David G. Fairchild | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1869-04-07)April 7, 1869 Lansing, Michigan, U.S. |
| Died | August 6, 1954(1954-08-06) (aged 85) Coconut Grove, Miami, Florida, U.S. |
| Education | Kansas State College of Agriculture,Iowa State University,Rutgers University |
| Known for | Incorporating non-native food and other commercial plants into American agriculture |
| Spouse | Marian Hubbard Bell (daughter ofAlexander Graham Bell) |
| Children | Alexander Graham Bell Fairchild, Nancy Bell (who marriedMarston Bates) |
| Father | George Fairchild |
| Awards | Honorary D.Sc. fromOberlin College,Public Welfare Medal (1933) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Botany |
| Institutions | U.S. Department of Agriculture University of Miami |
| Patrons | Barbour Lathrop, Allison Armour |
| Author abbrev. (botany) | D.Fairchild |
David Grandison Fairchild (April 7, 1869 – August 6, 1954) was an Americanbotanist and plant explorer. Fairchild was responsible for the introduction of more than 200,000exotic plants[1] and varieties of establishedcrops into the United States, includingsoybeans,[2]pistachios,[3]mangos,nectarines,dates,bamboos, andflowering cherries.[4] Certain varieties of wheat,[5] cotton, and rice became especially economically important.
Fairchild was born inLansing, Michigan and was raised inManhattan, Kansas. He was a member of theFairchild family, descendants of Thomas Fairchild ofStratford, Connecticut. He graduated fromKansas State College of Agriculture (B.A. 1888, M.S. 1889) where his father,George Fairchild, was president. He continued his studies atIowa State and atRutgers with his uncle,Byron Halsted, a noted biologist. He received anhonoraryD.Sc. degree fromOberlin College in 1915.
Barbour Lathrop, a wealthy world traveler, persuaded Fairchild to become a plant explorer for theUnited States Department of Agriculture. Lathrop and another wealthy patron, Allison Armour, financed some of Fairchild's many explorations for new plants to be introduced into the U.S. Fairchild was the author of a number of popular books on his plant collecting expeditions. Of those early travels, Fairchild wrote, "I am glad that I saw a few of the quiet places of the world before the coming of automobiles...".[6]
For many years Fairchild managed theOffice of Seed and Plant Introduction of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C. One accomplishment was to help introduce flowering cherry trees from Japan to Washington.[7] He is also credited with introducingkale,quinoa andavocados to Americans.[8] In 1898, he established theintroduction garden for tropical plants inMiami, Florida.[9] In 1905 he married Marian Bell, the younger daughter ofAlexander Graham Bell.[10][11] Fairchild was a member of the board of trustees of theNational Geographic Society,[12] and an officer in what is now called theAlexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.[13]
In 1926, the Fairchilds built a home on an 8-acre (32,000 m2) parcel on Biscayne Bay inCoconut Grove, Florida. They named it "The Kampong", after similar family compounds inJava, Indonesia, where Fairchild had spent so many happy days collecting plants. He covered this property with an extraordinary collection of rare tropical trees and plants and eventually wrote a book about the place, entitledThe World Grows Round my Door. In 1984, The Kampong became part of theNational Tropical Botanical Garden. In 1938, he was honored by having theFairchild Tropical Botanic Garden inCoral Gables named after him. He was also the namesake of David Fairchild Elementary inSouth Miami.
Fairchild was a member of the board of regents of theUniversity of Miami from 1929 to 1933. For three of those years he was chairman of the board.[14] In 1933, he was awarded thePublic Welfare Medal from theNational Academy of Sciences.[15]
His son,Alexander Graham Bell Fairchild, lived and worked as a researchentomologist for 33 years at the Gorgas Memorial Laboratory inPanama. His daughter, Nancy Bell, married another entomologist,Marston Bates, author of many books onnatural history. She herself wrote a book,East of theAndes and West of Nowhere, about living in ruralColombia during the 1940s.
Fairchild is commemorated in the scientific name of a species of lizard,Anolis fairchildi.[16] Several plants were named after Fairchild, includingIndigofera heudelotii var.fairchildii (Baker f.) J.B.Gillett,Elaeocarpus fairchildii Merr.,Actinidia ×fairchildii Rehder, andFicusfairchildii Backer.[17]
David Fairchild played an important role in introducing cotton to the southwestern United States. Circa 1900, the United States led the world in cotton production, with its large production of “upland” cotton in the southeastern part of the country, and its high qualitysea island along the Atlantic coast. At the time, the southwestern United States did not produce commercial quantities of cotton. Egypt then led the world with a class of cotton higher quality than "upland" and more economical than "sea island".H. J. Webber and others in the United States Department of Agriculture believedEgyptian cultivars would thrive, under irrigation, in the deserts of the southwestern United States. On behalf of the USDA, David Fairchild visited Egypt in 1902 and brought back a few cultivars. A USDA team led byThomas H. Kearney selected among these cultivars, and after a decade of refinement, released the first cultivar successful in the southwestern United States.[18] This particularly high quality cotton eventually came to be known asPima.
Fairchild wrote four books that describe his extensive world travels and his work introducing new plant species to the United States. Beside sharing his legendary tropical botanical expertise, Fairchild provided graphic accounts of native cultures he was able to see before their modernization. He was an accomplished photographer and illustrated these books himself.
The World Was My Garden won aNational Book Award as the Bookseller Discovery of 1938, voted by members of theAmerican Booksellers Association. The discovery was "the most deserving book which failed to receive adequate sales and recognition."[19]
In addition Fairchild and his wife Marian wrote an early book onmacro photography of insects titledBook of Monsters (Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 1914). Fairchild also wrote numerous monographs about plants, plant exploring, and the transportation and cultivation of new plants in the United States.
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