During his long and distinguished career as a tobacco farmer and horticulturist, Donald Farris May made numerous and significant contributions to Florida’s agricultural industry. Whether he was working to develop irrigation systems, fertilizers, mechanization, or plant propagation, May was an innovative leader in the area of tobacco production, and “from the seed bed to the...

Mabel M. Simmons was a leader in the Florida ornamental horticulture industry for nearly 50 years. Born in 1917 in Ohio, Mabel Claprood went to work for a wholesale florist in 1934, and by 1939, she was president of Roman J. Claprood Co., in Columbus, Ohio. She later served as president of company operations in...

Pliny Ward Reasoner accomplished much during the less than seven years he spent in Florida before he died of yellow fever at the age of 25. Six years after his arrival in Florida in 1881, Reasoner was so well recognized for competence in his field that the USDA asked him to survey the status of...

Egbert Norman Reasoner, world-famed horticulturist, brought more than a thousand varieties of plants, trees, shrubs, vines and citrus from around the world to this state and will long be remembered for his introduction of the pink grapefruit.