2006 Wilder Silver Medal to Dr. David Curtis Ferree

By Scheerens, Joseph C

The American Pomological Society (APS) awarded the Wilder Silver Medal for 2006 to Dr. David C. Ferree, Professor Emeritus of Horticulture and Crop Science at The Ohio State University, Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center in recognition of his outstanding achievements in the evaluation of fruit rootstocks and varieties. The medal, established in 1873 in honor of APS founder. Marshall Pinckney Wilder, was awarded to Dr. Ferree at the annual APS meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana in July, 2006.

Background and Education

Dr. Ferree was born February 9, 1943 in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania to parents George H and Ruth O. (McClain) Ferree. Throughout his childhood and adolescence, he gained horticultural perspective and experience by working after school and during summers at the family’s truck farm and greenhouse operation raising a variety of fruits, vegetables and flowers. He completed his B.S. in Pomology at Pennsylvania State University in 1965, and received his M.S. and Ph.D. in Pomology from the University of Maryland’s Department of Horticulture in 1968 and 1969, respectively. As a Graduate Assistant under the direction of A.H. Thompson, he conducted or assisted others with laboratory and field based pomological research and taught the laboratory portion of the University of Maryland’s tree fruit production class. After graduation, Dr. Ferree served his country as an officer in the United States Army from 1969-1971; his final rank was that of Captain. While performing military service, he was involved in the delivery of training programs in chemical and biological surety.

Career Accomplishments

Dr. Ferree joined the Ohio State University, Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, Department of Horticulture faculty in 1971 as an Assistant Professor. He was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor and Full Professor in 1976 and 1981, respectively. He served the Department of Horticulture and Crop Science (formerly Horticulture) with distinction for 33 years, retiring in 2004. He has since been appointed to the rank of Professor Emeritus.

Dr. Ferree actively participated in the extension mission of the Department. During his tenure, he addressed 127 industry-based conferences held in Ohio and 87 industry-based conferences throughout the Midwest, the U.S. and internationally. He was an invited speaker at many, if not most of these conferences; he delivered key note addresses at six of them. The fruit producers of Ohio and surrounding states often sought his advice on matters of production and he most often delivered this more “personalized” extension information via innumerable phone conversations and farm visits. The Ohio Fruit Growers Association recognized his contributions to the health and vitality of the Ohio fruit industry by conferring upon him their distinguished service award in 1998.

Dr. Ferree was also a consummate educator. While at Ohio State University he delivered or substantively contributed to the delivery of four undergraduate classes in pomology and two graduate classes focused on the physiology of horticultural crops and on horticultural research principles and techniques. As Major Professor, he advised 10 M.S. and 9 Ph.D. recipients and served on the student advisory committees of many more. He was adept at determining the delicate balance between supervision and independence that allowed each student to progress through their research program while fostering maximum professional growth. For each student, his goal was to provide broad training in field, greenhouse and laboratory research techniques. His former students have presented their graduate research at industry and professional society meetings and have published in refereed journals, some of which were granted awards of excellence or distinction by the hosting societies. As co-author, he and his students have received five U.P. Hedrick Awards granted by APS. Many of his former students now hold distinguished university, government or corporate positions around the world. As a professor, he also served in a formal and/or an informal capacity as a mentor of young faculty by offering professional advice on career or promotion and tenure issues, providing technical assistance and by collaborating on research projects, grants, presentations and refereed journal papers.

Dr. Ferree’s research, focusing primarily upon cultural aspects of tree fruit and wine grapes, is world renowned and his research has been prolific. To date, he is the author or co-author of 229 technical research reports, five book chapters, and 204 scientific papers in refereed journals. Twelve of his research papers were award-winning; five of them received the P.H. Shepard Award from APS. He was the presenter or co-presenter of 91 scientific papers or posters delivered at professional meetings. He was also the co- editor of two books, one of which, Apples: Botany Production and Uses, is the current definitive reference on this major fruit crop. Throughout his career, Dr. Ferree cooperated with fellow researchers associated with the Ohio State University, other American universities, the United States Department of Agriculture, the North American fruit industry and with institutional and governmental scientists of other countries. Many of these scientists were from diverse scientific disciplines and backgrounds (e.g., plant pathologists, entomologists, agricultural engineers, food scientists), and as such, Dr. Ferree should be acknowledged as a pioneer in interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary agricultural research. Throughout his career, he was also an active member of the interstate NC-140 and NE-183 committees, participating fully in their research projects. From 1976-1994 he was NC-140′s coordinator of the Multi-State Apple Rootstocks Plantings. The quality and productivity of his research program allowed him to obtain funding and positions for extended sabbaticals in Australia and New Zealand in 1987 and 1995, respectively.

