‘Hungarian nobleman leaves indelible mark’

Agoston Haraszthy made an impression wherever he went. After serving as a member of the Royal Hungarian Guards of Francis I, Emperor of Austria-Hungary in 1830, he was forced to flee Europe for fear of being branded a revolutionist.
In 1842, he returned to Hungary and convinced his father to liquidate their considerable holdings so the entire family could immigrate to America. When they arrived in Sauk City, Wisconsin, they were among the best-capitalized immigrants of the 19th century.
Along with his other entrepreneurial investments, Haraszthy began agricultural experiments and achieved considerable success in sheep raising and growing hops.
Even with his considerable success, he was still disappointed at not being able to establish the high quality vineyards of his native Hungary. The tug of the western frontier pulled at the Haraszthy family, and they headed, by wagon train, to California in 1848.
Agoston was the wagon master of the train, which included about sixty immigrants. Without serious incident, the wagon train arrived at Warner Hot Springs, in San Diego County.
Colonel Jonathan Warner, a former militiaman who established Warner Hot Springs in 1844, apprised Haraszthy about the agriculture and the politics in the San Diego area. A scant 650 people, mainly vaqueros, Yankee sailors who had jumped ship, and a few Mormon soldiers from the Mormon Battalion populated San Diego.

Haraszthy’s family now included his wife, six children, his father and stepmother, and Thomas W. Sutherland, former U.S. Attorney for Wisconsin Territory, who was now Haraszthy’s stepbrother.
The Polish immigrant purchased a plot of land adjacent to San Luis Rey Mission, and, with his sons, Attila and Arpad, first planted a large fruit orchard. He later bought 160 acres more in Mission Valley and planted peach and cherry trees sent to him from New York State.
Haraszthy never ceased his investment activity as well as his interest in community politics. With Don Juan Bandini, Haraszthy set up the first regularly scheduled omnibus transit system and established a livery stable. He established a very profitable butcher shop.
With other real estate speculators, he helped establish the subdivision of Middletown. Haraszthy Street existed there until the early 1960s when it was wiped from the map by the construction of Interstate 5.

When San Diego County was chartered in 1850, Haraszthy was elected the first City Marshall, while his father, Charles, was elected Magistrate and Land Commissioner. His stepbrother, Tom Sutherland, became San Diego’s first City Attorney.
In 1851, he was elected to the State Assembly and resigned his other offices. While in the legislature, then meeting in Vallejo, Haraszthy succeeded in getting funding for the expansion of San Diego Harbor and the county’s first public hospital.
He was the first legislator to introduce legislation to divide California into two states; North and South. Because of powerful political interest in Northern California, that bill died.
All the while, Haraszthy continued searching for land more suitable for agriculture than San Diego’s subtropical desert land offered. Early in 1852, he purchased 210 acres near San Francisco’s Mission Dolores. He moved the entire family there at the end of the Assembly Session.
Haraszthy’s noteworthy accomplishments didn’t stop. He introduced the “Zinfandel” red wine grape and the “Muscat of Alexandria” raisin grape to California.
He invented an efficient gold refining process, and was founding partner in the Eureka Gold and Silver Refining Company. The firm became one of the major contract refiners for the San Francisco Mint.

Because of his reputation for fairness and honesty, Haraszthy was appointed Assayer of the Mint in 1855.
He developed the first large, high-quality grape vineyard at Crystal Springs in San Mateo County. At this new ranch, Haraszthy designed and laid out a nursery and horticultural garden, which he named Los Flores.
With his son’s help, he planted fruit trees and shrubs imported from the east. At about this same time, he received a shipment of six choice rooted vines and 160 cuttings from Hungary.
In the shipment were two small bundles. One was the Muscat of Alexandria and the other was said to be the famous mystery grape, the Zinfandel. Today the Zinfandel is the most widely planted wine grape in California.
In 1857, while visiting General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo at the General’s Lachrima Montis estate, Haraszthy was introduced to the Sonoma Valley. This valley especially appealed to him because its weather, topography and soil were so similar to his Hungarian homeland’s high quality vineyards.
In Sonoma, he established the Szeptaj Estate (Buena Vista). That Buena Vista Winery is today a state park and historical site.

