Francis Peabody Sharp
Francis Peabody Sharp (born September 3, 1823 in Northampton , New Brunswick , † December 12, 1903 in Woodstock , New Brunswick) was a Canadian fruit grower and tree nursery owner.
Life and family
Francis Peabody Sharp was born on September 3, 1823 in the town of Northampton in Carleton County to Adam Boyle Sharp and Maria Peabody. His father was a lumberjack and merchant in Upper Woodstock; his mother was the granddaughter of Captain Francis Peabody of Massachusetts , founder of the first British settlements on the Saint John River , the cities of Maugerville and Gagetown . She brought considerable fortune into the marriage.
Francis Sharp attended Carleton Grammar School and initially wanted to become a doctor. However, since he was of poor health, he initially worked as an employee and accountant in his father's shop, but became interested in gardening and fruit growing at an early age.
In 1844 he bought the farm in Northampton from his father and planted a first orchard with 100 trees on the site and a small tree nursery in 1846. After his mother's death in 1851, he inherited considerable land, including 1,000 acres in Williamstown Lake in Carleton County.
On December 31, 1853 he married Maria Shaw (May 12, 1830 - March 29, 1904) from Lower Wakefield, New Brunswick, with whom he had eight children. The three first-born children John (* 1854), Mary Agnes (* 1857) and Charles (* 1857) died of diphtheria within a week in 1861 . His son Franklin (* August 1, 1860; † September 1892) took over the business of the tree nursery in 1887 and expanded it, but died of emaciation in 1892.
His daughter Minnie Bell Sharp (born January 12, 1865 in Woodstock, † April 11, 1937 in Woodstock) received singing and piano training in New York City . In 1899 she married the artist, writer and ethnologist Edwin Tappan Adney . She founded her own music school, the Woodstock School of Music , in her hometown of Woodstock . In 1919 she ran for the Victoria-Carleton district in the federal election. Women were allowed to vote at this point, but not run, so their name did not appear on the ballot. She ran again in 1921 and 1925 after the law was changed, but received only 84 votes.
Sharp's son Ziba Humboldt (born July 8, 1868) took over parts of the family business. His father signed land on Sharp's Mountain for him in 1885, where he lived from then on. In 1907 he moved to Red Deer , Alberta , where he started his own tree nursery. The daughters Alexandra Elizabeth, called Lizzie (* 1870) and Harriet Jane, called Jennie (* 1871) inherited the Sharp Nurseries from their brother Franklin in 1892.
Francis Peabody Sharp died impoverished on December 12, 1903 in Woodstock.
Activity as a fruit grower
Sharp acquired horticultural and fruit growing knowledge from magazines and books while studying himself. He realized that New Brunswick had not yet succeeded in growing apples because the imported apple varieties were not adapted to the harsh winters and the short growing season. Sharp knew from literature that apples were grown successfully even in the cold regions of Russia, from which he concluded that it should also be possible to cultivate apples in the New Brunswick climate.
To find suitable varieties, he planted apple varieties that had not previously been grown in the area, including Fameuse, Porter, Minister, Golden Russet, Ribston Pepping, St. Lawrence, Gravensteiner, Talman Sweet and Williams Favorite.
At this time, new knowledge about fertilization in fruit growing arose. There have already been the first scientific attempts with targeted crossings through controlled pollination with pears and other types of fruit. Crossing attempts with apples had not yet been made. Until then, apple varieties were propagated through grafting, as the sowing of apple seeds usually leads to inferior varieties that rarely resemble the parent varieties. Sharp began with its own hybridization attempts with the aim of breeding hardy apple varieties adapted to the harsh climate. He documented his crossing attempts and their results very carefully in his diary, which is still preserved today.
In 1849, Sharp obtained seeds of Russian apple varieties from Dunnings Nursery in Bangor , Maine . He sown about 1000 seeds and observed the developing little plants with regard to vigor, winter hardiness and resistance to diseases. In 1854 he selected a plant from the developing apple trees that proved to be particularly hardy and resistant to the harsh climate of New Brunswick and whose fruits were particularly suitable for processing into apple pie and apple sauce. Sharp gave it the name Sharp's New Brunswick Apple .
