synonyms and establishes a scientific nomenclature for Indian corn. The varieties are placed in groups in accordance with their relationship, thus giving to scientist and farmer a classification of this immensely variable plant.
To Sturtevant is given the credit of having built the first lysimeter in America. This instrument, to measure the percolation of water through a certain depth of soil, was put in on the Waushakum Farm in 1875. It covered five-thousandths of an acre and measured water percolations to the depth of twenty-five inches. Records from the apparatus were kept from late in 1875 to the beginning of 1880 — a little more than four full years. The results, presented in papers at several scientific meetings, and freely discussed in the agricultural press, gave him high standing among agricultural experimenters in America.



In spite of duties that must have claimed much of his time on Waushakum Farm, Sturtevant found time to undertake investigations in many diverse fields of agriculture. As the years advanced, he put more and more energy in the rapidly growing field of agricultural research until finally experimentation came to claim most of his attention. His eminence in research on Waushakum Farm brought him many opportunities to speak and write on agricultural affairs, in which work his facile pen and ready speech greatly enhanced his reputation as an experimenter. 

A natural outcome of his growth in the work he had chosen was that his services should be sought in scientific institutions having to do with agriculture. In 1882, the Board of Control of the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, located at Geneva, New York, selected him Director of the Station, an institution just created by the State Legislature, and asked him to organize the work.
Perhaps Sturtevant was the more ready to give up Waushakum Farm and devote his whole time to scientific research for the reason that in 1879, the trio that had for twelve years made the farm famous was broken by the death of one of the three brothers, Joseph N. Sturtevant. 
...
The invitation to take up work in New York was accepted and Dr. Sturtevant moved at once to Geneva to become, in his new work in agricultural research, an explorer in an almost virgin field. The splendid institutions we now have, created by the Hatch Act of Congress, did not come into existence until 1888. But six other States had planned to begin experimental work in agriculture, four of which had made modest starts, but as yet not much had been accomplished. There were but few models in the Old World, and these were established in very different environment. The financial support was meager, and encouragement from those the Station sought to serve was correspondingly small. The new Director had to deal with the fundamentals of agricultural research at a time when few men could see the need of such research, and almost no one could be found to help carry the work forward.
...
These five years at Geneva added greatly to Dr. Sturtevant's store of knowledge of cultivated plants. During the time he was Director, all the varieties of cultivated esculents that could be obtained were grown on the grounds of the Station. The early volumes of the reports of this Station are filled with descriptions of varieties of cultivated plants grown on the grounds. Now, it is certain that if additions are to be made to the knowledge of the origin of cultivated plants, such additions must come largely from experimental observations of the plants themselves to ascertain the stages through which they have come from the wild to the cultivated form. The remarkable collection of plants grown under Dr. Sturtevant's direction gave, as this text shows on many pages, an unsurpassed opportunity to study plants in the steps they have taken from first cultivation to their present forms.