In 1861, He was appointed to a California commission to improve agricultural methods and to collect vines and fruit tree stocks in Europe. During a European tour with his son, Arpad, he purchased, with his own money, 100,000 grapevines representing 1,400 varieties, along with small selected lots of planting stock for olives, almonds, pomegranates, oranges, lemons and chestnuts.
When he returned, Harper & Brothers, of New York, published Haraszthy’s report, “Grape Culture, Wines and Wine Making upon Agriculture and Horticulture. It remained the winemaking classic authority in the English language until well into the 20th century.
The Haraszthy family planted vineyards for European immigrant friends and wine growers, including Charles Krug, Emile Dreser and Jacob Grundlach.
In 1863, Agoston’s sons Attila and Arpad Haraszthy were married in a double ceremony to the twin daughters of General Vallejo.
Later, after one of his wine cellars containing vintages of two years was destroyed by fire, Haraszthy traveled to Nicaragua where he bought a sugar plantation. There, he wife contacted yellow fever and died.
Agoston Haraszthy died July 6, 1869, near his estate, Hacienda San Antonio, at Corinto, Nicaragua, while trying to cross a crocodile infested rive.. His family believed that he fell into a river while attempting to cross and was dragged away by an alligator. His body was never found.

(Alton Pryor has been a writer for magazines, newspapers, and wire services. He worked for United Press International in their Sacramento Bureau, handling both printed press as well as radio news. He traveled the state as a field editor for California Farmer Magazine for 27 years. He is now the author of 10 books, primarily on California and western history. His books can be seen at http://www.stagecoachpublishing.com. Readers can email him at stagecoach@surewest.net.)

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There may be some variation in degrees from one institution to another, but usually the students of horticulture courses will be made to learn all about horticulture for which classes would be conducted and also will be subjected for practical’s where students will be required to get personally involved in the work.

The horticulture programs are designed in such a way so that it prepares the student who are graduates or event students who have just received the degree (high school or college or university). They are well prepared to pursue their careers as a landscaper which involves designing as well the up keeping of the gardening pursuits. This means, the maintenance and improvement of the new and already existing landscapes.

Here in both the situations the person can make money by taking it as a job or doing it as a business on contract basis.

Landscapes can also be re improved or the design can also be changed from time to time to match the present trend and contemporary designs.

There are different programs extended by horticulture courses. Amongst them are an associate’s degree, a common degree and a certificate course in producing an associate degree, a universal certificate, a certificate in production and installation and care.

Most of the horticulture courses place an important and special importance and significance on plant extension and breeding, the plant recognition, nursery, conservation culture, surface layer of ground containing a mat of grass and grass roots management, illness of plants and infections, the cultivation of trees for the production of timber and the designing, building and upkeep of landscapes.

Other classes may contain practice of woodwork, designing of gardens, scientific study of soil, scientific study of plants, and that studies of the principles of transmitting information and the methods by which it is delivered (as print or radio or television etc. and data processing.

Students who graduate may even be called for a chemical applicator’s examination:

If you are expecting diploma which is something more than the level of education that college students are assumed to have attained; some educational institutions extend classes in the branch of architecture, dealing with the arrangement of land and buildings for human use and enjoyment, for which there is a Bachelor’s degree. Graduates will also able to work towards a Graduate level, certificate course of study in designing of Landscape.

There are landscape gardening courses for study that are planned for both a person who pursues an activity in their spare time for pleasure and also for the experts.

Night classes are often Obtainable or accessible by means of a program of instructions designed primarily for adult students who participate part-time. A learner who is enrolled in an educational institution or university for horticulture are commonly individuals who have expressed a concern and he quality of having great facility and competence in field related with The cultivation of plants and all the plant life in particular.

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The tree is excellent for horticulture as it is tolerant to pollution and salt. The tree is widely used as a garden tree in both trained and untrained forms. The trunk and branches of the tree undergo training from the young age of the plant to make it more elegant and attractive to view. It is one of the popular subjects of bonsai, which requires patience in training the tree for many years. One can find many Korean Black Pine bonsai in the leading nurseries.

