Botanist, Professor, Administrator
In 1904, Hume moved south again, accepting work as a professor of botany and horticulture at the Florida Agricultural College in Lake City, Florida, one of the University of Florida's four predecessor institutions, and thereafter held the same position at the modern University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. During his time as a professor, Hume also served as the horticulturalist and botanist with the university-affiliated Florida Agricultural Experiment Station. He was a published author and recognized expert on the cultivation of citrus fruits and pecans. Hume left the Florida Experiment Station after five years to accept a similar position with the North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Hume returned to Florida to accept a position as the general manager of the Glen St. Mary Nurseries Company, a leading grower of citrus trees. He remained with the company from 1917 to 1929, later serving as the company's president and then the chairman of its board of directors. Hume continued to write and publish articles during this time, notably including The Cultivation of Citrus Fruits (1926), which became a standard reference in the field.
He rejoined the faculty of the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida in 1930, was appointed dean of the College of Agriculture in 1938, and became the provost for agriculture in 1943. During the early 1930s, He was one of the key researchers working on methods to eradicate the Mediterranean fruit fly infestation that was threatening Florida's citrus industry.
Hume was appointed the university's interim president when president John J. Tigert resigned in 1947, and he continued to serve as the dean of the College of Agriculture at the same time. He was known for spending ten hours a day in his office, keeping up with his duties as president as well as dean of the agriculture college. Hume enjoyed spending his lunch hours talking with faculty members and students alike.
After his permanent successor, J. Hillis Miller, was selected in 1947, Hume continued his work in agriculture, and was later named chairman of the administrative committee of the Inter-American Institute of Agricultural Sciences. Clemson University awarded him an honorary doctor of science degree in recognition of his achievements in agricultural science.
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