This amateur botanist established the Hemlock Arboretum on his estate in Germantown, Pa. in 1931. He was interested in growing Shortia galacifolia in his forest, and in 1940 sent out a questionnaire to departments of botany of various universities, to agricultural experiment stations, to the U. S. Forest Service, to other herbaria and to private individuals, asking a variety of questions about the species, and the presence of specimens, either growing in gardens or preserved in herbaria in this country. The plant was discovered by A. Michaux in 1788 near the boundary of the two Carolinas, but was later lost sight of until 1877. It was named by Asa Gray from Michaux's specimen preserved in Paris.