July 27, 1907 



HORTICULTURE 



121 



Obituary 



Samuel Henshaw. 



HE.VSHAW.— At West New Briirhton, 

 Statcii Islniid. on July 22, 1907. Samuel 

 Henshaw, aged 73 yer.i's. Funeral from 

 Ills late resiclenre. F^sbert Ave., on Wednes- 

 day evening, at eight o'clock. 



The above announcement clipped 

 from the New York daily papers will 

 bring a sense of sadness and loss to 



The Late Samuel Henshaw. 



many who knew and loved this old 

 time gardener who has now passed on 

 to his rest after many weary months 

 of painful illness. Mr. Henshaw was 

 possessed of a happy, hopeful disposi- 

 tion, which, even in his sickness, 

 never deserted him and which stayed 

 with him to the end. His was a genial 

 personality: his heart beat responsive- 

 ly whenever or wherever he came into 

 contact with his brother gardener. Vig- 

 orous mentally and physically he was 

 found always wherever the craft con- 

 gregated — at meetings and exhibitions 

 and always ready to lend a hand when 

 there was anything to be done. He 

 was one of the most active members 

 of the old New York Horticultural So- 

 ciety, and later of the New York Flor- 

 ist Club, serving the latter as president 

 for one term, also a member of the 

 S. A. F. up to the time of his death, 



Mr. Henshaw was born in Manches- 

 ter, England, 73 years ago and came 

 to this country fifty years ago. He did 

 fine landscape work on many public 

 and private grounds, including those 

 of Wm. Rockefeller. Bronx Botanical 

 Garden, Vassar Hospital and Columbia 

 University. His last work was an ex- 

 poring trip to the West Indies in 

 search of plants for the Bronx Botani- 

 cal Garden. 



M. Louis Lacroix. 



We regret to observe in the current 

 number of "Le Chrysantheme" the an- 

 nouncement of the death of M. Louis 

 Lacroix. Twenty years ago his name 

 was well known to every entliusiast in 

 Europe and probably in America, for 

 he was a raiser of new chrysanthe- 

 mums that figured prominently at most 

 of our shows with conspicuous suc- 

 cess. , 



Some of the best Japanese of his 



raising that we remember were Mile 

 Moulis, M. Ardene, Parasol. Tendresse 

 and Mile Lacroix, which last named 

 still remains in cultivation here. Then 

 there was Viviand-Morel, a famou.s 

 flower that held a foremost place in 

 every European- exhibition for many 

 years and is not quite extinct yet. Fa- 

 bian de Madiana, a remarkable variety 

 of the Japanese Anemone type, was 

 another and several others of the same 

 section. A very important addition to 

 the Incurved section Jeanne d'Arc. was 

 one that helped M. Lacroix's reputa- 

 tion. Like M, Delaux and M. de Rey- 

 dellet. his reputation as well as that of 

 several of his other comtemporar e-^ 

 v;as somewhat dimmed by the advent 

 of M. Calvat, but he rendered valuable 

 service to the cause in his day and 

 generation. M. Lacroix died at the age 

 of Go years and was one of the florists 

 of whom the town of Toulouse may 

 well be proud. 



C. HARMAN PAYNE. 

 London, Eng. 



ROSE PLANTS BY MAIL. 



(P. .Joseph Lynch before the Florists' Club 

 of Philadelphia, March 5th, 1907.) 



While the subject assigned me only 

 treats of roses by mail, I shall, never- 

 theless, take the liberty of extending 

 the scope to the plant mail order trade 

 in general. At first glance it might 

 seem that this subject was too prosaic 

 to admit of little that is new and in- 

 teresting, especially to those not en- 

 gaged in the mail order business. 

 There is, however, much in common 

 between the mail trade man and the 

 numerous other branches of the florist 

 trade. From the most humble begin- 

 ning the mail order trade, beset as it 

 has been with so many vicissitudes, 

 has made marvelous strides. Very 

 few of us realize the great work that 

 is being done in this branch of our 

 trade, a work that has brought untold 

 advantages to everyone engaged in the 

 florist business. 



The Pathfiinder of the Craft. 



