Re: City of Stratford
- To: i*@rt66.com
- Subject: Re: City of Stratford
- From: B* R* <b*@networx.on.ca>
- Date: Wed, 25 Sep 1996 01:15:18 -0400
At 11:33 AM 23/09/96 -0600, you wrote:
>In a message dated 96-09-23 11:51:33 EDT, you write:
>
>> what can you tell us about this hybridizer??
>
>The 1939 Check List says:"Miles--William Miles, Surreyhurst Farm, R.R. 5
>Ingersoll, Ont. Canada. Horticulturalist, Regional Vice-President, A.I.S.
>Awarded Silver Medal, Ontario Horticultural Society, for Iris breeding."
> Clarence Mahan in VA
>
Bruce replies:
I knew Mr. Miles personally from 1950 on. He came from England and
hybridized iris for a nurseryman in Brantford - who introduced them under
his own name. Sorry I don't recall his name. He moved to a dairy farm near
Ingersol and had a field full of seedlings there in rows 10' apart (so he
could cultivate them from his tractor seat with a small disc). He was one of
the founders of the Canadian Iris Scciety and we first learned of him at one
of their meetings and later visited many times at his farm. He was by far
the best and most successful iris hybridizer in Canada and won the Foster
plaque and the Dykes Medal. He died in mid winter from a dhotgun blast from
his own gun and in such a manner it cold not be determined if it was an
accident or otherwise. His wife later sent us a letter that was only half
completed and still in his typewriter, that he had started the evening
before he died and it was about his plans ahead and no indication of suicide
or morbit dispair. His passing was a great loss the the CIS and indeed
Canada too.
Bruce Richardson (near Hamilton,Ontario, Canada) >brucer@networx.on.ca<
Bruce Richardson (near Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
