Robert Ligon, 92, horticultural specialist with fruit trees

Robert Ligon oversaw the cultivation of fruit trees and raspberry plants at Lookout Farm in South Natick.

Like some jolly Johnny Appleseed, Robert E. Ligon roamed the 200 acres of the historic Lookout Farm in South Natick for 35 years as orchard supervisor, overseeing the pruning and cultivation of fruit trees and raspberry plants.

On at least one occasion, he saved the farm's peach trees from dying off after an abnormally warm December.

The year was 1965 when the Globe reported that Massachusetts's peaches "are practically nonexistent" because the trees budded in December and died in the January frost. But, Lookout Farm was the bright exception, the Globe said, due largely to the expertise of Robert Ligon.

Mr. Ligon, who was described as "one of the most skilled orchardists in Eastern Massachusetts," died March 1 at MetroWest Medical Center in Framingham. He was 92 and lived in Natick.

"Bob was an exceptional person, skilled in horticulture, kind to the employees, and a very talented orchard manager," said Gus Schumacher, former Massachusetts commissioner of agriculture and now a consultant in Washington, D.C.

"Bob nurtured the largest Bosc pear orchard in New England, a substantial multivariety peach orchard, and a large apple orchard in addition to annual strawberries. He also supervised the planting and harvesting of one of the largest fall Heritage raspberry plantings in Massachusetts, with varieties sourced from the Nourse Farms in Deerfield," Schumacher said.

He recalled that in the 1970s, Mr. Ligon and his brother, John Schumacher, who once owned Lookout Farm, "planted on it nearly 10 acres of Heritage Everbearing raspberry plants purchased from Nourse Farms. Bob tended and pruned these annually and they became a popular field for 'pick-your-own' fall raspberry consumers for a number of years."

Founded in 1650, Lookout Farm is considered one of the oldest working farms in the country.

John Schumacher of Chatham and Naples, Fla., who owned the farm from 1978 to 1986, said Mr. Ligon "never wanted to stop working" and worked for him until he was in his mid-80s, putting in "a 40-hour week."

When Schumacher sold the farm, Mr. Ligon went to work for him in the ornamental landscaping business. When he sold that in 1998, he said, Mr. Ligon took other landscaping work.

Some of Mr. Ligon's horticultural knowledge came from his southern upbringing and from growing up on a farm there.

When the Globe credited him with saving Lookout Farm's peach trees, the newspaper noted his planting expertise and heritage.

"Mr. Ligon knows all about peaches," the Globe said, noting that he came here from the south 18 years ago at the time. "They thrive on high ground where the air is in constant motion and there's small danger of freezing," he was quoted as saying. "That's why some of our Hale Haven, Golden Jubilee, and Elberta peaches survived the frost."

As much as he loved farming, Mr. Ligon loved young people, said his wife, Rosalie (Barksdale), and taught many of them who worked on the farm summers not only about farming but how to drive big trucks.

One of his young workers in the summer of 1950 was the late poet Sylvia Plath, who lived in Wellesley and used to ride her bicycle to the farm. In one of her earliest published poems, titled "Bitter Strawberries," she describes a scene while picking strawberries there. The poem was published on Sept. 12, 1950 in the Christian Science Monitor.

Its first verse reads:

All morning in the strawberry field

They talked about the Russians.

Squatted down between the rows

We listened.

We heard the head woman say,

'Bomb them off the map.'

Mr. Ligon was born in Moline, Ill., to Robert and Birdie (Brown) Ligon. He grew up on a farm in Kentucky and lost his father when he was 12.

He and Rosalie met when he visited her hometown of Union City, Tenn. They were married for 67 years.

Before they married, his wife said, Mr. Ligon served in the Civilian Conservation Corps, which was installed in the Great Depression to create jobs in fields such as forest renewal and road reconstruction.

During World War II, she said, he served in the Army and received two Bronze Stars for service in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.

Mr. Ligon and his family moved north and had lived in Natick for 62 years.

His family did not know if he had been aware that Sylvia Plath became a famous poet or that working at Lookout Farm would inspire one of her earliest works.

The technique he had taught his workers in picking strawberries might have inspired her last paragraph of "Bitter Strawberries."

That reads:

We reached among the leaves

With quick practiced hands,

Cupping the berry protectively before

Snapping off the stem

Between thumb and forefinger.

Mr. Ligon was able to work so late into life because he always kept himself fit, his daughter, Charlotte of Natick, said. "Dad was working out up until November, doing push-ups, sit-ups and exercising at home," she said. "He had good sense and a good sense of humor."

His wife described him as "a hardworking man who always loved the outdoors."

He had a memorable trait, perhaps from his military days. "He always shined his boots before he went to work and they were as shiny as his other shoes," his wife said. "You could see your reflection in them."

Besides his wife and daughter, Mr. Ligon leaves another daughter, Barbara Stewart of Fayetteville, N.C.; a sister, Geraldine C. of Framingham; four grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

Services have been held.