Watson, John, poet

John P. Watson was a pomologist at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in the Department of Horticultural Sciences. After he earned a B.S. at the University of Massachusetts in 1948 and an M.S. from Rutgers in 1950, he began his career as a fruit breeder at the Experiment Station in Geneva. He worked with varieties of grapes and plums for New York and the Northeastern United States. Watson was in charge of the care of seedling vineyards and assisted in planning and making crosses of potential grape varieties. During his 37 years at the Station, he was involved in the introduction of 17 varieties of grape, including Cayuga White, Einset Seedless, and Chardonel and the Iroquois, Seneca, Oneida, and Mohawk plums. In 1988, a new raspberry introduced by the Geneva Station was named Watson in his honor. Watson retired as a Senior Research Support Specialist in 1987, the year he was also named Most Outstanding Employee at the Experiment Station.