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THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[October, 



" A Flower Sermon " is preached every year 

 at St. Katharine Cree Church, Leadenhall street, 

 London, on Whit Tuesday evening. On the last 

 occasion all parts of the edifice were crowded, 

 chiefly with young people, most of whom brought 

 nosegays according to request. The charity 

 children in the front gallery had all been supplied 

 with bouquets, and they presented a pretty sight. 

 But for the high pews the parterres would have 

 been as regular and conspicuous below. 



It is now twenty-five years since Dr. Whitte- 

 more preached the first of these annual flower 

 sermons, thinking thus to interest the hearts of 

 his youthful parishioners. There is always a 

 bouquet in the pulpit, which the preacher never 

 fails to smell before beginning his discourse. It 

 was first presented by a little girl who is now a 

 grown up woman with children. At the close of 

 the service when the congregation were dispers- 

 ing, it was interesting to see the gutter children 

 clustering around the doors, begging eagerly for 

 flowers, which were freely bestowed upon them 

 by their little friends to whom Providence had 

 been more kind. 



The holiness of flowers. They are every- 

 where over the earth, evidently given to re- 

 mind us that there is an Eden, and that we 

 may regain it. During the cholera visita- 

 tion of 1866 an unknown man walked from 

 bed to bed in the London hospitals laying a 

 flower on every pillow, with the words, "For 

 Jesus' Sake." His gift, inspired by a thought, in 

 the night had sublime effect. In 1874 a snow- 

 drop, a primrose and two or three violets were 

 sent in the early spring to a sewing circle of 

 poor widows. They were passed around two 

 hundred hands for their fragrance and freshness 

 to be enjoyed, and then divided among three 

 dying persons, one of whom passed away clasp- 

 ing them. 



Still we hear — and often hear — the sneering 

 question, What's the use of flowers? you can 

 neither eat them nor wear them. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



Patents for Plants and Fruits. — Lex. — It is 

 extremely rare that we decline to admit articles 

 to our columns that are not of a personal char- 

 acter, and never for the reason that the writer 

 diflTers from our views. Any respectful article is 

 admitted to our pages, provided it tells anything 



new, or is not evidently written under a misap- 

 prehension. " Lex " wants to know why we did 

 not publish an article of his. It was for the last 

 reason. He tried to show that tlie Gardener's 

 Monthly is wrong in maintaining that there 

 "should be no laws protecting the originators of 

 fruits and flowers." On the contrary we believe 

 there should be such laws. But the laws pro- 

 posed by some people are so thoroughly imprac- 

 ticable that we decline to have our space wasted 

 in discussing them. The " laws " are about as 

 good as they can be now. We know of a person 

 who has been some six years working on a new 

 plant, and who will probably realize $20,000 for 

 his " labor and skill " next year. This is as good 

 as he would probably do under any " patent law." 

 Indeed, there are plenty of ways by which the 

 originator of any good thing can be " protected " 

 now, provided he has a good thing, and has the 

 proper judgment to make use of these ways. If 

 he has not this, not even a " patent law " will 

 help him. "Lex" misundertands us; that is 

 why the paper did not appear. 



The JUD.V.S Trek. — The Cercis canadensis, our 

 " Red Bud," is known as one of the Judas trees, 

 on one species of which, it is said by Gerard, 

 Judas hung himself. But jjopular tradition in 

 the East makes the Elder tree the one. Our 

 American Elder is but a weak shrub, but the Eu- 

 ropean and the Pacific representatives of the 

 genus grow to the dimensions of small trees. 



The Font Grove Greenhouses. — At Slinger- 

 land's, 7 miles from this city, on the Albany and 

 Susquehanna railroad, are the Font Grove 

 greenhouses, belonging to James Hendrick, Esq- 

 There are in all about 1,500 running feet of roofs, 

 part of which are similar to those of Peter Hen- 

 derson, in Jersey City. One of the houses, how- 

 ever, is widely different from anything we have 

 before seen. It is in the shape of the Geddes 

 harrow, having wings branching off from the 

 central house at an angle of 45 degrees. The 

 heating apparatus is placed in the central build- 

 ing, and as this is on the lowest ground, the 

 wings are readily heated, partly by flues and 

 partly from a saddle boiler placed over the fur- 

 nace. By this arrangement an unsightly hollow 

 is utilized, and the several greenhouses are 

 heated at a minimum cost for pipes and flues. 

 An $85 Albany boiler is found ample to heat 

 680 feet of pipes. The central building is double 

 the height of the others, and was intended for 

 camellias, azaleas, <$:c., and proves well suited to 