With the New Brunswick apple, Sharp carried out further cross-breeding trials to improve taste and shelf life. From these attempts in 1866 a variety with juicy flesh and red skin emerged. Sharp initially called this apple Early Scarlet, but later changed the name to Crimson Beauty. Crimson Beauty is an early apple that was probably created from the cross between the Fameuse and New Brunswick apple varieties, which Sharp often used. It is considered to be the first apple variety that was created through controlled crossing of the parent varieties. The apple variety has been used in numerous breeding programs around the world to inherit early ripeness and red color. The offspring include the apple varieties Caravel (1942), Ranger (1944), Quinte (1954) and Wellington (1955). From 1908 to 1915, the Stark Brothers nursery distributed the Crimson Beauty variety under the name Red Early Bird in the United States . The variety was touted as the apple that ripened 7 to 10 days before the Yellow Transparent apple variety in the season.
In addition to these two well-known and widespread varieties, Sharp's attempts at crossbreeding resulted in numerous other varieties, most of which are now lost. The varieties Bittersweet (New Brunswick x St. Lawrence), Sharp's Munro Sweet (crossing New Brunswick x unknown from 1869) and Woodstock Bloom (New Brunswick x Alexander), as well as the varieties Peabody Greening, Fisher Pippin and Munro No. 2, later referred to as Walden.
He also tried breeding with pears and plums. So he bred a very hardy plum variety, which he named 'Mooers Arctic' after TA Mooers from Ashland, from which he received the seed from which the variety emerged.
Sharp gained the attention of American and Canadian scholars through lectures and articles written by him, many of whom visited him in Upper Woodstock. They included Professor Joseph Lancaster Budd, director of Agriculture College in Ames , Iowa , and Professor Charles Gibbs of the Dominion Government, who ran fruit and ornamentals at Abbotsford . In 1882, these two men traveled to England, Russia and other European countries to sift through types of fruit and collect hardy breeding material. Sharp received the government's offer to take part in the expedition, but was unable to travel due to health problems in the family. The two scientists brought more than 100 apples, 30 plums, 40 cherries and 40 pears as well as some peach and apricot varieties with them from the expedition, which they planted in the experimental garden of the Iowa Agricultural College. The varieties were propagated and distributed to numerous fruit producers in order to test them at different locations. Although they were found to be very frost-resistant, most of these varieties failed in the United States because the fruits ripened in late summer, were not storable, and they were susceptible to disease. Sharp received 50 Russian apple varieties from this collection, some of which he cultivated in his nursery and used in cross-breeding experiments.
Innovations in fruit tree culture
Sharp specifically planted fruit crops on several locations with different soils in order to study the influence of soil type and quality on the growth and yield of the trees. He also experimented intensively with planting and pruning methods for growing dwarf fruit for apples, plums and peaches. He succeeded in cultivating a richly bearing apple tree only 3 feet tall and growing a plum tree that was only 6 inches tall and bearing a fruit. Sharp had recognized that the use of low-growth, dense fruit trees in combination with targeted pruning measures can achieve very high and early yields. In doing so, he carried out important preparatory work for the development of modern fruit growing with low-stem trees in a very high density of trees.
He dealt intensively with the flow of sap in the trees and tried to derive growth laws and appropriate pruning measures from it. So he developed a method of tying young plum trees flat over the ground over the winter, stimulating them to bloom and thus to set fruit. He referred to the resulting knowledge as the Law of Antagonism of Stalk and Fruit .
Sharp also endeavored to continuously develop and improve tools and technical aids for fruit growing. He developed an apple peeling machine as early as 1850 and operated a juice press on his plantation for cider production, which could hold 30 barrels (approx. 4500 liters) of apples in one pressing process. He constructed wind-powered mills for the production of bone meal and an evaporator for drying maple sugar.
Sharps Nursery and Orchards
In 1844 Francis P. Sharp bought the farm in Northampton from his father. On this site he first planted his first orchard with around 100 trees. From 1846 he also ran a small tree nursery here, which he expanded into the Woodstock Nurseries in 1850.
Sharp constantly expanded the fruit nursery. In the 1870s, his brother-in-law William Sperry Shea (* December 10, 1818 - March 21, 1876), the husband of his half-sister Isabel, joined the company as a business partner, which has since operated under the name Sharp, Shea & Company . Shea mainly took care of the business and organizational tasks and provided the capital necessary for continuous expansion.
After Shea's death in 1876, Sharp's eldest son Franklin joined the business. In 1887 Sharp gave him Woodstock Nurseries and his son Ziba Humboldt the orchards. At that time, 250,000 trees and approx. 1,600 apple varieties were growing in the nursery, which had emerged from Sharp's attempts at crossing and were being tested. Shortly after the business was handed over, Franklin Sharp began to plant the "Franklin Sharp Orchard" between Woodstock and Upper Woodstock, an apple orchard with 20,000 trees on an area of 70 acres (approx. 28 ha), of which 40 acres exclusively with the newly cultivated Crimson Beauty variety were planted.