Aside from his primary roles as researcher and educator, Dr. Ferree served his organization as chairperson or member of 38 Department, College or University committees, most with multiple year appointments. Notably, he served the Department of Horticulture as Associate Chairperson from 1992 through 1994 during the transitional period as the Department of Horticulture merged with crops faculty from the Department of Agronomy to form the Department of Horticulture and Crop Science. Throughout his career, he was also very active as a member of professional organizations. For the American Society for Horticultural Science, he served on eight awards-based committees, three program-based committees, and three outreach-based committees. He also served as the Chairperson of Pomology Working Group (1983), as Associate Editor for Pomology (1983-1986) and as Research Division Vice President (1998). For nearly 20 years (1985-2004) he was retained by APS as the editor of the Journal of the American Pomological Society (formerly Fruit Varieties Journal) and has been on the editorial board for the Journal of Tree Fruit Production since 1992. Finally, he was a member of the Rootstock Research Foundation of the International Dwarf Tree Association from 1977-1995 and occasionally hosted the annual meetings of NC-140.

Horticultural Contributions

Dr. Ferree’s contributions to the art and science of pomology are perhaps innumerable; by clarifying our scientific understanding of fruit crop physiology as it is affected by culture, he has substantively impacted grower practices and the fruit industry. He also demonstrated a career-long commitment to the evaluation of tree fruit and grape cultivars, rootstocks and cultivar-rootstock combinations for superior horticultural characteristics and commercial viability. Together with technician J.C. Schmid and a host of colleagues at other U.S. and international institutions he published over 50 journal articles focusing on aspects of clonal evaluation. It is perhaps these milestones that best qualified him to receive the Society’s Wilder Award. Throughout his career, Dr. Ferree explored avenues to maintain or improve the health and productivity of fruit crop plants. Directed by A.H. Thompson, his graduate program included definitive work outlining the protective effects of calcium upon the expression of internal bark necrosis (manganese toxicity) of apple. As a young professor, Dr. Ferree established himself as an authority on fruit tree (primarily apple) photosynthesis and transpiration as affected by biotic and abiotic stresses and by cultural practices. His early work, in conjunction with F.R. Hall, J.R. Spotts, D.P. Sharma and others, outlined the detrimental physiological effects of apple scab (Venturia inaequalis) infection and infestation by various mites, insects and weeds, and explored the photosynthetic consequences of standard pesticide spray treatments. With colleagues M.A. Ellis and others, he explored methods to alleviate the effects of scarf skin, collar rot, powdery mildew, fire blight and blackheart. During his tenure in Ohio, he also published papers discussing physical stress, drought and temperature stress, microclimate effects and the effects of growth regulators, antitranspirants, leaf waxes and foliar absorption (with graduate student R.L. Darnell), foliar-applied fertilizers and thinning sprays, heading and branch manipu\lation and soil compaction on photosynthetic capacity, plant health and/or crop productivity.

In a natural progression from his early work, an unflagging interest in photosynthetic capacity and plant performance led Dr. Ferree to explore how light levels and canopy development affected the growth, flowering and yield of apple. Work with graduate student D.S. Doud (D.D. Miller) examined the effects of mechanically altered light levels on tree performance. Later efforts with graduate student C.R. Rom and colleagues at other institutions revealed the effects of light interception on spur quality and the critical role of the spur leaf during fruit development. Dr. Ferree also conducted extensive research on the effects of tree density and orchard management systems (e.g., the slender spindle) on light interception, spur quality and plant performance. A portion of this work was accomplished in cooperation with K. Clayton-Greene while on sabbatical in Australia. Moreover, Dr. Ferree received the J.H. Gourley Award in 1980 for his comparison of canopy development and yield efficiency in four orchard management systems. His renowned expertise in the area of plant development and photosynthesis led E.J. Stang, J.W. Palmer, C.K. Chander, G.A Cahoon and others to seek his cooperation for studies of performance affected by light interception in peach, cranberry, red raspberry, strawberry and grape canopies.

