Arthur B. Howard of Belchertown, Massachusetts

Belchertown, Massachusetts

As of the census of 2000, there were 12,968 people, 4,886 households, and 3,517 families residing in the town. The population density was 245.9 people per square mile . There were 5,050 housing units at an average density of 95.8 per square mile...

, was America's foremost strawberry

Strawberry

Fragaria is a genus of flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae, commonly known as strawberries for their edible fruits. Although it is commonly thought that strawberries get their name from straw being used as a mulch in cultivating the plants, the etymology of the word is uncertain. There...

 breeder of his time. His Howard 17 (Premier) variety is the ancestor of most American strawberries today. Howard was one of the few breeders before 1900 to use systematic methods. He wrote many horticultural articles for the New England Homestead, the leading agricultural paper of that time. S.T. Maynard, a close friend of Howard, was the first horticulture professor of Massachusetts. Howard's son, Everett, joined the effort to develop a variety of plants. The Howard 17 was selected from about 800 seedlings from a cross made in 1904. Unfortunately Howard died, 11 June 1907, before his strawberry was named and introduced. Other plants that were named and introduced were the Howard apple

Apple

The apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family . It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by humans. Apple grow on small, deciduous trees that blossom in the spring...

, Howard Star Petunia

Petunia

Petunia is a widely cultivated genus of flowering plants of South American origin, closely related with tobacco, cape gooseberries, tomatoes, deadly nightshades, potatoes and chili peppers; in the family Solanaceae. The popular flower derived its name from French, which took the word petun, meaning...

, Royal Splendor Verbena

Verbena

Verbena , verbenas or vervains, is a genus in the family Verbenaceae. It contains about 250 species of annual and perennial herbaceous or semi-woody flowering plants. The majority of the species are native to the New World from Canada south to southern Chile, but some are also native in the Old...

, Lilliput Zinnia

Zinnia

Zinnia is a genus of 20 species of annual and perennial plants of family Asteraceae, originally from scrub and dry grassland in an area stretching from the American Southwest to South America, but primarily Mexico, and notable for their solitary long-stemmed flowers that come in a variety of bright...

, and the Bay State tomato

Tomato

The word "tomato" may refer to the plant or the edible, typically red, fruit which it bears. Originating in South America, the tomato was spread around the world following the Spanish colonization of the Americas, and its many varieties are now widely grown, often in greenhouses in cooler...

. In 1929, the American Pomological Society gave the Marshall Wilder Medal for notable fruit varieties to A.B. Howard and Son for Premier or Howard 17 as the most widely grown of all strawberries, 1908.

External links

• Figure 12-4 at www.nal.usda.gov Photo of Arthur B. Howard
• Belchertown history
• Book by Henry A. Wallace
  Henry A. Wallace
  Henry Agard Wallace was the 33rd Vice President of the United States , the Secretary of Agriculture , and the Secretary of Commerce . In the 1948 presidential election, Wallace was the nominee of the Progressive Party.-Early life:Henry A...
  
  
• Book by Henry A. Wallace
  Henry A. Wallace
  Henry Agard Wallace was the 33rd Vice President of the United States , the Secretary of Agriculture , and the Secretary of Commerce . In the 1948 presidential election, Wallace was the nominee of the Progressive Party.-Early life:Henry A...