TIME LINE Chronology and foot notes; WALDEMAR G. KLEE, (Compiled by Gerald D. Klee, MD, a grandson of W G Klee)
WALDEMAR G KLEE (1853-1891)
Some dates are approximate, but no more than a year off at most.
1884: Temporarily resigned his position in the UCA
Agriculture Experimental Station in order to represent the Horticultural Society
at the International Exposition in
WG
Klee’s successful project to protect
The “pretty baby boy” Jenny refers to was my father, Bertel B Klee, who was born shortly before Waldemar’s death. They never had a chance to know each other. Gerald D. Klee (GDK)
NOTABLE
AND PIONEER ENTOMOLOGISTS
Waldemar
G Klee (Above) is
listed in the Encyclopedia of Entomology as one of the Notable and Pioneer
Entomologists along with such famous biologists as-
Cuvier,
(Baron) Georges Léopold Chretien Frédéric Dagobert
Darwin,
Charles
Fabricius,
Johann Christian
Linnaeus,
Carolus (Linné, Carl von)
Listing
for Waldemar Klee in the Encyclopedia
of Entomology
Klee,
Waldemar
Waldemar G. Klee was born in
1853 in
W. G. Klee also served as head of the University of California, Berkeley, Agriculture Experimental Station.
Reference
Essig,
E. O. 1931.
A history of entomology. The Macmillan Company,
This text originally
appeared in Encyclopedia of Entomology - ISBN 0792386701 http://reference.springerlink.com./KapXSL.asp?Key=415AF64FD782D10FBC14574E5BE36487165BDB4B136972D94E88BDF91CAF92B8CD7DF3DCF117713F&?x=1&mode=section&sortKey=title&view=chapters&listView=list&xmlid=0792386701/_0792386701_k_sec25&curxmlid=0792386701
“This particular project (i.e. the project involving cottony-cushion scale, in which WG Klee played a major role) was referred to by DeBach (1974), as the one that, "... established the biological control method like a shot heard around the world." It was apparently, the first such project anywhere that specifically sought, and found, ways of controlling insect pests by introducing other insects that preyed upon them.
______________________________________
# 1312, Klee, W. G. State Inspector of Fruit Pests........
____________________________________
THE WESTERN HISTORICAL QUARTERLY; The Desert Shall Blossom, by Charles Colley, 1983,
The Desert Shall Blossom: North African Influence on the American Southwest, by Charles C. Colley The Western Historical Quarterly © 1983 The Western History Association.
References to WG Klee’s work in 1882, pages 279-280
p279," J. R. Wolfskill, a Winters, California, farmer began to grow palms on a stream bank from the seed of North African dates purchased in a San Francisco market, Within a few years, one prized tree produced hundreds of pounds of beautiful wine-red fruit. The exotic palm attracted much favorable attention, and other farmers in the bay area followed Wolfskill's lead with varying success. By the 1870s the United States Department of Agriculture had become interested enough to import large quantities of Egyptian date palm seed for experimental planting." The palm subsequently became the most closely studied of all North African agricultural imports.
The ready growth of seedling palms in the coastal areas
of
Page 280 THE WESTERN HISTORICAL QUARTERLY July 1983
As a result of Klee's report, the USDA distributed date seed to farmers throughout the less arid parts of (he Southwest, Palm trees, producing fruit of highly variable size, shape, and taste soon became a common part of the landscape. Every one hundred fertile seeds produced, on the average, fifty male and fifty female palms. The males were useless except as a source of pollen, and only two or three of the fifty females would usually bear good fruit after reaching maturity at three or four years of age.17
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Professor E W Hilgard UCA
1881-1882
The
report of Mr. W. G. Klee,, "gardener" in general charge of the experimental grounds, on subjects connected
with horticulture and forestry, forms Appendix No. 3, to which is added a list
Professor Hilgard, the man in charge of the Agriculture Department of UCA Berkeley, was the immediate superior, "boss", of my grandfather, Waldemar G Klee , who was in charge of the Agriculture Experimental Station. Judging from his lavish praise (See below) of W G Klee in his annual reports to the University President and Board of Regents Professor Hilgard clearly felt that the Agriculture Department couldn't do without him. (See below for relevant quotes.) We also learn that as of 1884, the date of the report, W G Klee had been with the University for eight years. That would go back to 1876, when W G Klee was 23 years of age.
The first page of Hilgard's report is in barely legible pdf, but since it is only an introduction dealing in generalities, readers needn't labor over it.
Prof Hilgard 1884
________________________________________
Page 15
"...Notes on the work in this department during the past two seasons are given in Appendix No 3, which, however, falls seriously short of a proper showing in consequence of the resignation of Mr. W. G. Klee which was required by the Board of Regents upon his acceptance of an appointment by the State Horticultural society to go to the New Orleans International Exposition in charge of the...
