Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-07-13

[. WIN
MATHEW COOKE, |
OF SACRAMENTO, CHEZ EXEoCrys HoRTI.
CULTURAL OFFICER or CALIFORNIA.
Mathew Cooke. of Sacramento, an excel !
lspt portrait If whom We present this morn |
inc iengrsyed to the special order OF the |
RECORD. UNION. is one Of the self.made men |
OF this State. He has for many years, and
now does, occupy an important prominence
in tae State 1t is a prominence gained
neither by political influence nor political sa-
gqcity, By the use Of much capital. nor by any
heroic deeds but is the result Of q sincere
desire to benefit the whole people Of the State
Of his adoption, and give them the best re-
suits of his perseverance, study and labor,
and Of his researches and experiments in q
branch Of science Of the highest Importance
Mr.. Cooke was born February IL, 1929,
at Bushmills, in the County Antrim,
Ireland. He had fair common
school education From his esrly youth he
was constant reader and student. His
reading and study was pursued under his own
tntorship, but his opportunities were very
limited. His mind inclined to the cortempla.
tionvof mechanics and the more practical
sciences Natural history was always a
favorite study, but bis opportunities to pur-
sue it were narrow, and not until recent
years was he enabled to give close attention
to entomology, his practical success in which
has given him the honorable prominence he
now has in California. While yet a mere
youth he was engaged upon the Public Works
Department in his native country. soon be-
came Assistant Baronisl, and later was
made Baronial, or Superintendent Of
Works He came to the United States in
April, 1850, and pursued mechanical vocs-
tons until 1862, when he came to California.
He arrived in Sacramento October IL, 1862,
and has ever since resided here, and enjoyed
the respect Of our citizens. In this city he
engaged in
MANUFACTURING
And turned his attention also to practical in
ventions several of which have received pub
| lie approval and introduction. From 1870 to
1873 Mr.. Cooke was officially connected with
the water works department of the city gov
eminent. In 1873 he entered upon the manu-
| facture of fruit boxes, berry baskets, chests,
| etc, the firm being Cooke & Gregory. In
/ that business he has ever since continued, the
/ firm now being Cooke x Sen. Their estsb-
/ Iishment, 1.-The Pioneer Box Factory, is the
| largest on the Pacific Coast where boxes and
packages for green fruit are made a speciality.
/ Soon after engaging in this business, Mr..
/ Cooke had his attention forcibly drawn
/ to the necessity of Improvements being
made in the style of packages for shipping
| fruits especially those for the Eastern mar
kets. His inventive genius soon evolved
rew styles of packages which met the want
and received the approval of shippers, and
! there soon issued to him letters patent for
/ the same In 1875 the codling moth made
| its presence disastrously known. Imme-
/ diately the subject of this sketch saw that
| this insect pest threatened to destroy the
fruit-growiug interests. OF course he was
the more deeply interested IN it because with
the failure of fruit crops must come the ruin
of his own business. Natural self-interest ia
always 4 strong motive for action in man. 1t
was 80 in Mr.. Cookies case, but it soon be-
came secondary to the desire to benefit his
| tellow.IneD. Very little attention had been
given by fruit growers to the subject. In
| deed very few Of them realized the full ex-
tent of the danger that threatened them.
Mr.. Cooke realized that remedy for the evil
could only come from thorough knowledge
Of the subject. He resolved to know all that
was possible regarding it.
THE BEST BOOKS
And treatises on chronological science he
found to be exceedingly deficient, as regarded
the matter in hand, most OF the sub
| iects he had TO deal with being new
to science. He, however, procured the
studies, pursuing them with untiring dill
gence. At the same time he began the prsc-
teal study OF the subject in orchard and vine
yard, spending day after day and night after
night in studying the habits of all varieties of
fruit and vine pests. Very soon he had
gathered valuable and new fund of informs-
ton Of the highest value to the scientific
world and Of the deepest interest to all fruit
and grape growers. His Investigations were
constant for three successive years, and were
prosecuted in various sections of the State.
In these investigations he gathered large
and valuable cabinet, snd made microscopic
study the duty of the silent as well as the
waking hours. He adhered to his purpose
with almost stubborn consistency, and re-
fused to be turned aside by doubters on the
ore hand and the sneers of the uniformed
on the other. Meanwhile he communicated
his discoveries from time to time to the pub
lie press, the great bulk Of his articles appear
ing in the RECoRD-U MON. These attracted
widespread attention, and presently
THE WHOLE STATE
Stood watching Mathew Cooke in his search
for remedies for insect fruit pests. In JAnu-
airy, 1879 he issued an address to the fruit
growers of California. This pamphlet had a
broad circulation, and his private means were
heavily taxed to supply the demand for the
little book, in which, in plain and simple but
convincing language, he set forth the result of
his Investigations, and warned the horticult-
wrists and viticHlturists of the dangers that
threatened their industry. He prophesied
exactly what would come to pass unless the
most stringent precautions were taken. His
forecast time proved to be strictly true, and
to-day California fruit-grOwers admit that
there was no error in his judgment. In his
pamphlet he frankly stated that the preserva-
ton of his own business had been the original
incentive to his investigations. While this
was true, he should have added that it soon
became q secondary consideration-the
philanthropist rose superior to the man, and
he gave the result of his researches freely to
the world. The remedies be suggested he not
1 only detailed, but he furnished the arti.
Giles themselves free of cost to all
who applied, and continued TO DO
so until the demand became 60
great that his private means were inadequate
to meet it. Even then he sought to make no
profit upon the misfortune of his neighbors,
but put them ia the way of themselves pro-
curing the needed remedial articles, and never
refused to go in person and examine infected
orchards and suggest treatment. In Novem.
Der of that year ne published
SECOND PAMPHLET,
Embracing the first with all the information
gained since its Issue, and the results of his
examinations of hundreds of specimens of
fruit and vine pests sent to him from all over
the coast. Ten thousand copies of this book
he distributed at his own cost. 1t was emit
tied THE Natural History and Habits of
the Codlinp Moth Tor apple-worm). Every
where fruit,growers sought for the work. MIR.
Cookies correspondence grew to such proper
lions that he could not reply to the eager in
qurers. Through the press, however, he con.
tinued to agitate the subjsct till March, 1881,
when it had grown to such proportions that
the Legislature passed laws for the protection
of horticulture, and appropriated money to
enable the proper board to set on foot the nee.
essary measures TO check the pest in its march
of destruction. In April, 1881, Mr.. Cooke
wss elected
CHIEF HORTICULTURAL OFFICER
OF California, a position that is practically
that of Stale Entomologist. The selection
was approved drought the State, and for
once in our history the people were unaui-
nous in their verdict of the man for the
place. October, 1881, Mr. Cooke Issued his
treatise on "Insects injurious to fruit and
fruit trees in California, and remedies for
their determination" OF this 800 copies
were issued from the State Printing Office,
and a second edition of $500 copies became
Uko for f-o,,, Ill