December 21, 1907 



horticulture: 



819 



Obituary 



William W. Edgar. 



The news of the death of W. W. 

 Edgar on Dec. 18, although not un- 

 expected, will carry a pang of great 

 sadness and a sense of irreparable 

 loss to a host of friends far and near, 

 who have come to regard him as one 

 of the best and noblest friends, a 

 shining light in horticulture, a main- 

 stay in every fraternal movement 

 within the circle of his activities. He 

 po.ssessed a warm and affectionate 

 heart and was never happier than 

 when he had gathered around him, 

 as he frequently did. at his green- 

 houses and in his cozy home in 

 Waverley, a merry party of his florist 

 and gardener friends. Whenever an 

 entertainment or gathering of the fra- 

 ternity was planned, a hearty sup- 

 porter and faithful helper was always 

 found in Mr. Edgar. He will be 

 missed and mourned. His example 

 should serve as an inspiration to those 



Wi).i,i,\M W. EiKiAi;. 



that follow him. His industry, saga- 

 city and untiring energy are worthy 

 of emulation by every young man in 

 the profession who aims to make his 

 career a success and to merit the re- 

 spect and love of his fellows. "He was 

 a man, take him tor all in all." 



William W. Edgar was born in Nes- 

 ton, Cheshire, England, April 28, 1843. 

 He commenced early in the gardening 

 line and worked on several large es- 

 tates in England and coming to this 

 country in 1867 he was employed on 

 the Pratt estate, now Oakley Country 

 Club of Watertown, Mass., also as 

 head gardener for seven years to Gov. 

 Claflin at Newtonville, Mass. After- 

 wards he was employed by S. J. Pow- 

 ers at South Framingham, and then 

 <;ame to Waverley and started busi- 

 ness in 1885. He was the first com- 

 mercial grower to import the Lorraine 

 Begonia in 1898 and has won wide re- 

 pute for the high quality of this and 

 other decorative material, especially 

 Easter stock, as grown by him. Mr. 

 Edgar was a life member of the S. A. 

 F.. member of the American Rose 



Society, Gardeners' and Florists' Club 

 of Boston and a number of fraternal 

 organizations. He is survived by a 

 wife and children, his daughter Grace 

 being the wife of J. McHutchison of 

 New York. 



William H. S. Wood. 

 William H. S. Wood of New York 

 city, died at his home, 14 East 56th 

 street, on December 11, aged 67 years. 

 Mr. Wood was a life member of the 

 New York Horticultural Society and 

 the American Pomological Society and 

 an incorpoiator and member of the 

 New York Botanical Society. He was 

 the founder of the publishing house 

 of Wm. Wood & Co., and has been 

 president of the Bowery Savings Bank 

 since 1903. 



Samuel H. Walker. 



Samuel H. Walker of Taunton, Mass., 

 died suddenly on December 3. Mr. 

 Walker was for many years a success- 

 ful florist in Taunton, having built 

 the Weir street greenhouses which are 

 now occupied by Willard & Williams. 

 He was C9 years of age and leaves a 

 daughter. 



Mrs. C. W. Pike. 

 Mrs. C. W. Pike, for the past fifteen 

 years iu the retail fiorist business in 

 Racine, Wis., died at her home on De- 

 cember 7. Mrs. Pike was at one time 

 a member of the Society of American 

 Florists and v/as highly esteemed by 

 all who knew her. 



Robert Faulk. 

 Robert Faulk, for many years a 

 member of the firm of R. Faulk & Son, 

 Pittsburg, Pa., died on December 15 

 at the age of 59. A widow, three sons 

 and two daughters survive him. 



Alexander Hukill. 

 Alexander Hukill, a retired nursery- 

 man of Wilkinsburg, Pa., died on De- 

 cember 5 at the age of 69. 



CROPS OF UNPRECEDENTED 

 VALUE. 



The Eleventh Annual Report of the 

 Secretary of Agriculture opens with 

 the statement that the farm production 

 for 1907 is well up to the average in 

 quantity, while its value is much above 

 that of any preceding year. The farm- 

 er will this year have more money to 

 spend and more to invest than he ever 

 had before out of his year's work. 