Page 16
...native and cultivated plants of california. "The loss of Mr. Klee's services is greatly to
be regretted, as it is extremely difficult to find persons properly
qualified for a position requiring not merely the qualifications of a practical
gardener, but also those of a botanist, and trained observer capable of
observing correctly, and reporting in proper form and language, the results of
experimental work. Since to these qualifications Mr. Klee adds that of the
command of five languages, and of eight years' experience here on the spot,
together with an extended knowledge of the various portions of the State, the
void left by his resignation is a serious one, and, I trust, will be but
temporary, since the labor thrown upon me by the necessity of training a new
incumbent would form a most discouraging overburden, and is incompatible with
the proper discharge of the numerous other duties already devolved upon me.
During the present " slack season " in our work, Mr. Klee's
ordinary duties have been divided out between the foreman, Mr. McLennan, Mr.
Dwinelle, and myself."
Report of The California Inspector of Fruit Pestshttp://books.google.com/books?id=LOZIAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA15&lpg=PA15&dq=wg+klee&source=web&ots=l_-6N9rL9M&sig=5v3kKaQOCJJcPKtHIeT0mCWwnPk&hl=en#PPP3,M1
__________________________________________________
1885-1886
Report of Professor Hilgard to President E S Holden and to Board of Regents
Bottom of title page 13 (not numbered, but precedes page 14)
“Lectures on botany: In arranging for the instruction to be given during the succeeding years (1886-1887) it became necessary provide in some way for a vacancy created by the resignation of Mr. W G Klee, for eight years-
Page 14
-head gardener of the Agriculture Experimental Grounds, who, in April 1886 was elected to the position of Fruit Inspector of the State by the State board of Agriculture. It was deemed best not to fill his position in the same sense as heretofore, it being difficult to find an incumbent of experience and qualifications of those of Mr. Klee...”
___________________________
Berkeley, Aug. 9, 1890
My dear Elise,
I have been intending for a long time to write to you but various causes have prevented.
My chief and absorbing thought just at present is poor Waldemar’s health. Sash writes he had that wretched La grippe. (Editor--I don’t know who “Sash” refers to, but given the context, it seems to have been Waldemar's nickname.) He has not entirely recovered. He went down there to wait upon Peter and the strain has been terrible upon him. He came home much worse, and I almost fear that he continues to grow more so. He has much trouble with his throat, has a hacking dry cough, digestion very bad, and his whole system is very much out of tone.
Our money affairs are in such a sad plight that, that depresses him so I fear almost, the consequences. He is very much depressed indeed. If we had the good fortune to have some friend who could lend us a few hundred, I think my poor depressed Waldemar would have such a load lifted from his mind that he would soon be better.
It has been on my mind to write and ask if you would learn from Bernard* and Emil** what their opinion is of the possibility of contagion in cases of consumption***. You know Waldemar stood by Peter’s bedside and waited upon him in all the details of that dreadful and trying sickness. I am almost afraid such a thing as contagion may be possible. However it may be, I have a very sad heart over Waldemar’s present condition. I sit here writing with eyes full of tears, almost blinded from the page where I am trying to tell you a little. Indeed that was a sad day when he went to Nordhoff, if it has been conducive to serious results. It has at least greatly prostrated him, and you know dear Elise, sister, that he is the very dearest soul on earth to me, my children not excepted. These years of marriage have but deepened our love. It is just as I wrote your mother, only the years would prove how much I loved him. I wonder if he was as a boy, what he is as a man, unselfish, unassuming, loyal, and just to the last degree. Pray with me sister, that he may be spared to see his pretty baby boy a man, and to cheer his wife through all the intervening years.
Another day soon I shall write again on other things.
Most affectionately your sister,
Jenny Klee
*Bernhard Laurits Bang, the husband of W G Klee's sister Elise; Bang was a physician and veterinarian. He was (and still is) famous for his discoveries in infectious diseases, including tuberculosis.
** Emil refers to Waldemar's physician brother, Frederik Emil Klee, MD
*** "Consumption", is the name usually used for tuberculosis in the 19th century.
Waldemar was the youngest of three surviving children in his family. Elise, the eldest of the three is the one to whom Jenny's letter was addressed. We don't have a copy of her reply.
_________________________________________________________________
By Edward James Wickson
http://books.google.com/books?id=ZhgDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA341&lpg=PA341&dq=WG+KLEE+BERKELEY&source=web&ots=1hExrjW5tk&sig=aYTZWU40C0a-3sCGZ666JC817tE&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=10&ct=result#PPA336,M1________________________________________________________________
