Groundwork: Three Early Honorary Members of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society

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Detail of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society's Diploma issued to regular and honorary members. Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. McLean Library Special Collections

William Coxe, Mary Griffith, and J.C. Loudon were among the first Honorary Members of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society.

This category of membership, usually international in scope, adopted by many learned and scientific societies, was limited to distinguished individuals noted for their extraordinary contributions to the advancement of their particular fields. The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society elected its first honorary member in 1828 – a year after the Society’s founding. In 1865, PHS President D. Rodney King, clarified the reasons for continuing to propose and elect individuals to Honorary Membership to extend the "influence of the Society."

 

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Portrait of D. Rodney King, tenth President of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (Boyd 1929); and the first page of King's inaugural address containing his thoughts on honorary membership and its importance to the Society (Pennsylvania Horticultural Society Minute Book. 1863-1865. Vol. 10)

“... Another mode of extending influence of the Society and one which has of late fallen into almost entire disuse is the practice of conferring honorary memberships on persons who have rendered any important services to the Society or who have distinguished themselves in advancing the cause of Horticulture. Our list of honorary members comprises many of the great and shining lights in the Horticultural and Botanical world, but yet we miss the names of others, quite as distinguished and perhaps better entitled to that honor. On this list is the name of the Duke of Devonshire, the princely patron of Horticulture in England and the owner of Chatsworth, and I am informed that his certificate of membership occupies a conspicuous place on his library walls. …” -- PHS Minute Book. 1863-1865. Vol. 10. page 254

Among those persons proposed and elected to honorary membership in the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society were: French biologist and botanist Étienne Soulange-Bodin (1830), Belgian  horticulturist Louis Benoît van Houtte (1846), South African botanist Karl Wilhelm Ludwig Pappe (1850), American pomologist William D. Brinckle (1862), French botanist Henri L. de Vilmorin (1897), American plant physiologist Ida Keller (1902), and Swiss alpine botanist Henri Correvon (1932). More than 130 men and women were elected honorary members of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, with the last, Lord Bodnant Aberconway of Wales, elected in 1937.

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William Coxe. A view of the cultivation of fruit trees ... (1817) Title page and woodcut of peach varieties. Held by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. McLean Library Special Collections

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William Coxe. A View of the Cultivation of Fruit Trees ... (1817) The Newtown Pippin and Seckel Pear. In the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. McLean Library Special Collections

American orchardist, William Coxe (1762-1831) opens his A View of the Cultivation of Fruit Trees and the Management of Orchards and Cider … (1817) with a clear and persuasive argument on the many benefits, aesthetic and intellectual, scientific and economic, of growing fruit trees:

“There is probably no part of rural economy, which combines in so great a degree the agreeable occupation of mind with active employment, as the cultivation of fruit-trees, with the other branches of an extensive orchard establishment: to the man of wealth and leisure, it offers the means of improving and adorning his estate; the scientific cultivator will find in it Inexhaustible sources of intellectual occupation; while the practical farmer, whose views are limited to objects of certain profit, will be amply remunerated for every expenditure of labour or money, by the immediate comfort, and eventual emolument, which will be derived from such an establishment.”

Coxe developed an experimental orchard of more than 1000 trees in Burlington, New Jersey where he grew and described more than 65 Belgian pears and and "... one hundred of the most estimable apple varieties in this country ..." including the Esopus Spitzenburg, the Newtown Pippin, and the Winesap.

The book offers advice on soil and climate, pruning and harvest, plant physiology and pest management, the proper design of orchard buildings, and a variety of methods for making cider and vinegar. Coxe describes 11 experiments conducted between 1794 and 1810 with checks on their progress year to year.

Experiment No. 1 reads:

“In the fall of 1794, I commenced the plantation of an orchard, which I continued for two succeeding autumns -- the soil loamy, and naturally pretty strong; the aspect favorable -- the distance fifty feet. Having no experience, and but little correct information, (for at that time a young orchard was a novelty in my neighborhood,) the holes were dug deep and narrow, under an erroneous belief of this being necessary to support the trees […] The trees grew slowly, many of them have been taken up, after remaining in a feeble, stunted state, eight, nine, and ten years; and replaced by others planted in large and shallower holes …”

"The most important aspect of his book, however, was his description and promotion of one of the first pear varieties developed in the United States, the Seckel pear. "The development of the Seckel pear along the Delaware River south of Philadelphia had occurred just a few years before Coxe wrote his book. As a View of the cultivation of Fruit Trees was published, the Seckel was available for sale in Philadelphia for the first time.