Concurrent and in conjunction with the exploration of orchard systems, Dr. Ferree directed graduate students S.C. Myers, B.H. Taylor and C.R. Rom in their efforts to explore the influence of summer pruning on tree size control, photosynthetic capacity, transpiration, leaf abscission, yield and fruit size in apple and upon growth, floral bud development and winter injury in peaches. Dr. Ferree also conducted extensive research exploring the effects of root pruning on apple tree growth and performance. This work was initiated by studies undertaken with visiting scientist D. Geisler outlining the influence of root pruning on net photosynthesis, water relations and growth in apple. Subsequent experimentation with graduate student J.R. Schupp led to a series of papers outlining the effects of this practice on photosynthetic capacity, hormonal balance within tree tissues, growth, fruiting, fruit size and yield in apple. Root pruning methods (i.e., depth, direction, timing, etc.) were thoroughly examined and the practice was evaluated in various orchard management systems using a variety of rootstock- scion combinations and overextended periods of time. Dr. Ferree’s work on root pruning was particularly timely, gaining wide recognition by scientists and fruit producers alike after the loss of Alar as a method to control tree growth and bearing habits. Currently, root pruning is a component of orchard management schemes recommended by university extension systems and is practiced routinely by many growers.

Without doubt, the bulk of Dr. Ferree’s work was focused upon orchard research. However, following the retirement of colleague G.A. Cahoon, he voluntarily assumed the role of the Department’s viticulturist during the last decade of his career. While maintaining his tree fruit studies, he conducted research with colleagues at OSU or elsewhere. With graduate students A.K. Hummell, S.J. McArtney and N.G. Krohn he outlined the effects of light interception, shading, root pruning, drainage and soil compaction, cluster thinning, crop load, trellising and training systems, and vineyard floor management systems upon vine physiology and vigor. His field studies were inexorably intertwined with the enological experiments of colleague T.E. Steiner and were designed to examine effects of cultivar, rootstock and culture management practices on wine quality. These studies led to 24 refereed publications, two of which were award-winning.

As stated above, Dr. Ferree demonstrated a career-long commitment to the evaluation of the horticultural performance tree fruit rootstocks, their effects on cultivar performance and their commercial suitability under a variety of cultural systems. With colleague C. A. Morrison, he published his first and Shepard award- winning paper in 1975, outlining the effects of five rootstock/ interstem combinations on tree size and yield of over 20 apple cultivars. Subsequent papers delineated the effects of rootstock genotype on growth and flowering. With colleague J. A. Barden he studied rootstock effects upon the physiological processes of photosynthesis, dark respiration, transpiration and fluctuation in specific leaf weight. In cooperation with colleagues at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station he evaluated 14 candidate (previously untested) clones as rootstocks for ‘McIntosh’ and also tested 12 clones of Prunus besseyi as rootstocks for ‘Veteran’ and ‘Redhaven’ peach. In 1989, in cooperation with colleagues at Michigan State University, he compared the performance of five MAC clones with several East Mailing clones as suitable rootstocks for ‘Empire’ and ‘Golden Delicious’ apple. Subsequent trials reported in 1994 and 1997 focused upon the horticultural performance of three cultivars on M.9 and Mark, and upon the performance of ‘Mutsu’ on MAC.9 and M.9 rootstocks, specifically. He also compared the performance of six cultivars on the clonal rootstock Arnold-Lynd 800 with those of thirteen additional rootstocks at the Lynd Fruit Farm (Pataskala, OH). With graduate student P.M. Hirst, he described the growth and precocity of ‘Gala’ and ‘Triple Red Delicious’ apple on five rootstocks. He combined his interest in root pruning and rootstock performance in a 1997 paper on the performance of ‘Smoothee Golden Delicious’ on nine root-pruned rootstock-interstem combinations. A year later, he published a paper describing the behavior of German apomictic clones of M. sargenti and M. sargenti hybrids as rootstocks for ‘Melrose’ apple. With colleague G. A. Cahoon and others, he reported the performance of eight clonal rootstocks grafted to ‘Cabernet franc’ and ‘Riesling’ grapes.

Although the work described above was formidable, the bulk of his research evaluating rootstocks was undertaken in cooperation with colleagues undertaking the 1976, 1981, 1984, 1990, 1994 and 1999 NC- 140 Apple Rootstock Trials, the 1995 NE-183 Apple Rootstock Trials, and the 1995 and 2002 NC-140 Peach Rootstock Trials. He was coordinator of the NC-140 Apple Rootstock Trials from 1976 to 1994, and as such, was instrumental in data collection and organization and in the preparation and publication of over 20 general summaries of this work, two of which have earned P.H. Shepard awards in 1987 and 2006. Papers reporting his work with colleagues on the 1995 NC- 140 Peach Rootstock Trials received the same award in 2005.

