Professor Alex Laurie
was born in France in 1892 but was brought to American
in 1903. He emigrated to this country where he graduated
from Townsend House High School in New York City. He received
his B.S. degree at Cornell University in 1914 and his
M.A. from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri
in 1917.
Professor Laurie became instructor of horticulture
at the University of Maine in 1914. However he went to
the Missouri Botanic Garden in St. Louis in 1916 where
he remained until 1920. After five years in commercial
floriculture (1920-25) he became Assistant Professor
of Horticulture at Michigan State College in 1925. In
1929 he became Professor of Horticulture at The Ohio
State University and Associate Horticulturist of the
then Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station. He retired
in 1952 and became Emeritus Professor. In 1952 he went
into private business in Florida.
He was president of the American Society for
Horticultural Science in 1936. He was also a member of
the Royal Horticultural Society of London. For some
years he was secretary-treasurer of Roses, Inc.
Professor Laurie was author of the following
books:
Fertilizers for Greenhouse and Garden
1929
The Flower Shop 1930
Chrysanthemums under Glass and Cultivars
1930
The Modern Nursery (with L.C. Chadwick)
1931
Commercial Flower Forcing (with L.C. Chadwick)
1934
Commercial Flower Forcing, 2nd edition (with
G.H. Poesch) 1939
Soil less Culture Simplified 1940
Commercial Flower Forcing, 3rd edition (with
G.H. Poesch) 1941
Floriculture 1942
Commercial Flower Forcing, 4th edition (with
D.C. Kiplinger) 1944, 46, 48
Garden and Greenhouse Chrysanthemums (with D.C.
Kiplinger) 1946
Commercial Flower Forcing, 5th edition (with
D.C. Kiplinger) 1948
Floriculture Fundamentals and Practices (with
Victor H. Ries) 1950
Commercial Flower Forcing, 6th edition (with
D.C. Kiplinger and Kennard S. Nelson) 1958
Commercial Flower Forcing, 7th edition( with
D.C. Kiplinger and Kennard S. Nelson) 1968
Professor Laurie developed an outstanding division
of floriculture in the department of Horticulture and
The Ohio State University. He had accumulated a vast
amount of knowledge during his long period in the
field of floriculture. His work with photoperiodism
was outstanding and was a specialties were roses and
chrysanthemums which were utilized in research over a
long period. Professor Laurie had many graduate
students and was known as an outstanding teacher.
