Leon Dexter Batchelor (May 8, 1884 – March 21, 1958) was an American

horticulture 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 ...

professor. He was the longest-serving director of the

University of California Citrus Experiment Station The University of California Citrus Experiment Station is the founding unit of the University of California, Riverside campus in Riverside, California, United States. The station contributed greatly to the cultivation of the orange and the overall ...

Early life and education

Batchelor was born in 1884 and grew up on a

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the Can ...

farm in

Upton, Massachusetts Upton is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. It was first settled in 1728. The population was given as exactly 8,000 at the 2020 census. For geographic and demographic information on the census-designated place Upton-West U ...

. He attended the

New Hampshire College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts New Hampshire College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts (NHC) was founded and incorporated in 1866, as a land grant college in Hanover in connection with Dartmouth College. In 1893, NHC moved to Durham, where it became the University of New Ha ...

, as did his older brother, chemist Harry David Batchelor (class of 1903). Both were members of

Kappa Sigma Kappa Sigma (), commonly known as Kappa Sig, is an American collegiate social fraternity founded at the University of Virginia in 1869. Kappa Sigma is one of the five largest international fraternities with currently 318 active chapters and col ...

. Batchelor also served as a cadet in the college's

Reserve Officers' Training Corps The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC ( or )) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces. Overview While ROTC graduate officers serve in al ...

Battalion, and was student manager of the

1906 New Hampshire football team The 1906 New Hampshire football team was an American football team that represented New Hampshire College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts during the 1906 college football season—the school became the University of New Hampshire in 1923. ...

. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in 1907. He then attended

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

and earned his Doctor of Philosophy in 1911.

Career

Batchelor taught horticulture at Cornell from 1907 to 1910 and resigned to teach at Utah Agricultural College. While teaching at Utah, Batchelor published studies about

thinning Thinning is a term used in agricultural sciences to mean the removal of some plants, or parts of plants, to make room for the growth of others. Selective removal of parts of a plant such as branches, buds, or roots is typically known as pruning. ...

apple orchards. In 1915, he joined the

as an Associate Professor of Plant Breeding. Batchelor was promoted to Professor of Orchard Management in 1919 and to director of the Citrus Experimentation Station in 1929 to replace retiring director

Herbert John Webber Herbert John Webber (December 27, 1865 – January 18, 1946) was an American plant physiologist, professor emeritus of sub-tropical horticulture, first director of the University of California Citrus Experiment Station, and the third curator of th ...

. Batchelor became a preeminent authority within California on the study of

walnut A walnut is the edible seed of a drupe of any tree of the genus ''Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, '' Juglans regia''. Although culinarily considered a "nut" and used as such, it is not a true ...

s. He was named by the state director of agriculture in 1940 as the seventh member of the California Walnut Control Board. Batchelor remained director of the Citrus Experimentation Station until July 1, 1951, when he returned to research. Batchelor was selected as the

University of California, Riverside The University of California, Riverside (UCR or UC Riverside) is a public land-grant research university in Riverside, California. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The main campus sits on in a suburban distr ...

's Faculty Research Lecturer for 1954. Batchelor Hall on UC Riverside's campus is named after Batchelor, the longest-serving director of the Citrus Experimentation Station.

Selected published works

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References

Citations

Bibliography

External links

*
Draft registration card
of September 1918 at fold3.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Batchelor, Leon Dexter 1884 births 1958 deaths People from Upton, Massachusetts Cornell University alumni University of New Hampshire alumni American horticulturists University of California faculty