332 



/IORTI CULTU RE 



March 17, 1906 



I 



OBITUARY 



i 



George Norman. 

 A familiar figure at the Royal Hor- 

 ticultural Society's shows has passed 

 away in the person of Mr. George 

 Norman, V. M. H., who for 30 years 

 had held the post of head gardener 

 at Hatfield House, the residence of 

 Lord Salishury. The post was one of 

 honor and responsibility, for the gar- 

 dens at Hatfield House are amongst 

 the most famous in Great Britain. 

 More than 200 years ago Pepys de- 

 scribed their manifold charms, and 

 earlier still a foreigner who paid a 

 visit there recorded his opinion that 

 in the Hatfield Gardens he had seen 

 one of the most beautiful spots in 

 the world. The celebrated Lime 

 Walk, the Elizabethan Priory garden, 

 the famous mulberry trees planted by 

 King James, and the maze with 

 hedges of yew, are some of the spe- 

 cial features which attract the visitor. 

 Some important work has been car- 

 ried out by Mr. Norman. "My pri- 

 mary aim," he once said, "is to keep 

 up the character of the gardens, mak- 

 ing experiments as circumstances re- 

 quire, in accordance with modern de- 

 velopments, but preserving the an- 

 cient features in whatever changes 

 are made." In addition to superin- 

 tending the extensive grounds Mr. 

 Norman was responsible for the ex- 

 tensive decorative work on the occa- 

 sion of the royal visits to Hatfield 

 House. He was a first-class gardener, 

 with a perennial geniality which en- 

 deared him to a wide circle of friends. 

 At the interment, on March 5th, many 

 attended to pay a tribute to his rev- 

 ered memory. W. H. ADSETT. 



Henry Knott. 

 Mr. Henry Knott, whose death oc- 

 curred at Cape May, N. J., on Tuesday, 

 March 6, had spent nearly all of 

 his life in the business. He estab- 

 lished himself in Cape May as a com- 

 mercial florist in 1876 and by energy 

 and hard work built up a nice business 

 and did much to improve and beautify 

 that celebrated summer resort. He re- 

 tired from active work eight years ago. 

 Mr. Knott was one of the worthiest 

 and most respected citizens, and during 

 his years of business life made many 

 warm friends. He had been ill only 

 four weeks and his death was as his 

 life, beautiful, calm and peaceful. He 

 was 85 years of age, a native of Ire- 

 land. All of his life almost has been 

 spent in the United States. He leaves 

 a daughter and one son, who carries 

 on the business. 



James Clark. 

 James Clark, familiarly known as 

 "Boss" Clark, who for thirty years 

 was an employe of the U. S. Botanic 

 Garden, died at his home at White 

 Oak, Md., on March 8. He was a man 



of exceptionally fine character and 

 temperament, numbering among his 

 intimate friends many high in official 

 life at the national capital. Mr. Clark 

 was the hero of the following story 

 published in the Washington Star 

 some twenty years ago: 



"In the northern division of the conserva- 

 tory in the botanic gardens there is grow- 

 ing a fruit tree known to the heathen 

 Chinee as 'Leechee.' Just before the as- 

 sembling of this Congress, it had a goodly 

 quantity of its curious-looking, very agree- 

 able fruit on it, which was watched with 

 interest by the Highland Scot from the 

 land of Argyle, in whose care it had flour- 

 ished for many a year. The said Caledo- 

 nian has all the demure gravity in externals 

 of the great chief himself. Having been 

 taught to articulate in the language of Os- 

 sian. and speaking no other till an adult, 

 he has never fairly mastered the language 

 of the Sassanach, but speaks it slowly with 

 a peculiar emphasis. While passing around 

 in the performance of his duties he discov- 



The Late F. W. Rioter. 



See obituary, March 3. 



Bred two well-dressed men stealing the 

 leechees and eating them. With uplifted 

 hands he exclaimed, 'gude gracious are ye 

 eating thae poisonous fruit';' In an in- 

 stant the hands of both were on the place 

 the fruit had gone to. The door being open 

 the race of the pair to Dr. Hickling's, the 

 nearest drug store, there to be relieved, 

 was a rapid one, to say the least. Some 

 delay occurred at the start by one of the 

 outdoor hands ordering them off the grass. 

 Relief could have been obtained easier had 

 they looked over their shoulders and seen 

 the shaking sides of the canny Scot as he 

 watched the race. Sidney Smith might 

 have learned that something less than a 

 surgical operation was necessary to get a 

 joke out of the head of a Scotsman." 



J. C. Rennison. 

 J. C. Rennison died at his home in 

 Sioux City, la., on February 24, aged 

 67 years. His death was the result 

 of a fall on the icy sidewalk which he 

 sustained a week previous, but which 

 had not been regarded as causing any 

 serious injury. Mr. Rennison was a 



native of New York State, but has 

 been a resident of Sioux City for 23 

 years, where he built up a prosperous 

 florist business. He joined the So- 

 ciety of American Florists in 1887 and 

 served as State vice-president for 

 Iowa in 1888 and on the Executive 

 Committee in 1894-5-6. He was a con- 

 stant attendant on the conventions of 

 the society, where by his congenial 

 and cheerful temperament he made 

 many warm friends. 



J. C. Gardiner. 

 J. C. Gardiner of San Francisco, a 

 veteran of the Civil War, a member of 

 Lincoln Post, G. A. R., of this city and 

 employed as head gardener and land- 

 scape chief on the government's Mare 

 Island reservation near the city, and 

 very well known to the trade of San 

 Francisco and universally respected, 

 was suddenly stricken by death on the 

 afternoon of March 4 while in the 

 chaplain's house kneeling at prayer. 



Ferdinand Boulon. 

 Ferdinand Boulon, died at Sea Cliff, 

 X. Y., on March 6, aged 65 years. Mr. 

 Boulon came to this country in 1881 

 after a thorough training and experi- 

 • in e in his native country, France, in 

 all branches of horticultural and land- 

 scape work and was accounted one of 

 the best informed gardeners in 

 America. He started the establishment 

 at Sea Cliff twenty years ago and his 

 son has been a partner with him for 

 the past two years. 



Henry C. Beebe. 

 Henry C. Beebe of Middletown, 

 Conn., died at his home on Ferry 

 street on March 6 after a lingering ill- 

 ness. He was 57 years old. 



The sorrow that has come to the 

 home of Frank L. Moore, Chatham, N. 

 .1., in the sudden death of his oldest 

 son, will call forth sympathy from the 

 trade. The young man was a student 

 in Columbia University, a fine scholar 

 and had a promising future. 



Commencing with this issue, our 

 readers will notice the advertisement 

 of the Hart Pioneer Nurseries of Fort 

 Scott, Kas. This is an old established 

 firm, having organized their business 

 in a small way in 1865. until at the 

 present time their nurseries comprise 

 over 600 acres and is one of the largest 

 in the west. 



They advertise their stock to be 

 strictly first-class, pure bred in every 

 respect and guaranteed true to name. 



All of our readers who contemplate 

 planting Nursery stock of any kind 

 this spring, will do well to drop a 

 card to the above firm, asking for 

 their wholesale catalogue. And you 

 will do us a favor if you will kindly 

 mention the name of this paper in 

 writing to them. 