Dr. Sturtevant's opportunities for research in books during this directorship was hardly less remarkable. The Sturtevant Prelinnean Library, now in the Missouri Botanical Garden, numbers over 500 titles in several languages. These, with most of the more modern texts on plants, gave him sources of information then possessed by few other students of plants, for many of the rarer books were inaccessible to Americans of Sturtevant's time. In this great library, the patience and erudition of Dr. Sturtevant became priceless. Here, he sought historical mention of edible plants; travelers' descriptions of them; the names of the many esculents used by various peoples; their geographical distributions; their various uses; cultural treatments; the connections of food plants with great migrations of mankind both in ancient and modern times. He studied selection as affected by the likes and dislikes of various peoples, and gave particular attention to the studies of archaeologists on the material remains of plants.
In 1887, Dr. Sturtevant gave up his charge of the Station at Geneva and returned to the old home at South Framingham. But the opportunity for experimental work on Waushakum Farm had passed. The city had encroached upon the country, and where had been pastures and farm fields were now town lots and dwellings. The inclination for research which throughout his life had animated Sturtevant, now took the turn, more than ever, of research in books. Near the old home, into which he moved with his family, he housed his library in a small building and set to work. Always diligent with the pen, and his favorite subject the history of plants, there is no question but that he now determined to put in permanent form the many articles he had printed here and there on the origin, history and variations in cultivated plants. His manuscripts, notes and the articles in American Naturalist indicate such a determination. Had not ill health and untimely death intervened, it is probable that Sturtevant would have put forth the volume which now, a quarter-century later, comes from the hands of an editor.
The idea of writing a history of food plants came to Dr. Sturtevant long before his retirement from active professional work — in fact must have been in his mind from college days. His books were well under way and much had been accomplished as early as 1880, for in April of that year he wrote to the Country Gentleman asking its readers to give him information on the introduction of food plants, for seeds of new or curious esculents, for reports on the foods of agricultural Indians, stating the purpose of these questions as follows: "I am collecting the material for writing a Flora Dietica, or a history of food plants, with especial reference to the distribution and variation of cultivated plants. My inquiries thus far embrace 1,185 genera, and (including probably some synonyms) 3,087 species of food plants." Then follow numerous questions, after which he further states: "Geographical botany, acclimatization through variations, the increase of varieties with the increase of knowledge and the spread of civilization, what man has done and what man can hope to do in modifying vegetable growth to his use and support — is a subject of great interest as well as importance; and it seems desirable that information which can be obtained now, while our country is not yet wholly occupied, should be put upon record against the time when the ascertaining of these facts will be more difficult."

The manuscripts at the disposal of the editor show Dr. Sturtevant to have been an omnivorous reader. A glance at the foot-note citations to literature in this text shows the remarkable range of his readings in agriculture, botany, science, history, travel and general literature. Besides the mass of material from which this text has been taken, there is in the possession of the Geneva Station the manuscript of an Encyclopedia of Agriculture and Allied Subjects, work at which, as the title page says, began March 3, 1879. This encyclopedia, unfortunately for all engaged in agriculture, was completed only to the letter M.  Its 1200, closely written, large-size pages form, as far as they go, a full dictionary on agriculture. In addition to the manuscripts left at this Station, are card notes on agricultural, botanical and historical matters, while another set, with but few duplicates of cards, are in the possession of the Missouri Botanical Garden. This set, much the better of the two, was put in shape and presented to the Missouri Botanical Garden only a few weeks before Dr. Sturtevant's death.
In addition to his experimental and executive work, his Notes on Edible Plants and the Encyclopedia of Agriculture, Sturtevant found time to contribute hundreds of articles, long and short, to the agricultural and scientific press. Those of most note are recorded in the bibliography which follows, but the total output of his thirty years of literary work is better gaged as to quantity by a series of scrapbooks in which he systematically preserved his pen contributions. There are twelve volumes of these scrapbooks filled with newspaper and magazine articles, the earliest written being dated November 2, 1867, and the last October 6, 1896. Besides these, there are two volumes containing sixty-four pamphlets most of which are named in the accompanying bibliography. Thus roughly to state the quantity of a man's work may seem to indicate only the prodigality of his pen. So to judge Dr. Sturtevant does him a great injustice, for everything to which he set his pen is thoughtful, lucid and logical even if not always adorned by grace of expression. There is often in his writings a happy turn of phrase, and the inevitable word usually turns up at the right place

