Biography

American botanist and specialist in forest pathology. Weir advised Henry Ford on his rubber plantations and amassed a great herbarium of wood-decaying fungi.

James Weir was born on a farm near Scottsberg, Indiana, where he quickly developed an interest in natural history. He studied botany at the University of Indiana and at Purdue, graduating in 1907 after some time away from his studies spent working for the U.S. Forest Service in Alabama and Tennessee. Following his graduation he taught biology and chemistry at Culver Military Academy for two years before heading off to study once more, in Europe. He obtained his PhD from Munich in 1911, writing his dissertation on the fungus Coprinus.

Returning to the United States, Weir accepted a position as forest pathologist in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, publishing copiously on forest mycology and pathology from headquarters in Montana, Washington and Washington D.C. He often collaborated with E.E. Hubert, Annie Rathbun-Gravatt and Arthur S. Rhoads during this time and gave much thought to methods of prevention and control of tree diseases. As well as studies of tree rusts and wood-rotting fungi, especially the Polyporaceae, he made extensive studies of the mistletoe parasites (Razoumofskya) of the Northwest U.S.

His expertise in diseases of woody plants and in mycology was mirrored by his specimen collecting. He built up a comprehensive herbarium of fungi from both the forests in which he worked and by exchange with mycologists around the world. The U.S. National Fungus Collections, of which he was in charge from 1923-1927, later acquired his herbarium. While in this role, Weir made extensive field trips, beginning with a Department of Agriculture expedition to the Amazon Valley of Brazil and Bolivia to sound out rubber production possibilities. Weir made a survey of all known pests and diseases of Hevea and gave suggestions for their mitigation in rubber plantations, foremost of which was planting the trees outside their usual range, where Microcylus was rife. He also looked at diseases of other economic trees in the region and continued to travel in Argentina, Paraguay, Chile and the West Indies and spent two months researching diseases of sugar cane in Cuba at the Tropical Plant Research Foundation.

His knowledge of Hevea problems made Weir an attractive consultant to rubber producers and in 1927 he was taken on at the newly established Rubber Research Institute of Malaya and shortly afterwards by the Goodyear Company in Sumatra. In his employment at the latter Weir broadened his interests from pathology to other aspects of plantation management, also looking at tropical crops like coffee and hemp.

He returned to the States in 1932, planning to resume his mycological studies, but was soon tempted by Henry Ford to look at the proposed location of a second rubber plantation, following Fordlandia, in 1933. Weir advised Ford and the plantation manager, Archibald Johnston, to buy cloned plants selected from high-yielding trees and to place the operation further downriver than they had planned. Thus Ford traded 700,000 acres of Fordlandia for a new site on a 400-foot-high plateau 80 miles away, close to Santarém, and Weir travelled once more to the East Indies to oversee the transportation of 2,000 plants to the site.

Belterra, as the new plantation was named, had richer soil and was more suitable for the industrial scale plantation than the site chosen beforehand; it was nevertheless beset by a string of problems beginning with devastating insect attacks and leaf blight. Weir resigned in 1938 after his proposal that the plantation was moved to Central America was rejected and just before a three-year drought that produced spindly trees. Another blow was dealt to the operation when leaf wilt hit after the rains returned. Weir, meanwhile, travelled further around Brazil and other parts of the continent studying Hevea cultivation. From 1940 to 1941 he advised the Venezuelan government on agriculture and rubber production before retiring to his old home in Indiana. He died in 1943 of a brain haemorrhage and was buried at the farm where he was born. His professional memberships during his active career included the American Phytopathological Society, Torrey Botanical Club and the American Genetic Association.

Biography

American botanist and specialist in forest pathology. Weir advised Henry Ford on his rubber plantations and amassed a great herbarium of wood-decaying fungi.

James Weir was born on a farm near Scottsberg, Indiana, where he quickly developed an interest in natural history. He studied botany at the University of Indiana and at Purdue, graduating in 1907 after some time away from his studies spent working for the U.S. Forest Service in Alabama and Tennessee. Following his graduation he taught biology and chemistry at Culver Military Academy for two years before heading off to study once more, in Europe. He obtained his PhD from Munich in 1911, writing his dissertation on the fungus Coprinus.

Returning to the United States, Weir accepted a position as forest pathologist in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, publishing copiously on forest mycology and pathology from headquarters in Montana, Washington and Washington D.C. He often collaborated with E.E. Hubert, Annie Rathbun-Gravatt and Arthur S. Rhoads during this time and gave much thought to methods of prevention and control of tree diseases. As well as studies of tree rusts and wood-rotting fungi, especially the Polyporaceae, he made extensive studies of the mistletoe parasites (Razoumofskya) of the Northwest U.S.

His expertise in diseases of woody plants and in mycology was mirrored by his specimen collecting. He built up a comprehensive herbarium of fungi from both the forests in which he worked and by exchange with mycologists around the world. The U.S. National Fungus Collections, of which he was in charge from 1923-1927, later acquired his herbarium. While in this role, Weir made extensive field trips, beginning with a Department of Agriculture expedition to the Amazon Valley of Brazil and Bolivia to sound out rubber production possibilities. Weir made a survey of all known pests and diseases of Hevea and gave suggestions for their mitigation in rubber plantations, foremost of which was planting the trees outside their usual range, where Microcylus was rife. He also looked at diseases of other economic trees in the region and continued to travel in Argentina, Paraguay, Chile and the West Indies and spent two months researching diseases of sugar cane in Cuba at the Tropical Plant Research Foundation.

His knowledge of Hevea problems made Weir an attractive consultant to rubber producers and in 1927 he was taken on at the newly established Rubber Research Institute of Malaya and shortly afterwards by the Goodyear Company in Sumatra. In his employment at the latter Weir broadened his interests from pathology to other aspects of plantation management, also looking at tropical crops like coffee and hemp.

He returned to the States in 1932, planning to resume his mycological studies, but was soon tempted by Henry Ford to look at the proposed location of a second rubber plantation, following Fordlandia, in 1933. Weir advised Ford and the plantation manager, Archibald Johnston, to buy cloned plants selected from high-yielding trees and to place the operation further downriver than they had planned. Thus Ford traded 700,000 acres of Fordlandia for a new site on a 400-foot-high plateau 80 miles away, close to Santarém, and Weir travelled once more to the East Indies to oversee the transportation of 2,000 plants to the site.

Belterra, as the new plantation was named, had richer soil and was more suitable for the industrial scale plantation than the site chosen beforehand; it was nevertheless beset by a string of problems beginning with devastating insect attacks and leaf blight. Weir resigned in 1938 after his proposal that the plantation was moved to Central America was rejected and just before a three-year drought that produced spindly trees. Another blow was dealt to the operation when leaf wilt hit after the rains returned. Weir, meanwhile, travelled further around Brazil and other parts of the continent studying Hevea cultivation. From 1940 to 1941 he advised the Venezuelan government on agriculture and rubber production before retiring to his old home in Indiana. He died in 1943 of a brain haemorrhage and was buried at the farm where he was born. His professional memberships during his active career included the American Phytopathological Society, Torrey Botanical Club and the American Genetic Association.