The Peach Tree Incident: When a Botanist’s Paradise Became Perdition
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast:
September 13, 1916
On this day in horticultural history, we encounter a tale that serves as a rather dramatic reminder that the passion for protecting one's garden can occasionally venture into decidedly unfortunate territory.
While most of us might resort to polite signs or perhaps a strategically placed sprinkler system, some gardeners of yesteryear took more extreme measures.
The incident in question involves Dr. Henry Hurd Rusby, a figure whose reputation in botanical circles was, until this point, quite sterling.
As dean of Columbia University's medical faculty and a noted botanist, one might have expected more measured behavior from such a learned individual. However, as the Hartford Courant reveals, even the most distinguished among us can succumb to fruit-related frustrations!
Dr. Henry Hurd Rusby, a noted botanist and dean of the medical faculty of Columbia University, shot and wounded Alfred Fasano, aged 13, here today when Fasano and three other boys... were pilfering peaches from his orchard.
A double-barreled shotgun was the weapon used.
He told the police that he had been annoyed by boys stealing his fruit and... that he intended only to frighten the boys.
One can only imagine the scene: a warm September day, the peaches fragrant and golden, tempting young passersby.
How many of us, dear readers, have not ourselves succumbed to the allure of a perfectly ripe peach?
Let us consider, for a moment, the orchard itself.
Dr. Rusby, being a botanist of some renown, would likely have maintained his peach trees with scientific precision.
Perhaps these were not mere common varieties but carefully cultivated specimens worthy of academic study.
Yet the story serves as a cautionary tale about the fine line between protection and persecution.
While gardeners might sympathize with the frustration of finding one's carefully tended fruit absconded with by neighborhood youth, we must surely agree that Dr. Rusby's response was reckless - and rather more Victorian melodrama than necessary!
The incident raises interesting questions about the relationship between gardeners and their communities.
How many of us have faced similar challenges with local fruit fanciers, albeit hopefully with less dramatic outcomes?
It's worth noting that Dr. Rusby's distinguished career included extensive botanical expeditions in South America and significant contributions to pharmacology.
How ironic that this learned man, who had faced countless dangers in tropical jungles, would find his greatest controversy in a Connecticut peach orchard!
For modern gardeners grappling with similar fruity felonies, might I suggest more neighborly solutions?
Perhaps a "gleaning day" when local children are invited to harvest excess fruit or the establishment of a community orchard?