The newspapers of the two States in which he lived furnished the medium through which Dr. Sturtevant reached the general reader, and for the farmer he had at his command the agricultural press of the whole country. Contributions of scientific character were published in American Naturalist, Botanical Gazette, Garden and Forest, Torrey Botanical Club Bullitin and Science. The indexes of the magazines, during the time of Sturtevant's active work, furnish sufficient clues to his contributions.
...
Dr. Sturtevant's wedded life began in 1864 when he married Mary Elizabeth Mann. To this happy union were born four children, two sons and two daughters, the wife and mother dying in 1875. In 1883, he again married, taking as his wife Hattie Mann, sister to the first wife. By this marriage there was one son. Dr. Sturtevant's colleagues at Geneva, to several of whom the writer is indebted for much information, speak of the devotion of the husband and father to his family and say that he rarely sought companionship outside the home circle and that, on their part, mother and children were devoted to the head of the household and constantly gave him substantial help in his work. 
The eldest daughter, Grace Sturtevanttalented with pencil and brush, made the drawings and colored sketches to illustrate her father's writings on peppers and sweet potatoes, while those of maize, published in the Report of the New York Station for 1884, were done by Mrs. Sturtevant.  (I can't find any of these illustrations!! How frustrating.)
In 1893, Dr. Sturtevant was a victim of one of the epidemics of grippe which each returning winter ravaged the country. He never fully recovered from this attack and his health began to fail until shortly it was found that tuberculosis had secured firm hold. With the hope that the disease might be thrown off, three winters were passed in California with temporary but not permanent relief. July 30, 1898. he passed away. It was a fitting death; he passed quietly to sleep in the old home on Waushakum Farm to which his work had given distinguished name.
Grace in 1921

A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF STURTEVANT'S WRITINGS
The bibliography of Dr. Sturtevant's principal writings discloses a lasting basis for his high place among agricultural experimenters. For this bibliography the reader is indebted to Professor C. S. Plumb of the Ohio State University, assistant to Dr. Sturtevant while Director of the New York Experiment Station, an intimate friend, and one who best knew his work. The bibliography was prepared for the Missouri Botanical Garden and was printed in the Tenth Annual Report of that institution.
Why the Ayrshire Cow should be the Dairyman's Choice. Trans. Vermont Dairymen's
Association, 1872, pp. 150-159. Cost of a Crop of Corn to the Massachusetts Farmer. Agriculture of Massachusetts, 1872-73,
part II, pp. 80-89. Ayrshire Points. Ohio Agricultural Re-port, 1872, pp. 261-270. Reprinted in Mark Lane
Express, London, Eng., Feb. 3, 1873; in Farmers'1 Magazine, London, May, 1873,
p. 230; and in the North British Agriculturist, Edinburgh, Scotland, July 16, 1873. The Claims of the Ayrshire Cow upon the Dairy Farmer. Trans.N. Y. State Agr. Society,
1872-76, pp. 266-279. Copied in Gardeners' Chronicle and Agricultural Gazette, England, May 3, 1873, p. 624. Food, Physiology and Force. AT.H. Agriculture, 1874, p. 157. Also in Scientific Farmer,
July, 1879, p. 89, and Scientific American Supplement, No. 186. Milk: Physiological and Miscellaneous. A Prize Essay. Transactions New YorkState
Agricultural Society, 1872-76, pp. 91-124, plates III. Milk: Some Considerations concerning its Morphology. Report Massachusetts State
Board of Agriculture, 1873—74, pp. 374-388. Milk: Its typal Relations, etc. A lecture before the Vermont Dairymen's Association,
Jan. 21, 1874. Printed for the author, 1874, pp. 20, figs. 3. Also in Qth Report
American Dairymen's Association. Physiological Considerations concerning Feeding for Butter and Cheese. Report Connecticut Board ofAgriculture, 1874, pp. 67, figs. 4. Cream. American Dairymen's Association Report, 1874, p. 39. Also in New England
Farmer, Jan. 23, 1875. Associate Dairying. The appendix to Flints' Milch Cows and Dairy Farming. No name
signed. The Wild Cattle of Scotland, or White Forest Breed. American Naturalist, vol. VIII,
March, 1874, pp. 135-145- ■