The tree is evergreen and does not change or have a leaf fall during winters. The leaf of the tree gives fragrance. The female cones of the tree are 4-7 cm in length and scaled. Male cones are 1-2 cm long and formed in bunches during spring. The color of the flower is yellow which blooms in spring. However, the flower is not too noticeable. The bark of the young plants is brown and it gradually changes to black as the trunk develops and the tree turns older. The tree also bears fruits, which are oval, 1-3 inches long and brown in color. The fruits are not attractive for the wild life, and the foliage creates significant litter.

Korean black pine droops as it grows. Hence, it requires pruning to support the vehicular or pedestrian clearance beneath the canopy. The tree can grow either in full sunlight or even in sunshade. It can tolerate clay, loan, sand, acidic, alkaline, soils. There should be a well-drained system of water to help the growth of the plant. The propagation is through the seed and they germinate readily.

Though any serious pests do not affect the Korean black pine, there are few like bark beetles, caterpillar, adelgids, and pine shoot moth, which do affect. Bark beetles can attack the trees, drilling holes into the trunk and are scattered almost on the whole trunk. The stress in the trees makes them more easily prone attacks. Hence, one has to keep the Korean Black pine always healthy. The pine shot moths will cause the fall of young shoots and the infected shoots may give off resin. Insects affect the shoots generally during the month of May. Use of pesticides should start from April to avoid them to cause damage.

It would be a rewarding experience in growing the Korean black pines. You need to prune, do a good gardening, and watch the needle cast. You can bear the satisfaction of raising it ones it spreads across giving the beautiful view to the entire place.

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TN nursery is a state certified tree nursery specializing in native plants and trees,shrubs,fern and perennials as well as pond plants and wetland mitigation species.

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Gurney’s Seed and Nursery, and Henry Field’s Nursery also sold thousands of orders of fruit, nut, and shade trees, etc, like Stark Brother’s Nursery, but they likewise sold to a vast market of vegetable seed buyers a market, that in itself was enormously profitable. If these companies were removed from the American markets “Cui bono?” Who would benefit from this demise, and emerge to replace these giants of mail order success in past history? Would the new mail order replacement companies be owned and controlled by the Dutch office located in the Netherlands?

Google search results show that Foster-Gallagher shipped 17 million packages in the year 2000. The amount of income that was generated from consumers ordering and buying 17,000,000 packages is staggering, even for a liberal mind.

Perhaps, the most specific generator of income from the 21 mail order companies owned by Foster-Gallagher resulted from primarily flower bulb sales. The nationally famous bulb companies, Michigan Bulb Company, Springhill Nursery; Breck’s Bulb Company; New Holland Bulb Company; and the mysterious facilities located in the Netherlands collapsed, when the parent company, Foster-Gallagher, filed for bankruptcy on July 2, 20001. A national chaotic frenzy followed, when it was pronounced that all those people who had placed orders from Foster-Gallagher owned companies, and all those other customers expecting replacement orders the following season would not have their orders filled. The credibility of disappointed customers placing mail order sales was shattered by these reports of “the cold shoulder” being offered to those who had sunk their savings accounts and planting confidence into Foster-Gallagher companies.

Google search results showed that on September 2, 2001, Foster-Gallagher executives reported that the business collapsed as a result from negative media coverage and caused a precipitous drop off in business income leading to the catastrophic National bankruptcy, leaving a $100,000,000 debt liability to be sorted out in the Federal Bankruptcy Court in the State of Delaware and angry mail order customers who absorbed the bad news that their orders and payments received were undeliverable and noncollectable!

Many questions remain unanswered that point to the present year 2006, after the disintegration of many previously, American-owned businesses, 5 years after Foster-Gallagher disappeared. Have those American owned business, now gone, that represented millions and millions of dollars in sales of Agricultural seed, trees, and Dutch grown bulbs, been replaced by Dutch owned companies that control the horticultural sales that funnel American dollars to offshore moguls based in the Netherlands?

