Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Liberty Hyde Bailey—Father of American Horticulture

1990; American Society for Horticultural Science; Volume: 25; Issue: 10 Linguagem: Inglês

10.21273/hortsci.25.10.1204

2327-9834

John G. Seeley,

Plant and animal studies

Liberty Hyde Bailey, the first President of the Society for Horticultural Science (renamed the American Society for Horticultural Science in 1916), 1903-1905, was a man of many talents.He has been called "Father of American Horticulture", and "Dean of Horticulture" throughout the world.Bailey was a rugged individualist with tremendous energy for thinking and doing.He set goals, worked hard, but enjoyed life in addition to making contributions and achievements that will benefit mankind forever.Bailey was born 15 Mar.1858 in South Haven, Mich., the son of Liberty Hyde Bailey, Sr., a Vermont Puritan who migrated to Michigan and established a frontier farm cut out of a primeval forest.Bailey's father was a successful fruit farmer, and Bailey's second book, Field Notes on Apple Culture (Bailey, 1886a), was dedicated: "To my father, the results of whose teachings are embodied in this book."At age 10, Bailey top-grafted apple trees and had one tree with 40 cultivars; his father had assembled a collection of more than 320 cultivars.What was the origin of the name, Liberty?Bailey's grandfather was a New England farmer and an abolitionist.When asked what to call his son, he said: "Call him Libertyfor all shall be free."The name was passed on to the grandson, who used Jr. on early