The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1902-07-16
DR. T. II. HOSKINS.

the following biographical sketch
DR.. Thomas Henry Hoskins of this
town, who died recently, was we'll
known in former years as an horticul-
tural and agricultural writer of re-
pute. He had been practically dead to
the present world for over three years
by reason of the failure of his once
brilliant mind.
Born in Gardiner, Me, on the 18th
of May, 1928, he was seventy four
years of age some weeks previous to
his death. He leaves a widow and one
child, the wife of Rev. J. B. Spiers,
pastor OF the New Jerusalem church
in Contoocook, N. II. Some account
of his life will be of interest to Union
readers, as many yet remain to whom
he was familiar either personally or
through his writings, widely scattered
as were these last through such medi-
ums as the Vermont Waterman, of
which he was the agricultural editor
for many years: the Rural New
Yorker, the Maine Farmer, the New
England Homestead, the New England
Farmer, the Garden and Forest, and
others, he being one of those, few in
his day, who were paid for contribu-
lions of that nature. His father,
Henry Box Hoskins, a paper manufac-
turer, was one of Gardeners most
highly respected citizens, repeatedly
serving his city as treasurer, mayor
and member of the Legislature. Com
ing from a stock of sterling integrity
and great mental ability on his faith
er's side (his great-grandfather was
William Henry Hoskins, a merchant
of Boston, and acting commissary in
the Revolutionary war, whose remains
| ,,nxv- roet -, tha ror1t. &c eh, htgtarip
Old South church of that city,, his an
tecedents on his mothers side were
no less worthy. She was Mary Green
Jewett, and her father was Jesse
Jewett, who owned a large farm in
Windsor, Me-, was for his day a
scientific and progressive farmer, and
was sheriff of his county to the day of
his death at nearly eighty years of
age.
1t was on his grandfather's farm
that Dr. Hoskin's imbiJed the love for
the soil which he always retained.
He early showed a fondness for news
paper work, owning, editing, and
printing a paper of his own at thir-
teen years Of age. He received his
academic education at the Gardiner
lyceum. In 1919, at twenty-one years
of age, he started for California in
company with other young men of his
city, bur, not liking the name of
his companions, he left them and final
ly located i'll Louisville, Ky, where
he remained nearly thirteen years.
He engaged in the drug business, first
as clerk, then as partner, and later
studied medicine in the medical de-
partment of the University of Louis.
vile, at the same time carrying on q
~ rI-nt r,orla,, i,,et or+-;Io +Ho ottr
Graduating at the head of a large class.
he became assistant professor of anat.
omy, translated French and German
works for the University, and prac.
ticed his profession until in 1861, just
before the war, he removed to Boston.
Here he remained several years, being
surgeon to several institutions, one
of the physicians of the Boston Dis.
pensary for four years, also engaged
as an editorial writer on the Boston
Courier, and as lecturer in Dio Lewis
school.
In the winter of 1S65.G6 he received
a severe spinal injury by a fall on the
icy pavement, which incapacitated hin
for further practice of his profession,
and for many months, for any what.
soever. At the instigation of his
friends, Carlos Pierce and Henry
Keyes, president of the PassumpsiC
railroad, then just completed to thai
point, he came to this town to recu'
perate his health He became M
mored of the locality and decided tc
remain and experiment in hardy fruits
for the cold regions. He began to es'
tablish a nursery at West Derby, vt.
about 1868, experimenting very care.
fully with many varieties. 1t re-
quired not only money, but courage,
patience, and experience to solve, a:
he finally very largely did, the problem
of tree fruits for northern New Eng
land and lower Canada. In the selec.
ton and introduction of ironclad Rus.
sian fruits, including apples, pears,
plums and cherries, of various quail
ties and seasons, he was associated
with Prof. j.. L. Budd, professor OF
horticulture in Iowa University and
Charles Glib of Montreal.
The latter made two trips to Russia
in pursuit of new varieties, and shar-
ed his spoils with the doctor. He
gave to the public the Yellow Trans.
parent (Russian) and the Scott's Win
ter (native) varieties of apple, and il
his seed business, which he conducted
until 1889 as auxiliary to his nursery
and market garden, he originated and
propagated several varieties of vege'
tables.
In 1870 DIR. Hoskins started the Yer
mont Farmer at Newport, and after
two years removed it to st. Johns
bury, where it was conducted -four
years with himself as editor and Royal
Cummings as publisher, reaching a
circulation of 1000. He her sold his
interest to Mr.. Cummings.
He was a popular member of the
State board of agriculture, and fol-
many years was in demand as a speak
er at horticultural meetings in Yer.
mont, New Hampshire, Maine, and
Massachusetts, Always a public-spirit-
ed citizen wherever he resided, he
was one of the founders of and first
contributors to the Newport public
library, and the first president of the
library association. In politics he
was a Jeffersonian Democrat; in re-
ligion a believer in the doctrines of
Swedenborg. Extremely versatile, he
had poetic, artistic and h|istrionic tai
ent, an extraordinary command of