Can an imaginary scenario be presented that might reveal how such a traumatic financial shift could insipidly develop and with impunity change the course of American Agriculture? The might and power of American Agriculture has been legendary in years past, and it is appropriate to consider whether or not American Agriculture dominance is teetering into a progressive state of limbo that might eventually endanger National security.

Consider a complex situational possibility that focused hawkish observers might call “Agricultural Terrorism.” Amaryllis sales are an important bulb Dutch export to the United States as well as many other Dutch bulbs like tulips and daffodils. Could the Foster-Gallagher bankruptcy have developed as a result of the following discussion? The Dutch amaryllis growers produce their bulbs in the Netherlands greenhouses, and exported them to the United States during the fall. The several types of market niches for the Dutch bulb exporters are: florists, fund raisers, Dutch owned re-wholesalers, box-store bulb packagers, and American mail order companies. The Dutch commercial florist customers demand quality, true-to-name cultivars, and the florist grower rapidly plants the amaryllis flower bulbs, and he can confirm the integrity of the flower color in about 3-4 weeks, as soon as the amaryllis flowers are forced into bloom. Mail order American customers are very vulnerable to Dutch amaryllis errors, or to a possible deliberate unloading of diseased amaryllis bulbs or slow-selling surplus amaryllis cultivars. The victimized American mail order company may ship his so-called true-to-name amaryllis to thousands of customers; unknowing of the possible latent motives of the Dutch Bulb Company that may have indirectly victimized a trusting, unsuspecting, American customer. Several months may have elapsed before the American mail order company begins to hear his phones, ringing off the hook from unhappy mail order customers, who received the wrong color bulb, or who might have planted a diseased bulb, ultimately ending with death rot. To fulfill the mail order promise of refund or free replacement, the American company not only loses a customer and marketing credibility; but when he confronts the Dutch amaryllis bulb exporters and suppliers, he is told to look at the bottom of his purchase invoice that reveals there is no Dutch guarantee, so the American mail order bulb merchant gets stuck with insoluble negatives that eventually could lead to the closure of his business.

The lack of a credible Dutch guarantee on their products is obvious in the following excerpt at the bottom of a Dutch wholesale purchase order. The Dutch bulbs that were delivered to an American Customer who purchased approximately $20,000 worth of flower bulbs in 2005-2006 season…

“PLEASE NOTE: NO COMPLAINT ENTERTAINED UNLESS MADE WITHIN FIVE DAYS AFTER RECEIPT OF THE GOODS. We give no warranty, expressed or implied, as to description, quality, productiveness or any other matter of any seeds, bulbs or plants we send out nor will we be in any way responsible for the crop. QUALITY FLOWER BULB PRODUCTS”

Whether the American business closures resulted from the loss of his sales revenue, from a deluge of complaints filed angrily against the mail order company to United States governmental agencies. That accumulation of complaints could result in a revocation of a mail order business license, and that means the victims are two-fold; the American mail order amaryllis bulb company and the customer who did buy his product.

How then, could the Dutch amaryllis bulb company benefit,”Cui bono”, or conspire to benefit from the deliberate malicious act of mischief? The answer to this question becomes clear when the revelation is made that the Dutch exporter also owns a business interest in an American mail order competitor selling Amaryllis to the American bulb customer, who finally ended up as one more more mysterious, unexplained business failure. The dissatisfied mail order complainers might be redirected next year to buy their amaryllis from the Dutch export retail operation that in combination with all the other Dutch owned wholesale and retail operations.

Not only can a mail order company be deliberately stocked with an inventory of untrue-to-name bulb, but the American bulb merchant may, by misfortune receive amaryllis bulbs bulbs infected with the Red Blotch disease, Stagonospora curtisii, that seriously erupts with bright red spots on the amaryllis leaves, the flower stems, the flower petals, and the dormant amaryllis bulbs, both outside or inside the bulb. The red spots are small at first, and increase in size to form large, dark red blotches on tainted, dying leaves, infected bent flower stems, that eventually began to collapse inwards to progressively fatally rot the amaryllis bulb into a pile of malignant brown jelly. It has been possible recently to prove by the investigations of agricultural authorities that the amaryllis rot originated from the exporting Dutch grower; if the red spots originated from the lower cells of the dormant bulb center. The infected red blotch in a number of amaryllis bulbs would point to evidence that the bulbs were intentionally marketed by the Dutch exporters as diseased bulbs with malice apparent.