In addition to the collection of trial-wide data describing horticultural performance, it was Dr. Ferree’s philosophy and approach to multi-state projects that individual sites and collaborators would carry out unique research objectives specific to their expertise or location. For instance, with colleagues R.T. Fernandez and R.C. Perry, he published papers in 1991 and 1995 summarizing the effects of contrasting soil types in Michigan and Ohio upon the rooting characteristics and root distribution of rootstocks included in the 1980 NC-140 Cooperative Trials. With graduate student P.M. Hirst, he examined the effect of rootstocks and nutrient uptake on spur quality, apple flower bud development and flowering of ‘Starkspur Supreme Delicious’ in the 1984 NC-140 Cooperative Trials. Similar studies with colleagues W.A. Erb and F.A. Morrison examined the effects of five rootstocks on the spur quality of and the morphology of two-year-old limb sections of four cultivars grown in the Kansas and Ohio 1990 NC-140 Cooperative Trial plots. In 1994, he reported the spur leaf nitrogen content and spur characteristics of clones in the existing NC-140 Apple Rootstock Trials with colleagues M. Rottgerman and J.C. Schmid. He and J.C. Schmid also reported on the spur leaf characteristics of 21 cultivars grafted to various rootstocks in the 1995 NE-183 apple trials. With colleagues W.C. Olein and B.L. Bishop, he published three papers modeling yield efficiency, yield stability and the effects of temperature on these parameters. These statistical models were based on data from the 1980 and 1984 NC-140 cooperative trials and the first of these papers received the Shepard Award in 1992. He collaborated with six colleagues to evaluate and report the incidence of blackheart in ‘Golden Delicious’ as affected by rootstocks in the 1990 NC-140 Cooperative Trials. With M.L. Kaps and G.M. Greene, he was also instrumental in reporting results from 1984 NC-140 auxiliary planting sites in MO, OH and PA. Finally, with colleagues J.C. Schmid and B.L. Bishop, he summarized rootstock tolerance to drought stress and infection by fire blight in multiple NC-140 Cooperative Trials.

As a recognized authority concerning the effects of rootstocks upon the horticultural performance of fruit crops, he has written book chapters and has been invited to speak at national and international workshops and symposia. However, he was also interested in cultivar (scion) variation. With colleagues I.J. Warrington, J.R. Schupp, T.A. Baugher and F.R. Dennis, he examined the spur characteristics of ‘Delicious’ apple strains grown in Ohio, Michigan and West Virginia. In later studies (1994 and 2001), he and colleague J.C. Schmid contrasted the horticultural performance of ‘Rome Beauty’ and ‘Melrose’ strains. Finally, with graduate student R.M. Crassweller and plant pathologist L.P. Nichols (Penn State University), he studied the scab resistance characteristics of 59 flowering crab apple (Malus spp.) clones and their potential as pollinizers for five commercial apple cultivars early in his career.

A synopsis of Dr. Ferree’s contributions to fruit cult\ivar evaluation would not be complete without stressing his commitments and efforts as editor of Fruit Varieties Journal, later the Journal of the American Pomological Society. He and his wife Sandra devoted countless hours to the editorial process, making each issue of the Journal as exacting and as professional as it could be. Moreover, throughout his editorship, Dr. Ferree promoted keynote publications in each issue highlighting a fruit or nut cultivar of merit. These articles were accompanied by the superb botanical illustrations by L.E. Chandler that adorned each cover. With considerable effort on his part, Dr. Ferree developed and published a compilation of these illustrations and articles in his popular press book The History of Fruit Varieties: The American Pomological Society: One Hundred and Fifty Years, 1848-1998, bringing the diversity, beauty and importance of fruit cultivars to the general public.

Finally, perhaps the greatest legacy D.C. Ferre has given to the field of pomology lies the cascading effects of his ability to superbly mentor graduate students. The combined productivity of his students and their students is enormous, and the wealth in pomological knowledge they have generated throughout their careers is indeed inestimable.

Prepared by Joseph C. Scheerens

Copyright American Pomological Society Jan 2007

(c) 2007 Journal of the American Pomological Society. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.