The Law of Inheritance; or the Philosophy of Breeding. Twenty-second Annual Report 
Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture, 1875, pp. 48. 
Chemical Corn Growing. Trans. Middlesex South Agricultural Society, 1875, pp. 11-32. 
The Dairy Cow. A Monograph of the Ayrshire Breed of Cattle. By E. Lewis Sturte- 
vant, M. D., and Joseph N. Sturtevant, of Waushakum Farm, South Framingham, 
Mass. With an appendix on Ayrshire.
Jersey and Dutch Milks; their Formation and Peculiarities. Boston, Mass. A.Williams 
& Co., 1875. Cloth, 12 mo., pp. 252. Illustrated.
The Dairy Cow — What she is and whence she came. Report Maine State Board of Agri- 
culture, 1875-76, pp. 112-125.
Plant Food and Agriculture. Report Connecticut Board of Agriculture, 1876, pp. 14.
American Agricultural Literature. Proc. Fifth Annual Session National Agr. Congress, 
Philadelphia, Sept. 12-14, 1876, pp. 30-37. 
Agriculture. Report Massachusetts State Commissioners to the Centennial Exhibition at 
Philadelphia, 1876, pp. 49-53. 
Philosophy of Dairying. Trans. American Dairymen's Association, 1876, pp. 90. 
Inter Cultural Tillage. Report Connecticut State Board of Agriculture, 1877-78, pp. 42. 
Dairying vs. Thoroughbred Bulls. Trans. Vermont Dairymen's Association, 1876, pp. 60. 
Fertilizer Laws. Agriculture of Pennsylvania, 1877, pp. 108. 
Corn Culture. Ibid., 1878, pp. 252-256. 
Seed Breeding. Report Connecticut Board of Agriculture, 1878, pp. 149-187. Reprinted in 
Monthly Journal of Science, Aug., 1879. 
Seed Corn. Report Maine State Board of Agriculture, 1878-79, pp. 30-47. 
Fertility. Journal American Agricultural Association, vol. 1. 
Corn Culture at Waushakum Farm. Trans. New York State Agricultural Society, vol. 
32, 1872-76, pp. 170-176. 
Indian Corn. Trans. New York State Agricultural Society, 1872-76, pp. 37-74. 
Some Thoughts and Facts concerning the Food of Man. Report Connecticut Board of 
Agriculture, 1880, pp. 114-155. 
Seedless Fruits. Trans. Mass. Horticultural Society, part I, 1880, pp. 29. 
Deerfoot Farm Centrifugal Dairy. Report United States Commissioner of Agriculture, 
pp. 629-651, plates III. Reprinted in Journal of Royal Agricultural Society of England, 
Second Series, vol. XVIII, 1882, pp. 475-495. 
Thoughts on Agricultural Education. Report Connecticut State Board of Agriculture, 
1881, pp. 19. 
The Growing of Corn. Twenty-eighth Annual Report of the Massachusetts State Board of 
Agriculture, 1881, pp. 77-130. 
Lysimeter Records. Proc. American Assoc, for Advancement of Science, 1881, pp. 37-39. 
Experimental Observations on the Potato. Trans. N. Y. State Agricultural Society, 
1877-82, pp. 261-265. 
The Need of a Better Seed Supply. Ibid., pp. 286-289. 
Conditions Necessary to Success in Dairying. Report New York State Dairymen's Asso- 
ciation, 1883, pp. 56-60. 

