Robert Stell Lemmon (born 26 June 1885 in

Englewood, New Jersey Englewood is a city in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, which at the 2020 United States census had a population of 29,308. Englewood was incorporated as a city by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 17, 1899, from por ...

; died 3 March 1964 in

Wilton, Connecticut Wilton is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 18,503. In 2017, it was the sixth-wealthiest town per capita in Connecticut, the wealthiest U.S. state per capita. Officially recog ...

), often Robert S. Lemmon in publications, was an American writer and naturalist. He wrote and lectured on

domestic dogs The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf, and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relative. Do ...

gardening Gardening is the practice of growing and cultivating plants as part of horticulture. In gardens, ornamental plants are often grown for their flowers, foliage, or overall appearance; useful plants, such as root vegetables, leaf vegetables, fruits ...

wildlife Wildlife refers to domestication, undomesticated animal species (biology), species, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wilderness, wild in an area without being species, introduced by humans. Wildlife was also synonymous ...

wild flower A wildflower (or wild flower) is a flower that grows in the wild, meaning it was not intentionally seeded or planted. The term implies that the plant probably is neither a hybrid nor a selected cultivar that is in any way different from the w ...

s and

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

s. Most of his writing was

non-fiction Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with be ...

, but in 1923 he also wrote an adventure short-story called ''The Bamboo Trap'', about an American entomologist caught in a cave in the Ecuadorian jungle.

Career

Lemmon was the son of William and Caroline Lemmon, née McCulloh. After finishing the Englewood School for Boys he studied at

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

, where he earned a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree in 1909. He then worked for the American Trading Company. In 1911, he accompanied a zoological expedition of the

Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, formerly the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, is the oldest natural science research institution and museum in the Americas. It was founded in 1812, by many of the leading natura ...

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

. Upon his return, he became co-editor of the ''Travel Magazine''. From 1915 to 1918 he was editor and from 1918 to 1937 managing editor of the magazine '' House & Garden''. In 1920, he married Florence G. Edwards in New York City. A daughter resulted from this marriage. During the 1930s he was

treasurer A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance. Government The treasury o ...

of the North American Rock Garden Society (NARGS) and in 1938, he founded the

horticultural Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...

magazine ''Real Gardening''. From 1943 to 1951 he was

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

of the magazine ''The Home Garden''. Lemmon travelled extensively throughout the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

, where he studied the

fauna Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is ''flora'', and for fungi, it is '' funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as '' biota''. Zoo ...

and

flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''. E ...

. He wrote over 300 articles for various magazines and several natural history books, including some for children. Initially, Lemmon's books dealt with domestic dogs, including his first work, ''Training the Dog'', published in 1914, and ''The Puppy Book'' (1924) about puppies and ''About your Dog (1928)''. Lemmon was a member of the

National Audubon Society The National Audubon Society (Audubon; ) is an American non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservation of birds and their habitats. Located in the United States and incorporated in 1905, Audubon is one of the oldest of such organ ...

, where he wrote several books for their ''Nature Program'' book series, the

American Ornithologists' Union The American Ornithological Society (AOS) is an ornithological organization based in the United States. The society was formed in October 2016 by the merger of the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) and the Cooper Ornithological Society. Its m ...

and the

Yale Club of New York City The Yale Club of New York City, commonly called The Yale Club, is a private club in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Its membership is restricted almost entirely to alumni and faculty of Yale University. The Yale Club has a worldwide membe ...

Works

* ''Training the Dog'', McBride, Nast & Company, New York, 1914 * ''The Bamboo Trap'', Doubdleday, Page & Company, 1923 * ''The Puppy Book'', Doubleday, 1924 * with Richardson L. Wright: ''House & Garden′s Second Book of Gardens'', Conde Nast, 1927 * ''About your Dog'', Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1928 * ''Old Doc Lemmon'', The Midland Company, 1930 * ''How to attract the birds: Planting, feeding, housing'', American Garden Guild, 1947 * ''The Birds are yours'', Macmillan, 1951 (illustrations by Don Richard Eckelberry) * ''Our Amazing Birds: The little-known facts about their private lives'', American Garden Guild and Doubleday, 1952 (illustrations by Don Richard Eckelberry) * ''The best loved Trees of America: Intimate Close-ups of their Year-round Traits'', American Garden Guild and Doubleday, 1952 * ''National Audubon Society Nature Program: Favorite Wildflowers'', Nelson Doubleday, 1954 * ''National Audubon Society Nature Program: Best Loved Song Birds'', Nelson Doubleday, 1954 * ''National Audubon Society Nature Program: Flowering Trees and Shrubs'', Nelson Doubleday, 1955 * ''National Audubon Society Nature Program: Seeds and Seed Pods'', Nelson Doubleday, 1955 * ''National Audubon Society Nature Program: Dogs'', Nelson Doubleday, 1955 * ''All about Birds'', Random House, 1955 * ''National Audubon Society Nature Program: Burst of Spring'', Nelson Doubleday, 1956 * ''National Audubon Society Nature Program: House Plants'', Nelson Doubleday, 1956 * ''National Audubon Society Nature Program: Life on a Farm'', Nelson Doubleday, 1956 * ''City Parks and Home Gardens'', vol. 3 of the series ''The Community of Living Things'' (in collaboration with the National Audubon Society), Creative Educational Society, 1956 * ''All about Moths and Butterflies'', Random House, 1956 * ''All about strange Beasts of the Present'', Random House, 1957 * with Jean Zallinger: ''All about Monkeys'', Random House, 1958 * with Charles L. Sherman: ''Flowers of the World in Full Color'', Hannover House, 1958 (2nd edit. as ''Flowers of the World'', 1964) * ''National Audubon Society Nature Program: Favorite Song Birds'', Nelson Doubleday, 1959 * ''Junior Science Book of Trees'', Garrand Press, 1960 * ''National Audubon Society Nature Program: Wildflowers of the Mountains'', Nelson Doubleday, 1960 * ''Wildflowers of North America in Full Color'', Hannover House, 1961 * ''Junior Science Book of Big Cats'', Garrand Press, 1962 * ''National Audubon Society Nature Program: Wild flowers of the meadows'', Nelson Doubleday, 1967 (posthumous)

References

* ''Who’s Who in America. A Biographical Dictionary of Notable Living Men and Women.'' Marquis Who's Who, vol. 32, 1962–1963, p 1834 *
Robert Lemmon, Naturalist, Dead; Author of Many Books Was Editor on Home Garden.
'

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

, 5 March 1964, p 30 * Virginia Tuttle Clayton: ''The Once & Future Gardener: Garden Writing from the Golden Age of Magazines: 1900–1940'', David R. Godine, 2008, ISBN (Short biographical entry on p 234) {{DEFAULTSORT:Lemmon, Robert Stell 1885 births 1964 deaths Yale University alumni American non-fiction writers American nature writers American male non-fiction writers American naturalists Dwight-Englewood School alumni 20th-century naturalists