In 1878 the company had offices in Woodstock, Grafton and Houlton. The range mainly comprised hardy and resistant pear, plum and cherry varieties, but also vines, gooseberries, currants, blackberries, raspberries and strawberries. He also cultivated and sold peaches in his orchard, something that nobody in this area succeeded in doing after him. In order to expand the very lucrative fruit cultivation, Sharp continuously bought land that he financed through loans. Its main lender was Woodstock Mayor Lewis P. Fisher, a wealthy lawyer.
In May 1881 a devastating fire destroyed most of the nursery buildings and his home. Although he didn't have fire insurance, Sharp managed to rebuild his business and recover from the damage.
The nursery specializes in particularly robust and frost-hardy fruit varieties. In addition to Sharp's own breeds, Sharps New Brunswick, Crimson Beauty, Munro No. 1 and No. 2, Fisher Pippin, Woodstock Bloom, Russian apple varieties were also offered, including Yellow Transparent (distributed in Germany as Weißer Klarapfel ), Alexander (in Germany as Kaiser Alexander common), Red Astrakhan and Tetofsky. In 1890, more than 900,000 apple, plum, cherry and pear trees were cultivated in the nursery. It was the largest tree nursery in Canada at the time.
In 1890 the USA passed a new tariff law (McKinley-Trade Tariff), which significantly increased import duties. At that time, Sharp was marketing much of the harvest from its apple orchards in the United States; of the annual production of 25,000 barrels, 18,000 barrels were sold in the United States and only 7,000 barrels within the region. Sharp's company was therefore hit hard by the high tariffs.
In 1892, his son and business associate Franklin died of emaciation, likely from tuberculosis. Franklin Sharp bequeathed the Sharp Nurseries to his sisters Alexandra Elizabeth and Harriet Jane. Alexandra Elizabeth ran the company until her death in 1904.
In the severe winter of 1892/1893, Sharp lost most of its plum trees to frost damage.
The falling income from his plantations was no longer enough to pay the loan installments. Sharp's daughter Minnie Bell, who had always had a very close relationship with her father, tried to rebuild the nursery with her husband Edwin Tappan Adney, but could not restore the company to its previous importance.
After Sharp's death in December 1903 and the death of his daughter Alexandra Elizabeth just a year later, most of the company was sold.
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ C. Mary Young, "Sharp, Francis Peabody," in Dictionary of Canadian Biography , vol. 13, University of Toronto / Université Laval, 2003; accessed on December 1, 2013
- ^ Biographical notes on Francis Peabody Sharp in the archives of the New Brunswick Museum , accessed on December 5, 2013
- ↑ Daryl Hunter: Biography of Francis Peabody Sharp on the homepage of the Carelton County Historical Society ( Memento of the original from June 10, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Inc of Woodstock
- ↑ entry for Francis Peabody Sharp on the My Genealogy ( My Genealogy ), accessed on December 1, 2013
- ↑ Biographical explanations of the 'Minnie Bell Adney campaign poster' exhibit from 1925, accessed on the ArchivesCanada homepage ( Memento of the original from September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 'on December 5, 2013
- ^ Edwin Tappan Adney: The Sharp Family: Descendants of Alexander Sharp, of Edinburgh, Scotland, and the Province of New Brunswick, 1908
- ^ Edwin Tappan Adney: The Sharp Family: Descendants of Alexander Sharp, of Edinburgh, Scotland, and the Province of New Brunswick, 1908
- ^ Maud Henderson Miller: The History of Upper Woodstock. Globe Printing Company, Saint John 1940. Chapter IV: Francis P. Sharp, Orchardist, and Act To Separate Parish From Town. Text published on the website of the Carleton County Historical Society, Inc. ( Memento of the original from December 12, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed December 6, 2013
- ^ Joan Morgan: The New Book Of Apples, Ebury Press 2002
- ↑ Jane Seabrook: Canada's First Apple Breeder - Francis Peabody Sharp; in: Fredericton Botanic Garden Association Newsletter, Vol. 19 No. 1, winter 2007, p. 2
- ↑ Creighton Lee Calhoun: Old Southern Apples, Revised and Expanded: A Comprehensive History and Description of Varieties for Collectors, Growers, and Fruit Enthusiasts, Chelsea Green Publishing, 2011; P. 67
- ^ WT Macoun: Apple Breeding in Canada; in: Annual Report of the American Breeders' Association, Volumes VII & VIII; American Breeders Association, Washington DC 1912, p. 479ff.
