Note 25 — Chapter IV · LEADING VARIETIES OF PEARS

Marshall P. Wilder contributed to all fields of American horticulture as an ardent amateur grower and as a most generous patron. But it was as a pomologist and especially as a grower of grapes and pears that he established a permanent place for himself in the horticulture of the country. He was born in New Hampshire in 1798 and died in Boston in 1886, having lived in Dorchester, a suburb of Boston, for upwards of a half century. By vocation a merchant, he was a captain of industry in his day, yet most of his life, especially after the prime had been passed, was devoted to the avocation of horticulture. He was one of the founders of the American Pomological Society and had the great honor of being its president, excepting a single two-year term, from the first meeting in 1850 until his death. During the last years of his presidency, Wilder actively engaged in the reform of pomological nomenclature which the Society was then carrying on. He was an active member of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society for fifty-six years and its president from 1841 to 1848. He was also one of the founders of the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture, of the Massachusetts Agricultural Society, of the United States Agricultural Society, and was a trustee of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Besides membership and activity in these agricultural organizations, he served as colonel and commander in a military company and as president of the New England Historic and Genealogical Society from 1868 until his death. Wilder was a zealous collector and introducer of flowers. He specialized in camellias, azaleas, orchids, and roses. A rose bearing his name is still a garden favorite. Many floral novelties of his day owe their origin or introduction to Marshall P. Wilder. He was ever enthusiastic over American grapes and tested all of the many new varieties introduced about the middle of the last century. But the pear was even more to his fancy than the grape, and he endeavored to grow every native variety of any promise whatsoever. All told, he tested over 1200 varieties, and in 1873 exhibited more than 400 varieties. He originated several new pears and to him is due the honor of having introduced the Beurre d’Anjou in 1844. At his death he left the American Pomological Society $1000 for Wilder medals for new fruits and $4000 for general purposes. To the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, he left $1000 to encourage the introduction of new American pears and grapes. Among many distinguished American pomologists who sought to improve the pear, Marshall P. Wilder deserves most of any recognition for his services and a place is therefore accorded him for his likeness in the frontispiece of The Pears of New York and the book is thereby dedicated to him.