188 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[June, 



Literature, Travels I Personal Notes, 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



James Vick. — As we go to press, the telegraph 

 brings news of the death of this distinguished 

 horticulturist in Rochester, on Tuesday, May 

 16th, in his sixty-fourth year. The immense in- 

 fluence he has exercised on the great progress 

 of American horticulture is too well known to 

 need any more than a passing note at this time. 



We make room for the following from a cor- 

 respondent : 



"James Vick is dead! Sadder words than 

 these my pen could not utter. Wherever a 

 flower is grown, in this broad land, there will be 

 hearts touched with sorrow at this mournful 

 news. In more than a quarter of a million gar- 

 dens, there will be, this summer, monuments of 

 flowers to remind that he who sent them has 

 finished his labors. 



"No man, in his day, has so endeared himself 

 to the people. No man, in private life, was so 

 widely known. His death will be mourned over 

 the whole country. Everybody who met him 

 was his friend. , 



"None knew him but to love him, 

 None named him but to praise. 



James Vick was, in the fullest sense of the 

 word, a Christian gentleman. His daily life was 

 a record of good works and kind deeds. The 

 road from his heart to his pocket was ever a 

 straight and a broad one, and no grass ever grew 

 in it for want of use. To high and humble he 

 was the same cheerful, genial man, with a pleas- 

 ant, hopeful word for all. 



''It has been my privilege to meet him almost 

 daily for many years, and if there is in the world 

 a better man, I have not yet seen him. 



"Mr. Vick died of pneumonia on the morning 

 of May 16th, after a very brief illness. He was 

 born in Portsmouth, England, November 23d, 

 1818, and was, therefore, about sixty-four when 

 he died. He has been in his time printer, 

 editor, author, publisher, merchant. He came 

 to America in 1833, and learned the printer's 

 trade in New York, and set type with Horace 



Greeley. From New York he came to Roches- 

 ter, and became interested in various publica- 

 tions, among others the Horticulturist, and Moor's 

 Rural New Yorker. When engaged on the latter 

 he first commenced to grow flower seeds in his 

 garden, and send them out 'gratis to those who, 

 like himself, loved flowers It made the com- 

 mencement of his great business. He com- 

 menced the business pra^^tically in 1860. His 

 success has been marvelous. Three thousand 

 (3,000) letters per day was not an unusual occur- 

 rence, and more per day has often been received. 

 He has paid more than thirty thousand dollars 

 ($30,000) per year for postage, and his Floral 

 Guide has a circulation of over 200,000 copies. 

 All this has been accomplished by hard work 

 and faithful interest to his customers." 



Women in Horticulture. — This is the subject 

 of a paper by M. Charles Joly, before the French 

 National Society of Horticulture. He does not 

 undervalue the "piano" education which so 

 many ladies receive, but believes that if practi- 

 cal matters, such as thorough horticultural 

 knowledge were added, it would often be a bet- 

 ter aid in misfortune, than the more elegant 

 branches which are alone taught. He would have 

 horticultural, societies offer such premiums as 

 would encourage practical horticultural studies 

 among young ladies. 



Webster and Papaw. — A correspondent sug- 

 gests that W. G. B. may consult his own authori- 

 ties to some profit, in this that " Webster states 

 that Papaw, or Pawpaw, — either is correct." For 

 our part, as before suggested, we should not re- 

 gard Webster's decision as final in a case of this 

 kind, and we doubt whether Webster himself 

 would claim such perfection. There is always 

 new light to gleam on old subjects of this class. 

 The reason given for Pawpaw in the original 

 note seems so conclusive that we incline to 

 adopt the Pawpaw to the exclusion of Papaw, 

 unless still more light come to the rescue. 



We may take occasion to note that the origi- 

 nal paragraph was copied from a letter, and not 

 strictly rendered. 