- ↑ History of Apple Growing in the Maritimes ( Memento of the original from December 15, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed December 5, 2013
- ^ Maud Henderson Miller: The History of Upper Woodstock. Globe Printing Company, Saint John 1940. Chapter IV: Francis P. Sharp, Orchardist, and Act To Separate Parish From Town. Text published on the website of the Carleton County Historical Society, Inc. ( Memento of the original from December 12, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed December 6, 2013
- ^ Obituary to Joseph Lancaster Budd in Journal of Heredity (1931) 22 (2), p. 66
- ^ FRSC Saunders: Agricultural Colleges and Experimental Farm Stations - With suggestions relating to Experimental Agriculture in Canada. Ottawa 1886, p. 24ff
- ^ Charles V. Hall: Horticulture History; Homepage of the Department of Horticulture at Iowa State University; Retrieved December 7, 2013
- ^ The Canadian biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of eminent and self-made men. Quebec and the Maritime Provinces volume. American Biographical Pub. Co. / HC Cooper Jr. & Co .; Chicago, Toronto 1881, pp. 619f
- ^ C. Mary Young, "Sharp, Francis Peabody," in Dictionary of Canadian Biography , vol. 13, University of Toronto / Université Laval, 2003; accessed on December 1, 2013
- ^ Maud Henderson Miller: The History of Upper Woodstock. Globe Printing Company, Saint John 1940. Chapter IV: Francis P. Sharp, Orchardist, and Act To Separate Parish From Town. Text published on the website of the Carleton County Historical Society, Inc. ( Memento of the original from December 12, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed December 6, 2013
- ^ Biographical notes on Francis Peabody Sharp in the archives of the New Brunswick Museum , accessed on December 5, 2013
- ↑ History of Apple Growing in the Maritimes ( Memento of the original from December 15, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Sandra Phinney: Atlantic Canada's Appleseed - How a little-known New Brunswicker became a pioneer apple grower; in: Good Taste, supplement to Saltscapes Magazine, Spring 2013 issue; P. 12
- ^ Franklin Sharp: Descriptive Catalog of the Woodstock Nurseries, Woodstock 1887
- ↑ The Shea Family - A Preliminary Study of the descendants of William Elihu Shea of Carrick-on-Suir, Ireland and the Parish of Northampton, Carleton County, New Brunswick; on the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick site ; accessed on December 6, 20123
- ↑ Jane Seabrook: Canada's First Apple Breeder - Francis Peabody Sharp; in: Fredericton Botanic Garden Association Newsletter, Vol. 19 No. 1, winter 2007, p. 2
- ^ Edwin Tappan Adney: The Sharp Family: Descendants of Alexander Sharp, of Edinburgh, Scotland, and the Province of New Brunswick, 1908
- ↑ Biographical Sketch for the series 'Francis Peabody Sharp [1846-1909]' in the archive of the New Brunswick Museum
- ^ Daryl Hunter: Francis Peabody Sharp - Canada's First Apple Breeder; on the homepage of the Carelton County Historical Society ( memento of the original from June 10, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Inc of Woodstock
- ^ Daryl Hunter: Francis Peabody Sharp - Canada's First Apple Breeder; on the homepage of the Carelton County Historical Society ( memento of the original from June 10, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Inc of Woodstock
- ^ Franklin Sharp: Descriptive Catalog of the Woodstock Nurseries, Woodstock 1887
- ^ C. Mary Young, "Sharp, Francis Peabody," in Dictionary of Canadian Biography , vol. 13, University of Toronto / Université Laval, 2003; accessed on December 1, 2013
- ^ Edwin Tappan Adney: The Sharp Family: Descendants of Alexander Sharp, of Edinburgh, Scotland, and the Province of New Brunswick, 1908
- ↑ Biography of Francis Peabody Sharp on the homepage of the Carelton County Historical Society ( Memento of the original from June 10, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Inc of Woodstock
- ^ C. Mary Young, "Sharp, Francis Peabody," in Dictionary of Canadian Biography , vol. 13, University of Toronto / Université Laval, 2003; accessed on December 1, 2013
- ^ Edwin Tappan Adney: The Sharp Family: Descendants of Alexander Sharp, of Edinburgh, Scotland, and the Province of New Brunswick, 1908
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Sharp, Francis Peabody |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Canadian entrepreneur, fruit grower, nursery owner |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 3, 1823 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Northampton , New Brunswick |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 12, 1903 |
| Place of death | Woodstock , New Brunswick |