The report calls attention to the 

 wonderful wealth-producing power of 

 alfalfa. It not only yields several cut- 

 tings of most nutritious hay during a 

 season, but actually enriches the 

 ground on which it grows by taking 

 nitrogen from the air. The Depart- 

 fent and Ihe State experiment stations 

 have done much to promote the exten- 

 sion of alfalfa growing. While pro- 

 duction is yet confined mainly to the 

 Great West, this forage plant is yearly 

 gaining a more substantial foothold in 

 the Central and Southern States. The 

 total crop of alfalfa hay in 1907 is es- 

 timated to be worth $100,000,000, 



The seven cereal crops produced 4,- 

 135,000,000 bushels, showing a loss of 

 214,000,000 bushels, or 5 per cent, be- 

 low the five-year average, the loss be- 

 ing chiefly due to oats. The total 

 value is $2,378,000,000; this exceeds 

 1906 by $296,000,000 and is 23 per cent, 

 aliove the average. 



WINTER PROTECTION OF BOX. 



December 6, 1907. 

 Editor of HORTICULTURE. 



Dear Sir: — I should like to beg the 

 use of a little space in your valuable 

 paper for an inquiry about the care of 

 Box. Here at "The Orchard" we have 

 .5298 feet of Box Hedge, and 116 

 clumps and standards, many of which 

 are very handsome specimens. The 

 prevailing idea here seems to be that 

 it is necessary to shovel the snow off 

 the hedge after every snow storm. 

 The snow is apt to freeze and form 

 ice, and they claim this destroys the 

 Box. We are very careful to tie up 

 all Box to prevent the snow from 

 breaking it. In my estimation, this is 

 all that is necessary. 



This is a very serious question for 

 us, and where better to go to have it 

 answered than to HORTICULTURE? 

 Yours very truly, 



H. W. CLARK. 



Southampton, L. I., N. Y. 



On the question of shovelling snow 

 off the box hedges at every snow 

 storm, I should think it unnecessary 

 if the hedges are well tied up so that 

 the snow cannot break them down. If 

 ice forms so as to break down the 

 hedge it had better be removed. In 

 very heavy snow storms it is always 

 well to go over and shake the trees 

 so that the heavy snow will not break 

 the branches. We have no large 

 hedges of box in this part of Massa- 

 chusetts, therefore have no need of 

 these precautions, but in choice col- 

 lections of evergreen, which might 

 amount to the same idea, we do not 

 shovel off the snow except where 

 there is a possibility of the snow 

 breaking them down. We look at a 

 heavy fall of snow more as a protec- 

 tion than otherwise. If the hedge 

 were thought of any great account I 

 should protect it by a slight covering 

 of pine bush stuck firmly in the 

 ground and tied at the tops. The ice 

 forms more on Long Island than it 

 does here. I should leave the plants 

 as they are and not shake the snow 

 off except, as I say, in extreme cases, 

 as there is no better protection than 

 the snow. Of course, in ice storms, 

 such as we sometimes have, it would 

 be well to go over them and shake 

 off the ice. JACKSON DAWSON. 



MARKET GARDENING COURSE. 



In the Winter courses in agriculture 

 at Pennsylvania State College, horti- 

 culture has a prominent place, but the 

 importance of instruction in market 

 gardening and greenhouse manage- 

 ment has led the college to make spe- 

 cial provision for it, as the demand 

 for vegetables and small fruits is in- 

 creasing. 



Ralph L. Watts, a graduate of State 

 College and one of the most successful 

 market gardeners of Pennsylvania, 

 has been secured to assist Prof. Butz 

 in the Winter course. He is a scien- 

 tist who has made a big commercial 

 success and is a popular instructor at 

 the institutes of New Jersey, Mary- 

 land and Pennsylvania. He will pre- 

 sent his methods to the students who 

 take the horticultural course at State 

 College. These Winter courses begin 

 December 3, continuing twelve weeks 

 and the enrollment of students prom- 

 ises to be large.— Philadelphia Press. 



