Hugh Wilbur Taylor, American agriculturalist, was the son of Joseph Henry Taylor and his wife Ella M. Roberts. He qualified as Bachelor of Science in Agriculture (BS Agr) at the State University of Kentucky and came to South Africa before or in 1912 to join the Department of Agriculture as a tobacco specialist. In 1914 he was transferred from the general to the administrative and clerical division of the public service and appointed as assistant chief of the Division of Cotton and Tobacco of the Department of Agriculture. The division developed an experimental farm for the cultivation of tobacco and cotton near Rustenburg, Transvaal. During 1912 and 1913 he contributed articles on the cultivation of tobacco to the Agricultural Journal of the Union of South Africa (Vol. 2 and 5 respectively). Other publications by him issued by the Department of Agriculture included 'The production of bright tobacco by the flue and air curing processes' (1913), 'Tobacco seed-beds' (1917), and Tobacco culture with special reference to South African conditions (1924, 176 pp.) He also contributed a comprehensive account of 'Cotton and cotton seed products' to the South African Journal of Industries (1918, Vol. 1, in 4 parts).

Taylor returned to the United States at some time before 1935 and was employed in the Bureau of Agricultural Economics. Around 1940 he joined the Tobacco Branch of the Production and Marketing Administration of the Department of Agriculture and from that time his publications dealt mainly with the marketing of tobacco products.

Taylor was married to Clara Ellis.

List of sources:

Agricultural Journal of the Union of South Africa, 1912, Vol. 2 and 1913, Vol. 5: Articles by H.W. Taylor.

Ancestry. http://records.ancestry.com Search for Hugh Wilbur Taylor.

National Automated Archival Information Retrieval System (NAAIRS). http://national.archives.gov.za/naairs.htm Documents relating to H.W. Taylor.

Rustenburg - the home of the orange. Agricultural Journal of South Africa, July 1918, pp. 5-11. Retrieved on 12 January 2021 from https://journals.co.za/docserver/fulltext/ajusa/1918/1/1390.pdf?expires=1610435989&id=id&accname=guest&checksum=ED938014FA0A1D48B48D1EDE8B750385

South African bibliography to the end of 1925. London: Mansell, 1979.

South African Journal of Industries, 1918, Vol. 1, article by H.W. Taylor.

WorldCat Identities. http://www.worldcat.org Search for Hugh Wilbur Taylor.

Compiled by: C. Plug

Last updated: 2021-01-12 09:25:14