68 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN. 
to devote a little attention to them. There is no potting to 
be done. Any lady can take care of them, and I know of 
no flower in bloom that, to use the English expression of 
a French friend, is so thoroughly fetching as the well 
grown orchid. So far as I am concerned, I do not know 
of any flower that I would rather devote myself entirely 
to than the orchid, and, for the reason, as Mr. Trelease has 
so well said, that I am absolutely fond of them. It does 
seem to me that when I am in the presence of an orchid I 
am in the ence of a plant that, as the old Irishman 
said, ‘‘ has sense !”’ 
In response to a call from the Chair, Mr. Edgar Sanders, 
of Chicago, then spoke of the value of horticultural 
libraries, presenting statistics of the principal collections 
of the kind existing in this country, and commending the 
effort of the Garden to gradually bring together as full a 
reference library in horticulture as possible. On the con- 
clusion of his remarks, Mr. James Gurney, for many years 
Head Gardener at the Botanical Garden, was called upon, 
and spoke briefly of the aims and plans of Mr. Shaw as he 
knew them. Mr. W. A. Manda, of Short Hills, New 
Jersey, an accomplished gardener, and one through whom 
many plants have been introduced into the country during 
the past few years, then spoke as follows: — 
Mr, Chairman and Gentlemen :—I feel greatly honored 
to be called upon for a few remarks, although I must say 
that I feel rather bashful, after hearing such eloquent 
speeches; but I respond knowing that every person inter- 
ested in horticulture is willing at all times to overlook a 
diffident manner in one who follows that pursuit. In the 
few short years I have lived in this country I have seen 
the most remarkable progress in horticulture that it is 
possible to imagine. Only nineteen years ago there were 
very few private gardens, and there were hardly any exhi- 
bitions outside of Boston or Philadelphia, and those would 
not now be ranked as third class exhibitions. Now what? 