Relations between Seeding and Quality in certain Vegetables and Fruits. Proc. Society 
for the Promotion of Agr. Science, vol. I, 1883, pp. 109-118.
Different Modes of Cutting Potatoes for Planting. Ibid., pp. 77-78.
Agricultural Botany. Proc. Society for the Promotion of Agri. Science, 1883, p. 7. Also 
Trans. American Association for the Advancement of Science1883, pp. 293-295, Abstract.
History of Cereal Plants. Sibley's Grain and Farm Seeds Annual, 1883, pp. 5-14.
Maize: An Attempt at Classification. Rochester, N. Y., 1884, pp. 9. Illustrated. 
Printed for private distribution only. 
Agricultural Botany. American Naturalist, June, 1884, pp. 573-577, fig- 3- 
Hungarian Grass. Trans. N. Y. State Agricultural Society, vol. 33, 1877-82, pp. 208-220. 
Experiment Stations. Ibid., pp. 235-243. 
The Feeding of Spoiled Brewer's Grains. Report New York State Dairymen's Association, 
1884, pp. 46-64. 
Influence of Isolation upon Vegetation. Proc. American Association for the Advancement 
of Science, 1884.
Dairy Interests in General. Report New York State Dairymen's Association, 1884, pp. 
102-108. 
The Work of the Station. Ninth Annual Report New York State Dairymen's Association, 
1885, pp. 25-29. 
A List of Edible Fungi. Trans. Mass. Horticultural Society, 1881, pp. 322-348.
Germination Studies. Proc. Amer. Assn. for the Advancement of Science, 1885, pp. 287-291.
An Observation on the Hybridization and Cross Breeding of Plants. Proc. Amer. Assn. 
for Adv. of Science, vol. 34, 1885, pp. 283-287. 
Germination Studies. Ibid., pp. 287-291. . 
Lowest Germination of Maize. Botanical Gazette, April, 1885, pp. 259-261. 
Cultivated Food Plants. Proc. Society for the Promotion of Agricultural Science, 1885, 
pp. 59-72. 
Indian Corn and the Indian. American Naturalist, March, 1885, pp. 225-234. 
Kitchen Garden Esculents of American Origin. American Naturalist, I, May, 1885, 
pp. 444-457- Hi June, 1885, pp. 542-552- HI, July, 1885, pp. 658-669. 
Horticultural Botany. Proc. Western New York Hort. Society for 1886, pp. 25-32. 
A Study of the Dandelion. American Naturalist, Jan. 1886, pp. 5-9. Illustrated. 
A Study of Garden Lettuce. American Naturalist, March, 1886, pp. 230-233. 
History of Celery. American Naturalist, July, 1886, pp. 599-606, figs. 3. 
History of Garden Vegetables. American Naturalist, 1887, vol. 21, pp. 49-59; 125-133; 
321-333; 433-444; 701-712; 826-833; 903-912; 975-985- 1888, vol. 22, pp. 420-433; 
802-808; 979-987. 1890, vol. 24, pp. 30-48; 143-157; 629-646; 719-744. 
The Dandelion and the Lettuce. Proc. Society for Promotion of Agricultural Science, 
1886, vol. 3, pp. 40-44. 
A Study in Agricultural Botany. Ibid., 1886, vol. 4, pp. 68-73. 
Atavism the Result of Cross Breeding in Lettuce. Ibid., 1886, vol. 4, pp. 73-74. 
History of the Currant. Proc. Western New York Hort. Society, 1887. 
Seed Germination — A Study. Agricultural Science, Feb., 1887. 
Capsicum umbilicatum. Bull. Torrey Botanical Club, April, 1888.
Capsicum fasiculatum. Ibid., May, 1888.
Notes on the History of the Strawberry. Trans. Mass. Horticultural Society, 1888, pp. 191-204.
Seedless Fruits. Memoirs Torrey Botanical Club, vol. 1, part 4, 1890.
Ensilage Experiments in 1884-1885 at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station. Trans. New York State Agr. Society, 1889, pp. 116-120.
Forage Crops: Maize and Sorghum. Ibid., pp. 135-143.
Agricultural Botany. Ibid., pp. 335-338.
Edible Plants of the World. Agricultural Science, vol. 3, no. 7, 1889, pp. 174-178.
The Tomato. Report Maryland Experiment Station, 1889, p. 18.
Huckleberries and Blueberries. Trans. Mass. Hort. Society, 1890, pp. 17-38.
Concerning some names for Cucurbitae. Bull. Torrey Botanical Club, October, 1891.
Notes on Maize. Bull. Torrey Botanical Club, vol. 21, 1894, pp. 319-343; 503-523.
Paramount Fertilizers. Report Mass. State Board of Agriculture, 1888, pp. 37-55.
Report of the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, 1882-1887, first six volumes. The following are the special topics reported on by Dr.Sturtevant:
1882. Organization of Station work. Experiments with wheat, barley and oats. Studies on Maize. Experiments with potatoes. Forage crops.
1883. Botanical notes. Studies on Maize. Station-grown seeds. Weight of seeds. Relation of feed to milk. Experiments with potatoes. Experiments with corn. Experiments with grasses.
1884. Feeding experiments and milk analysis. Study of milk. Experiments with potatoes. Wheat improvement. Experiments with corn. Germination of seeds. Study of maize, including sweet, pop and dent corn.
1885. Starch waste as cattle food. Ensilage and forage crops. Studies on corn. Fertilizers on potatoes. Tests on germination of maize and other seeds. The sweet corns.
1886. Cattle feeding experiments. Temperature and crops. Vitality of seeds as influenced by age. Experiments with cabbage. Studies of Indian corn.
1887. Feeding for beef. Experiments with potatoes. Seed germinations.

