12 



HORTICULTURE. 



January 4, 190S 



Obit 



uary 



George Wainwright. 

 George Wainwright. nurseryman 

 and florist of Trenton. N. .J., whose 

 death occurred early on the 31st De- 

 ceniljer. 19117, and whom yon spoke of 

 in your last issue as having undergone 

 an operation lor cataract, which had 

 rendered him helpless for three or 

 four years, was my dearest friend. 

 and the bravest, most honest and 

 simple-minded man I ever knew. 



Wainwright came of an excellent 

 old Yorkshire family, several of whom 

 made most enviable reputations for 

 themselves. Henry, a younger brother. 

 was mayor of Doncaster for several 

 successive terms, and when he died as 

 alderman, Doncaster suspended all 

 business for his funeral. An uncle, 

 John Wainwright. was quite an his- 

 torian, havin'g written several his- 

 tories of the Yorkshire Wapentakes, 

 and a brochure on the "landing of 

 Julius Caesar in England." 



George Wainwright was 82 years 

 old on the 4th February last, when 

 the writer and a few of his old friends 

 gave him a surprise party. During 

 last summer he felt he must discon- 

 tinue business, and sold his nursery 

 grounds on Princeton avenue; soon 

 afterwaids he underwent the opera- 

 tion for his sight, which resulted in 

 its partial restoration, but was of 

 course a shock to a man of his age. 



On Christmas Day I dined with his 

 family, and Wainwright indulged me 

 with one of his characteristic argu- 

 ments on evolution. After dinner he 

 seemed exhausted, laid down on a 

 couch, and soon to bed. On the 

 morning of the 30th early he arose 

 for a drink of water, stumbled, fell, 

 severely hurt and shocked himself. 

 and never recovered but for a few 

 moments' recognition of myself and 

 one or two of his family. 



Wainwright learned his business in 

 this country with , the late Robert 

 Buist of Philadelphia, serving him in 

 company with the late Thomas llee- 

 han. He then came to Trenton and 

 about 1854 bought 100 acres of land 

 where the Fashion Farm is now. and 

 for a short time he conducted a farm 

 there. He eventually decided to es- 

 tablish a nursery for himself, and in 

 1857 he bought the Wainwright Nur- 

 series at Princeton and Ingham ave- 

 nue. This tract he cultivated until 

 last Jul.v, when he sold the property 

 to Harrisburg parties and retired to 

 private life. 



He was fond of roses, and raised 

 several fine hybrids. The "Dinsmore" 

 w-as one of his. and was brought to 

 the notice of the late Peter Hender- 

 son by the writer through an article 

 in The Country Gentleman, describ- 

 ing its perpetual blooming. It is not 

 so fine a grower on the Atlantic as 

 on parts of the Pacific coast, how- 

 ever, but Henderson bought it. in com- 

 pany with John Henderson of Flush- 

 ing, and changed its name from 

 the "Pocahontas" — Wainwright's 

 name. On his old grounds there is 

 one of the finest male trees of Ginkgo 

 biloba in the country. 



For many years past Wainwright 

 made a sowing of seeds of Magnolia 

 Lennei. of which he had a fine speci- 



men, and as you know, this was 

 claimed to be a hybrid. My friend 

 and I watched those seedlings with 

 great interest, and some were very 

 remarkable. Some had golden foli- 

 age, one was dark inside and out, 

 far darker than the darkest atropur- 

 pureas or nigras I have seen. But 

 there was no trace of the tree form 

 among them, and I feel sure that all 

 the so-called hybrids of bush form 

 are nothing but obovatas. 



Mr. Wainwright was liberal, kindly, 

 honest, a good father, a warm friend 

 and a grand Englishman. 



Requiescat in pace. J. MacP. 



John Clark. 



A terrible calamity, one of the sad- 

 dest events of the holiday season, was 

 the tragic death of John Clark, aged 

 42, his wife Fanny, 35, and their three 

 children, John Clark, Jr.. 11 years, 

 Philip, 7 years and Doris, 4 years, all 

 of whom jjerished in a fire which de- 

 stroyed their home at Watertown, 

 Mass., early on the morning of Decem- 

 ber 27. 