Coxe did much to influence the popularity of the Seckel with American pear orchardists. He described it as "... the finest pear in this or any other country ..." It was soon in great demand throughout the Northeast, and it was one of the first American fruits to be held as an emblem of nationalistic pride, along with the Newtown Pippen apple variety." -- Susan A. Dolan. Fruitful Legacy: A Historic Context of Orchards in the United States ... (2009)

Coxe was elected as the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s first honorary member in 1828.

 

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Front and side views of the Charlieshope Bee Hive designed by Mary Griffith. Described and illustrated in A Practical Treatise on the Management of Bees (1829) by James Thacher.

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Mrs. Mary Griffith's particular correspondents Dr. Jerome Van Crowninshield Smith, 1800-1879 and Dr. James Thacher, 1754-1844

“… she is a queen-bee – a Flora – a Ceres …” – Letter. American author Catherine Maria Sedgwick to her brother Theodore, 29 May 1825, describing Mary Griffith after Sedgwick's visit to Charlieshope Farm.

The first three decades of the nineteenth century in the United States are noted for the intense development of improved methods for beekeeping. Innovation in the design and construction of beehives centered on J.A. Doddridge’s introduction of the fixed-bar hive, while James Thacher and George Morgan followed with more improvements to increase honey production and ease of use. But it was Mary Griffith’s Charlieshope Hive that introduced a design that would protect the bees from predators and create conditions that would increase the health of the bees.

James Thacher in his book titled A Practical Treatise on the Management of Bees (1829) ends his chapter on “Best Constructed Hives and Boxes” with an extended description of Griffith’s Charlieshope Hive:

“It is with the greatest satisfaction that I now have the opportunity of introducing the following account from the North American Review for June 1828. The excellent hive, invented and successfully employed for a number of years, by Mrs. Mary Griffith of New Brunswick, N.J., is likely soon to supersede every other now in use. …”

Not all reviews were positive. Dr. Jerome Van Crowninshield Smith expressed his preference for Thacher’s hive:

“At the close of this essay, a particular description of Dr. Thacher’s invention will be given, and I beg here to express a hope that it will eventually be in exclusive use in the United States. The Charlieshope hive the invention of that philosophical and ingenious lady, Mrs. Mary Griffith, of New Jersey, a model of which was forwarded to the Horticultural Society [Massachusetts], though meriting attention, falls far below the other in point of value …

“… For a large country apiary, Mrs. Griffith’s hive possesses some trifling advantages over Dr. Thacher’s, and those regard the ventilation, principally of the bees in the heat of the summer. …” – J.V.C. Smith. An essay on the practicability of cultivating the honey bee, 1831.

A spirited three-way exchange between Smith, Thacher, and Griffith took place in the New England Farmer (January 1831) where the discussion centered on the theories of Swiss entomologist Francis Huber (1750-1831) concerning bees. Griffith was not convinced that Huber’s theories connected with the behavior of the queen bee were correct – she did not back down -- offering Smith and Thacher each a gift of a queen bee specimen from her collection to prove her point.

Mary Corré Griffith (1772-1846) authored the series titled “On Bees” (1825), An Essay on the Art of Boring the Earth (1826), Our Neighborhood: Letters on Horticulture and Natural Phenomena (1831), Discoveries in Light and Vision (1836) on optics, and the novel Camperdown, or News from Our Neighborhood (1836) that included Three Hundred Years Hence, the first known utopian novel written by an American woman.

Mary Griffith was elected as the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s first woman honorary member in 1830.

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Title page of J. C. Loudon's Arboretum et fruticetum britannicum, or, The trees and shrubs of Britain, native and foreign, hardy and half-hardy, pictorially and botanically delineated, and scientifically and popularly described ... London, J.C. Loudon, 1838; and, Loudon’s illustration of a Death’s Head Hawk Moth and its larva state to accompany his description of the Jasminum. Arboretum et fruticetum britannicum is held by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. McLean Library Special Collections

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The 1839 Catalogue of the Library of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society lists J. C. Loudon’s Arboretum et fruticetum britannicum with multi-volume accession numbers 150-157

John Claudius Loudon (1783-1843) began his career as a city and landscape designer and horticultural writer with his first work titled Observations on Laying Out Public Squares published in 1803. This was quickly followed by A Treatise on Hothouses (1805), A treatise on Forming, Improving, and Managing Country Residences (1806), Hints on the Formation of Gardens (1812), and Sketches of Curvilinear Hothouses (1818). He was the founder and editor of Gardener’s Magazine (1826-1844), Annals and Magazine of Natural History (1829-1837), and Architectural Magazine (1834-1838). In 1822, he published his massive Encyclopaedia of Gardening – “remarkable for the immense mass of useful material which it contained, and for the then unusual circumstance of a great quantity of wood cuts being mingled with the text.” – Gardener's Magazine. Death of Mr. Loudon. (January 1844)