Friday, April 1, 2016

1905 - Take a Chance with Seedsman F. B. Mills

This is a continuation of older posts about seedsman F. B. Mills.


An example of Mr. Mills penchant for taking a plunge, and sometimes inviting others to take it with him, is illustrated in this February 1905 inquiry to the periodical, United States Investor.
FINANCIAL INQUIRY.
F. B. Mills' Ginseng Farm.
14T80. (Fall River, Mass.) Would you advise or recommend a purchase of stock in the Ginseng Farm of F. B. Mills. Rose Hill, New York, at 80 cents per share, par value $1?      Are the chances good of the farm paying at least a 7 per cent dividend before the year 1905, and 500 per cent dividends in five years' time?
Ans.: We should hardly care to advise a purchase of stock In F. B. Mills' Ginseng Farm at 80 cents per share. We are told that the farm referred to consists of only about one acre in extent, and that it is capitalized for $100,000. 
Mr. Mills Is a successful dealer in seeds and has branched out into other enterprises, among them the "ginseng farm" or garden. The future of the business is so problematical that it is all guesswork as to the outcome, but the opinion is that the demand for ginseng seed and plants comes principally from small dealers and growers who anticipate great profits in the future, and that when that demand is filled, prices will drop.  Mr. Mills expects the shares of stock to be worth $100 "at a very conservative figure" and to "reach dividends of $5 each in five years' time," - statements which are considered absurd.  We do not recommend a purchase of the stock.

United States Investor - Volume 16 - 1905

In 1907, an article in Horticulture also alludes to Frank Mills' willingness to take a chance.  It mentions also how he is thinking about opening a place out west, which the catalog here testifies to having happened!
At various times there have been rumors that Mills, of Rose Hill, N.Y, was planning to move his business to some point where he could better transportation facilities.
Mr. Mills does a large business in seeds and plants, and very successfully, but “the wine of success is often intoxicating,” and Mr. Mills has, at sundry times, been under the influence. 
He has tried his hand at various schemes outside of his seed and plant business, such as railroad building, the raising of fancy fowls, the making of incubators, the growing of ginseng, and finally, took a plunge into the general merchandise business along the lines followed by the Sears-Roebuck Company, but none of these ventures has been a pronounced success, and one or two have been rather costly failures. 
 It is true he is still growing ginseng but just how successful from a financial point of view cannot be learned. Considering that Mr. Mills never spent an hour's apprenticeship at any seed house before embarking in business for himself, his great success in this business is all the more creditable to him, as he is the son of a poor farmer, and had scarcely been out of his father's dooryard before his first catalogue was issued. 
Returning to the question of his removal, it can be said that while he contemplates establishing a branch in the West, his headquarters for the present at least, will remain in Rose Hill, as his investment here must have cost him at least $100,00, and is altogether too large and expensive an outfit to be abandoned without most urgent reasons and compensating advantages. 