John Clark was a salesman for the 

 H. E. Fiske Seed Company, of Boston. 

 His father John F. Clark is em- 



JOHN Cl.AIlK 



ployed at the Botanic Garden in Wash- 

 ington, one brother is engaged in the 

 florist busines in Washington, and two 

 other brothers. George and James are 

 in the emiiloy of H. A. Dreer. Philadel- 

 phia. Mr. Clark has been in the seed 

 business from his youth up. He had 

 been wi'h Peter Henderson & Co. 

 Xew York. Joseph Breck & Sons. Thos. 

 J. Grey & Co. and W. W. Rawson & 

 Co.. Boston, previous to engaging with 

 the Fiske Company. He was widely 

 known and the calamity has cast a 

 gloom over the seed and florist trade 

 circles about Boston, where he was a 

 member of the Massachusetts Horti- 

 cultuial Society and the Gardeneis' and 

 Florists' Club'. The cause of the fire 

 is. a mystery. Xeighbors discovered 

 the blaze about 1 A. M. and sent in an 

 alarm, but the firemen were absent on 

 another call and there was some de- 

 lay. The bodies of Mr. Clark and the 

 two boys were found in the hall at the 

 head of the stairs, death having come 

 from sufff)cation. The mother and lit- 



tle girl could not be reached until 

 after the fire had been extinguished 

 and their bodies were badly burned. 

 The date was the eleventh birthday of 

 the eldest boy. All were buried in one 

 grave in Ridgelawn Cemetery. The 

 funeral services were held in the opea 

 air in the presence of about two thou- 

 sand people. Many beautiful floral 

 offerings from the seed trade, the 

 Florists' Club and other organizations 

 and individuals, testified to the re- 

 spect and sorrow of Mr. Clark's asso- 

 ciates. 



Reuben H. Warder. 



Reuben H. Warder, secretary of the 

 Lincoln Park Board and superinten- 

 dent of the park for the last six and 

 one-half years, died on December 26. 

 at his home, 50 St. James place, Chi- 

 cago, after an illness of two days. 

 He was 64 years old. 



Mr. Warder, who was born in Cin- 

 cinnati, relinquished his position as 

 superintendent of the park in his na- 

 tive city to come to Chicago in June, 

 1901. At that time he was known as 

 a skilled horticulturist, and his com- 

 ing to this city at the solicitation of 

 the Lincoln Park board was for the 

 purpose of rehabilitating the North 

 Side parks. This work has been ac- 

 complishfd under his direction, and 

 the members of the board refer to his 

 efforts in high terms of praise. Mr. 

 Warder's father. J. A. Warder, was 

 one of the distinguished hortlcul- 

 tuiists of his time, belonging to most 

 of the societies interested in that 

 work, and he took an active part in 

 the formation of organizations calcu- 

 lated to spread the study of this par- 

 ticular branch. The junior Mr. War- 

 der took a deep interest in the recon- 

 struction of Lincoln Park, and all of 

 the innovations are along lines sug- 

 gested by him. Board members were 

 impressed with the deep study which 

 he gave to his work. The body was 

 taken to Cincinnati for burial there. 



Myrtle Rosenfield. 



J. F. Rosenfield. peony specialist of 

 West Point, Nebr.. has been greatly 

 afflicted i:i the loss of his charming 

 and gifted daughter Myrtle, aged 20 

 years, who died December 16th. 



The ftollowing is from the local 

 press. 



"Accomplished in music, a pure and 

 spotless character, a cordial greeting 

 for everyone, kindness personified in 

 her being for father, sisters and broth- 

 ers, the light of their home, one of the 

 most welcome callers in any of our 

 homes, a favorite among the young 

 people., this young lady was on earth 

 long enough to leave every life with 

 whom she came in contact better, and 

 the good seeds sown will multiply a 

 thousandfold in their fruitage during 

 the years? to come." 



Service was held at the home and 

 also at the Congregational Church, the 

 poet pastor, Rev. Crofts, of national 

 reputation, officiating. Some years ago 

 Mrs. Rosenfield died, leaving eight 

 children; then Myrtle took charge of 

 the home. The great loss falls heavi- 

 ly on the family. C. S. HARRISON. 



Walter White. 



Walter White, one of the oldest 

 flower growers in Philadelphia, died 

 at the Old Men's Home December 26, 