Another very serious disease is the amaryllis mosaic virus that can spread fast to infect amaryllis flower bulbs with streaks or on the leaves of yellow, reducing normal growth and flowering. Clemson University says “nothing one can do to eliminate mosaic (virus) from an infected plant” and the amaryllis bulbs should be destroyed.

The question remains unanswered: Have the Dutch bulb exporters gained financial control of American agriculture? The Royal Dutch Shell Oil Company reported sales of 306 billion dollars in 2005 and was the second most profitable corporation in the world with its largest revenue coming from the United States.

Patrick N. Malcolm, owner of TyTy Nursery, http://www.tytyga.com, has an M.S. degree in Botany and has hybridized crinum lily, canna lily, and other rare flower bulbs for over 34 years.

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How To Become A Horticulturist?

Many universities and colleges offer certificates in horticulture. A certificate makes a business operation more credible. To be a horticulturist, you need to be knowledgeable in Chemistry, Botany, soil types, written and oral communication, plant pests and diseases and business management. The courses provide information on health benefits, food safety, gardening-techniques and ecologically sound lawns.

Job Opportunities

Professional Horticulturists can work in different areas such as:

Production – Managing a landscape service, greenhouse, vegetable farm, orchard, flower or plant shop, garden center, nursery or processing firm.

Landscape Design, installation and maintenance – Designing and planting plans with shrubs, trees, ground cover, turf grass and herbaceous ornaments.

Marketing – Wholesale or retail sale of gardening supplies, seeds, processed or fresh vegetables, floral arrangements and house plants. You can manage the marketing for a government, private companies, chain stores or wholesale distributors.

Research – You can work as a researcher to improve the yield and quality of vegetables, fruits, flowers and ornamental plants and develop methods for storing, handling and marketing them. You can specialize in plant nutrition, plant breeding, plant growth regulation with chemicals and similar interesting areas of plant research.

Pest Management – After training, you can work with central and state regulatory agencies, processing corporations, large farm organizations, agricultural agents and even agricultural suppliers.

Industry services and growing Horticultural Crops – Trained Horticulturists are employed in Seed Firms, pesticide material manufacturing, manufacturing of fertilizers, freezing and canning companies and landscape or farm equipment management.

Inspection – Trainedhorticulturists are usually employed in government or private agencies as inspectors and to manage uniformity in the production and quality.

Communication – Written collateral for agricultural or gardening magazines, television and radio and newspapers can be a rewarding field too.

Job Of A Horticulturist

· Plant preparation for retail and wholesale nurseries.

· Specialized plant production.

· Develop and manage outdoor spaces like resorts, hotels and sports complexes.

· Work for the park departments under the local authorities.

· Administer large department stores or businesses associated with the agriculture industry.

Horticulturists often work with town planners, landscape architects, engineers, and environmental conservationists. The horticulturist works towards building a better and beautiful environment and a higher quality of life through improvement, beautification and conservation.

Horticultural scientists or people with a university degree in Horticulture work for various agricultural research institutes, where they conduct research on vegetables, fruits, flowers and the grape and wine preparations in different rainfall regions. They are also involved in the marketing of horticultural products and agricultural extensions.

Job Market For The Horticulturist

With the emergence of a number of environmental issues, the job market has expanded for fruit, vegetable and environmental horticulturists, as extension specialists, research workers, teachers, scientists and professors. Horticulturists are employed as marketing managers, production superintendents, inventory controllers, landscape maintenance specialists, buyers, landscape supervisors, bedding plant producers, education coordinators and research assistants.

Tony Jacowski is a quality analyst for The MBA Journal. Aveta Solutions – Six Sigma Online – http://www.sixsigmaonline.org, offers online six sigma training and certification classes for lean six sigma, black belts, green belts, and yellow belts.

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