Horticulture, Volume 5, 

June 22, 1907




1905 - Chicago Pickling Cuke from A. T. Wood, Seedsman

I don't know why I continue with Wood as I don't trust a guy who is so invested in giving premiums! Yet here is another thing that caught my eye tonight when I was reading his catalog from 1905.  I can't help it, old catalog engravings are my weak spot.


The Chicago Pickling Cucumber.  My first thought was that it is another of his re-named plants.  Not so!  Below the cuke photos you'll find some info from current heirloom seed sellers that fill you in on why it was so popular.
Here is a delightfully addressed link from the Cucurbit Genetics Cooperative.
A brief history of the development of cucumber cultivars in the USA
I love this URL   cuke.hort.ncsu.edu/cgc/cgc14/cgc14-1.html



Chicago Pickling Cucumber | Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Co

www.rareseeds.com/chicago-pickling-cucumber/
Originally bred for the markets of the Chicago area. Released in 1888, this has been the go to pickling cuke for generations of home gardeners and canners, and ...

Chicago Pickling Cucumber - Jung Seed

https://www.jungseed.com/P/02012/Chicago+Pickling+Cucumber
Chicago Pickling Cucumber Seeds (Cucumis sativus) grow medium green fruit, thin skinned pickling cucumbers with black spine.

Cucumber Cucumis sativus 'Chicago Pickling' - Dave's Garden

davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/62288/
Welcome to the famous Dave's Garden website. Join our friendly community that shares tips and ideas for gardens, along with seeds and plants.

Chicago Pickling Cucumber - Annie's Heirloom Seeds

www.anniesheirloomseeds.com › Cucumber
57 day. This old variety has a thin skin and black spines. It was developed in Chicago for the commercial pickle trade, and has been popular ever since to the ...

'Chicago Pickling' Pickling Cucumber 1605 - OSC Seeds

www.oscseeds.com/...-/-cucumber-/-pickling...-/Chicago-Pickling-Picklin...
The thin skin allows for ready absorption of pickling solutions and while fruit can be allowed to reach up to 12.5 cm (5") in length without sacrificing quality, they ...

Chicago Pickling Cucumber - Sustainable Seed Co.

sustainableseedco.com › ... › Ce-K › Cucumber Heirloom Seeds
$2.29

Sunday, March 27, 2016

1898 - A. T. Cook Is At It Again with the "Vegetable Peach"


Ah, he is at it again - this time teasing buyers with a plant that sounds too good to be true!

And what is a Vegetable Peach, you may ask.  I did anyway.  And found at first NOTHING.

Then the Settler's Guide and Farmer's Handbook  from Western Australia's Department of Agriculture in  1897 came to the rescue!

I'm not telling what it is until further down the post.  Cook wasn't giving any clues to the true nature of the plant either.  

What do you think it is?

(By the way, the brownie fad seems to have invaded even Cook's ads!)