I can do no better than to repeat 

 the opinion expressed upon a previous 

 occasion, that your mail order man 

 is the pioneer and pathfinder of 

 the craft, and he has carried 

 the gospel of loving flowers, es- 

 pecially roses (and how to get them 

 and grow them), to the most remote 

 parts of the country, and in a measure 

 has been the educator of the masses, 

 those who are not in close touch with 

 the large centers of population where 

 the rose grown for cut flowers can 

 make its own appeal. He has been a 

 factor in beautifying the waste places 

 of our land, and the great work in 

 which he is engaged has but com- 

 menced. He has had much to combat. 

 First of all, the. skeptical public in 

 early times refused to believe that it 

 was possible to send rose plants, or 

 plants of any kind safely by mail, par- 

 ticularly to distant points. Then, too, 

 in the beginning it would seem that 

 the postal laws were framed with 

 special reference to the mail order 

 business, to prevept it from spreading 

 to any • material extent. Thirty-five 

 years ago the rate of postage was the 

 same as that of letter postage. No 

 plant was allowed to bear a label, nor 

 was the name of the firm sending the 

 package allowed to appear on the 



outside. It would be hard to imagine 

 a condition of affairs more discour- 

 aging than this, but the germ of the 

 mail order business was firmly rooted, 

 and the early pioneers kept after the 

 Post OiRce Department until these ob- 

 noxious conditions were modified and 

 placed upon their present basis. The 

 efficiency of the mail service has been 

 improved, and now we are allowed to 

 send seeds, roots and plants of all kinds 

 under the rate of the third class post- 

 age, one cent for each two ounces or 

 fractional part thereof. While the 

 postal authorities have done much to 

 encourage the mail order business 

 there is yet ample room for further re- 

 form: in fact, with the annual deflcien- 

 cy in the revenues of the Post Office 

 Department it would seem that there 

 is a great opportunity to place the 

 Department upon a business-like basis. 

 Better Mail Facilities Needed. 



Not until ther is concerted action in 

 the mail order trade will we secure 

 such concessions as we should have, 

 and could undoubtedly get by unity 

 of movement in this direction. While 

 I will not cite the rates of the express 

 companies as a criterion of all that is 

 equitable and fair, yet in some respects 

 they are far superior to our postal 

 rates. For example, the express com- 

 pany will carry 100 pounds from Phila- 

 delphia to Pittsburg for 40c., while the 

 Post Office Department would charge 

 $8.00 for 100 pounds of mail matter. 

 The express companies conduct their 

 business upon a profitable basis, and 

 even the railroad company provides 

 splendid accommodations for the pub- 

 lic in their passenger traffic at a much 

 less rate than they charge the govern- 

 ment to carry the mails. It seems to 

 me that mail matter, particularly in 

 bulk, should be carried with reference 

 to the distance covered, just the same 

 as passenger traffic or express rates. 

 It might be urged that this would 

 bring about a great deal of unnecessary 

 confusion, but were the country divided 

 into sections or by meridians, and have 

 a rate of postage to each section, it 

 would not bring about any more con- 

 fusion than is incident to the selling of 

 railroad tickets or making express 

 rates to various parts of the country. 

 The question is one. however, so broad 

 in its aspect that I shall not treat it 

 further at this time, but it is a subject 

 that might be carefully considered by 

 the Society of American Florists. 

 And, too, the matter of a parcels post 

 system similar to that in vogue in 

 Great Britain should be sought after as 

 a measure that would revolutionize the 

 mail order business to a very great ex- 

 tent. 



Some Pernicious Practices. 



I dc not want to be classed among 

 pessimists, but in these days of re- 

 form there is an opportunity to apply 

 some of it to the mail order trade. 

 Sending roses and plants of all kinds 

 by mail and guaranteeing their safe 

 delivery to any post office or express 

 office in the United States is the funda- 

 mental principle which has made the 

 sending of plants by mail no longer a 

 risk from the purchaser's view point. 

 Year after year large sums of money 

 are spent in advertising and the send- 

 in.g out of catalogues, and the skepti- 

 cal public has been won and has con- 

 fidence in the mail order man, but in 

 the endeavor to still further increase 



