Friends of the John Rylands

5.45 for 6.15 at the John Rylands Library, Deansgate

After leaving school Peter became an apprentice gardener with a local authority, being involved for most of the time with (glasshouse) plant propagation. He was then an undergraduate and postgraduate student at the University of Nottingham School of Agriculture. After that, he joined the University of Manchester as a Crop Physiologist, teaching and researching productivity of crop plants. During this period he had a sabbatical in the Laboratory for Plant Physiological Research of the Agricultural University, Wageningen, Holland. This laboratory was established in the 1920’s to investigate bulb storage problems, e.g. to determine the necessary conditions to ensure that flower primordia are initiated. Since retiring, Peter has continued to research productivity of tomatoes, in co-operation with glasshouse growers in north Cheshire. This has made it possible to continue to present papers at meetings of The International Society for Horticultural Science, most recently in Quebec.