It is a melon!  Nowadays it is called a Vine Peach and is available from many sources. 
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds says the following:    
The fruit are the size of a peach, with a yellow rind and bland white flesh. This variety was very popular in Victorian times for making sweet pickles, pies and preserves. They were developed in China and introduced into America in the 1880's. In the Orient this type of melon is pickled.
Here is what the Western Australia's Department of Agriculture wrote:
Mango Melon, Or Egyptian Prolific Vegetable Peach.— Cultivation.—Cultivate in a similar manner as that recommended for rock melon. Grows like a rock melon, branching out in dozens of vines in every direction full of fruit and blossoms, commencing early and lasting on till frost if watered in dry weather; suitable for all climates. Fried in batter, green, a substitute for egg plant. It is also said to be superior to vegetable marrows, cooked in a similar style if used before being too ripe. When ripe and yellow makes beautiful, white, transparent preserves and sweetmeats, equalling the celebrated California fruits and Japanese pie melon; they are just like an orange when ripe. The late fruit makes excellent pickles. Young green ginger makes the best flavouring, and it does not colour the preserves.
Mango Melon, Or Vegetable Peach Jam.—To every pound of vegetable peaches allow three-quarters of a pound of the best white sugar, and one pound of good, young, green ginger to every 8 lbs. of fruit. Mode : Cut up the fruit, taking care to scoop out all the pips (using a spoon is best); weigh, and put into a china basin with the quantity of sugar sprinkled on, and allow it to stand twenty-four hours; choose young ginger, wash carefully, and scrape off all the outside skin; then boil in an enamel pan for several hours in clean water; boil till you can stick a fork in ; then take out and cut up as finely as possible; this is imperative or it will spoil your jam ; mix all together, and boil gently. It takes a long time to cook, as the melon must be quite clear, and a thin skin must come over the jam. This is ascertained by occasionally taking out a small spoonful and putting on a saucer to cool. Always cover the jars with strong paper while hot. About six ounces of preserved ginger, cut very small, improves it, but darkens it. 

Saturday, March 26, 2016

1827 - Receipts and Big Feet! - A Few More Bits About G. Thorburn & Sons, Seedsmen



In poking around the Hyde Hall site I found two seed receipts of Grant Thorburn and Sons that are wonderful to read.  What insight into what an 1827 gardener would want for a well funded estate!!
(Hyde Hall looks to be a lovely place to visit if you are going near Cooperstown, NY.)


In the "you learn something new every day" category, I didn't know that "do" is the same as writing " for ditto.  When my eye first caught it under the "White Solid Celery" it read, to me, "Red Do Da", which I found fascinating for the moment it took the clues to process.  Oh well.



The following year a few more items were needed.



Now, about those feet...
"Museum Of Foreign Literature, Ac, for January -, E. Litteix, Philad.—This periodical, than which none affords more, or more varied reading, appears in an enlarged form, and henceforth will be under the direction, as to the selections, of the editor of that capital and cheap work, Waldie's Library.  
There is a good plate in this number of our old friend Grant Thorburn, which, if not very like as to the fact, is unmistakeable as to the feet.   The literary contents are of the best of all the foreign magazines."
Here is the illustration I originally posted January 2014 in the post about Grant Thorburn,

Wiser to Marry than Hire a Housekeeper,

with the comment,  "Do you find the feet oddly big?".  

I had assumed an artist had a bad day!

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

1911 - "Prepare To Be Delighted" - A. T. Cook's "Coffee" Berry


You have to hand it to him...A. T. Cook was a salesman to his bones.  





















He was selling soybeans to be grown as the replacement for coffee.  After roasting, grinding and brewing the resulting beverage was praised in his ad below.  



Postum was concocted around this time.  If you haven't ever drunk it I can tell you it isn't too bad...but like coffee it ain't!!!!!  

Cook was cashing in on this craze for healthful coffee substitutes.  Early Postum (I think) was also brewed from the toasted and ground wheat berries, but later versions were instant Postum.  That is the one available now.

Someone in an old article from this time talks about wheat coffee (Postum) as wheat soup. :-)  A real coffee lover I'm guessing!



I had to look up the word Iamatological!  Never saw it before...but it is an obsolete noun meaning the science of remedies.

New Domestic Coffee Berry. 

The best coffee substitute ever discovered— many  pronouncing it as good as the genuine, and is superseding in a great measure store coffee as its merits become known. It is the 
poor man's friend.    It is the hardiest, easiest raised and most productive of any plant I 
ever saw. While growing it is a perfect sight to behold; fruits from the ground up, and on 
the limbs in every direction, the pods touching each other.
In the south two crops of coffee can be raised in a season by planting the first crop early. 

Many claim that by mixing a few grains of store coffee with the Domestic, combining
 the flavors, they obtain a more delicious and aromatic beverage than the imported 
article.