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Page 39 · DO #459 · 204_Popenoe_Bx33FF29r
- Collection
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Wilson Popenoe (1892–1975) family papers
- Item/Folder
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Preface, Introduction, and The Mango - manuscript and notes (typed and handwritten) - chapters in outline for proposed book with Herbert Wolfe, n.d.
- Digital Object
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DO #459,
page 39
- Collection-level dates
- 1882–1975
Page transcription
1956 TRIBUTE TO FLORIDA 311
George B. Cellon of Miami, which was then "at the end of the line", was the first to propagate commercially mango and avocado varieties by grafting. He used the method known as shield budding, and he concentrated upon the Mulgoba mango and two avocado varieties which he had selected among the numerous seedlings growing in the Miami region—these were Trapp and Pollock. Cellon had moved south from his home in northern Florida. He was a true plantsman and a most picturesque character.
At about the same time, or a few years later, John B. Beach established a nursery at West Palm Beach, whence he sold budded trees of mangoes and avocados. I recall that when I first visited him he was experimenting with a new method of grafting avocados something on the order of the herbaceous cleft, as we call it today. This is the first time I remember seeing very young rootstocks used, a common practice today.
In the early years of the present century, the United States Department of Agriculture established a "Plant Introduction Garden" at Miami, a tiny tract of only seven acres or so which was destined to play a major role in the development of tropical horticulture. I believe P. H. Rolfs, for many years Dean of the College of Agriculture at the University of Florida, played an active part in this; and then, for some years, P. J. Wester was in charge. I recall Dean Rolfs telling me that he had found Wester at the Royal Palm Hotel in Miami, where he was head gardener, and had recognized in him those qualities of the true plantsman which peculiarly fitted him for work at the new station. Wester later moved to the Philippines, where for years he was active in the work of plant introduction and propagation. He published many bulletins and papers, one of which, on the vegetative propagation of tropical fruits, is practically a classic, for he had succeeded in budding many species which had previously been grown only from seeds. Many of these species are still not commonly propagated by any other means.
Wester was succeeded by Edward Simmonds, who was for years assisted by Charles H. Steffani, recently retired as County Agent at Homestead. Simmonds had not been trained as a plantsman but he was born a plantsman. I remember his telling me how it happened that he got into the field of
