[83] Jared P. Kirtland, M. D., though now less well known than
some of his contemporaries, was one of the great pomologists of
his time and a man of notable achievements in other branches
of natural history as well. Professor Kirtland was born at
Wallingford, Connecticut, November 10, 1793, and died at East
Rockport, near Cleveland, Ohio, December 11, 1877. For sixty
years of a long life his avocation was the production of new
varieties of fruits and flowers and, though a half century has
passed since he ceased active work, the results of his labors
are yet to be found in the gardens and orchards of the whole
country. In pomology he gave special attention to breeding grapes,
raspberries, pears and cherries. He achieved success, too, as a
hybridizer of peonies and in the introduction of rare foreign
magnolias. Professor Kirtland is given credit as being the first
horticulturist successfully to bud and graft magnolias, an
achievement which has made possible their cultivation under many
conditions and to a degree of excellence that otherwise could
not be obtained. He was the founder of the Cleveland Society of
Natural History and was for many years its president. He was
a member of the American Philosophical Society, the highest
recognition for scientific work to be obtained in his time in this
country. He served as professor in several medical schools and
filled other places of honor and trust. From his boyhood we are
told that he was interested in natural history and was intimately
acquainted with the plants and animals of Ohio, having special
knowledge of birds and fishes, the propagation of the latter being
one of his hobbies. In pomology we owe him most for the many new
cherries he has given us, thirty varieties described in _The
Cherries of New York_ having come from his breeding grounds. Among
these are Wood, Pontiac, Powhatan, Tecumseh, Osceola, Kirtland and
Red Jacket, sorts scarcely surpassed for high quality and grown
commonly in America and to some extent wherever Sweet Cherries
will thrive. His 84 years seem to have been well ordered, given
almost wholly for the good of the public, and his name should be
cherished by pomologists among those who have done most for fruits
and fruit-growing on this continent.
WRAGG
_Prunus cerasus_
=1.= _Ia. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 171. 1884. =2.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt._
95. 1887. =3.= _Can. Exp. Farm Bul._ =17=:15 fig. 8. 1892. =4.=
_Neb. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 39. 1892. =5.= _Am. Gard._ =20=:178. 1899.
=6.= _Del. Sta. An. Rpt._ =12=:119, 120. 1900. =7.= _Ia. Sta.
Bul._ =73=:89, fig. 26. 1903. =8.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Sp. Rpt._ 38.
1904-05. =9.= _Wash. Sta. Bul._ =92=:22, 23. 1910.
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