MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 29 
Grove Park, but he never lost his love for and interest in the 
Garden. Thus there has passed one of the last links between 
the founder of the Missouri Botanical Garden and the pres- 
ent day—-a man who, because of his natural love for plants 
and flowers, and his unusual skill, has helped to build the 
reputation of the institution and bring it to its present stage 
of development. 
One of the duties of Mr. Gurney as head gardener was to 
give instruction to the Garden pupils, and the following trib- 
ute from Professor A. T. Erwin, of the lowa Agricultural 
College, is presented as an indication of the esteem in which 
he was held by those who were most intimately associated 
with him: 
‘“The death of James Gurney marks the passing of an old 
and familiar figure in the history of the Missouri Botanical 
Garden. His career covers the history of the Garden from 
the very days of its inception. The writer well recalls in his 
course as a Garden pupil in the nineties, the many bits of 
early-day history he passed out to the class: ‘Here was a 
tree planted by Mr. Shaw, in a certain year, etc.’ Most 
every landmark about the grounds earried a page of history 
which Mr. Gurney could recite to you with interest and in 
detail if you caught him in the right mood. His going marks 
the passing of one of the very last of the old guard—the 
pioneers in the gardening profession of America. 
‘‘Mr. Gurney was by nature a plant lover and possessed 
to a high degree the ‘plant instinct,’ if I may be permitted 
to use the expression. In completing his lecture on any topic, 
he commonly wound up with the admonition, ‘Treat thy 
plants, boys, as thee would treat thvself,’ which, after all, 
contains a good deal of wisdom. 
‘“The water-lilies were Mr. Gurney’s hobby. When he was 
wanted the first place to look for him was around the lily 
ponds. I well recall his delight when Director Trelease re- 
ported to him that a special appropriation had been allowed 
for a Victoria Regia pond, about 1895, I think. Later he grew 
an immense collection of seedling nympheas, out of which 
he developed two or three valuable varieties. 
‘“Temperamentally Mr. Gurney was conservative, and it 
was seldom that he had to back up on a statement. On one 
occasion we boys attempted to corner him on some mooted 
scientific question, so a question box was instituted and the 
first query ended, ‘If so, why so—if not, why not?’ He re- 
plied jocularly, ‘Now, boys, that’s a corker, isn’t it?’ and 