Perhaps Loudon’s most significant and exhaustive work was his Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum 1830-1838. This “great and ruinous” work spanned eight volumes – the first four volumes (2694 pages) followed by volumes 5 through 8 containing 419 illustrated plates. The text consists of the description, history, geography, uses, propagation, and culture of the species and varieties of shrubs and trees cultivated in Great Britain. Loudon was known for his clear and simple descriptive language accessible to all readers and there is a lyrical quality to his writing even as he describes his wood engravings of the details of young trees:

“… The botanical specimens of the young trees exhibit a branch in flower, the winter’s wood when the tree is deciduous, and a branch with ripe fruit, and with autumnal leaves; besides dissections of flowers and fruit” – J. C. Loudon. Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum. Explanatory references.

It was Loudon’s ceaseless labor and attendant financial anxieties connected with Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum that his contemporary memorialists believed responsible for his deteriorated health and eventual death. He died in debt. In the final issue of Gardener’s Magazine is a plea for additional subscribers to the Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum to clear Loudon’s personal debt:

“… This debt, at present time, amounts to about 2400L., and hence, if 350 additional subscribers could be got, the debt would at once be liquidated, the works pledged for it set free, and Mr. Loudon, or his family, would enjoy the whole produce of his literary property. …”

J. C. Loudon was elected an honorary member of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society in 1830. 

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Mary Griffith's anonymously published Our Neighborhood: Letters on Horticulture and Natural Phenomena … was dedicated to both the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society and Massachusetts Horticultural Society. Letters on Horticulture is held by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. McLean Library Special Collections

Further Reading

American Bee Journal. [Hamilton, Ill., etc.: Dadant & Sons], 1871: Vol 7, Issue 1

Bean, W. J. Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1915-1933

Boyd, James. A History of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, 1827-1937. Philadelphia: Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, 1929

Catharine Maria Sedgwick to Theodore Sedgwick II, 29 May 1825, Sedgwick Family Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society.

Cox, Robert S. “A Spontaneous Flow: The Geological Contributions of Mary Griffith, 1772-1846.” Earth Sciences History, Vol. 12, No.2 (1993): 187-195

Coxe, William. A View of the Cultivation of Fruit Trees and the Management of Orchards and Cider … Philadelphia: M. Carey, 1817

Diamond, David H. “Origins of Pioneer Apple Orchards in the American West: Random Seeding versus Artisan Horticulture.” Agricultural History 84, no. 4 (2010): 423–50

Dolan, Susan A. Fruitful Legacy: A Historic Context of Orchards in the United States … Washington, D.C.: National Park Service, 2009

Gardener's Magazine and Register of Rural and Domestic Improvement. London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green, 1826-1844

[Griffith, Mary] “On Bees.” North American Review 27, no. 61 (1828): 338-59

[Griffith, Mary] Our Neighborhood: Letters on Horticulture and Natural Phenomena … New York: E. Bliss, 1831

John Claudius Loudon and the Early Nineteenth Century in Great Britain. Washington, D. C.: Dumbarton Oaks, 1980

Kritsky, Gene. The Quest for the Perfect Hive: A History of Innovation in Bee Culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010

Loudon, J. C. Arboretum et fruticetum britannicum, or, The trees and shrubs of Britain, native and foreign, hardy and half-hardy, pictorially and botanically delineated, and scientifically and popularly described ... London, J.C. Loudon, 1838

Massachusetts Horticultural Society. Transactions of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. Boston: W.D. Ticknor, 1829-1838

Miner, T. B. The American Bee Keeper’s Manual. New York: C.M. Saxton, 1849

New England Farmer, And Horticultural Register. Boston: Joseph Breck, 1825-1833

Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. Library catalogue. 1831-1841

Pennsylvania Horticultural Society Minute Book. 1863-1865. Vol. 10

Smith, Jerome Van Crowninshield, 1800-1879. An Essay on the Practicability of Cultivating the Honey Bee. Boston: Perkins and Marvin, 1831.

Thacher, James, 1754-1844, and Charles C. Miller Memorial Apicultural Library. A Practical Treatise on the Management of Bees: And the Establishment of Apiaries, With the Best Method of Destroying and Preventing the Depredations of the Bee Moth. Boston: Marsh & Capen, 1829.

Groundwork: Three Early Honorary Members of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society