158 



THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY 



[May, 



plant, especially valued as being the gift of John 

 Hunter, the Receiver of Taxes, and which was 

 raised from seed by the Tax Receiver. Two re- 

 markably healthy Screw Pines are among these 

 privileged plants, and there is a " Dumb Cane- 

 Arum," a much better floral emblem of silence for 

 a mayor's office than the Rose of Harpocrates, 

 since it has the power of enforcing its desire in 

 this respect. Gardening ought to be popular 

 among Philadelphia officials with such an illus- 

 trious example. Among the recently elected " City 

 Fathers" are John H. Graham, head of the well- 

 known seed firm of Graham, Emlen & Passmore. 

 Thomas Meehan, the editor of this magazine, is 

 also among the "elect." 



Walter Elder.— This well-known Philadel- 

 phia gardener a:nd horticultural write?- died on the 

 1 5th of March, somewhat unexpectedly, though 

 advanced in years. He was a native of Scotland, 

 and an enthusiastic lover of his profession. Some 

 thirty years ago he issued a practical work on gar- 

 dening which had a wide sale, and nothing gave 

 him more pleasure than to freely give the results 

 of his wide experience for the benefit of others. 



Daniel B. Smith. — If not to let the left hand 

 know what the right hand doeth represents the 

 highest type of manhood, we have surely a good 

 illustration of it in the life of Daniel B. Smith, who 

 died in Germantown on the 29th of March, 1882, 

 in his ninety- first year. Only a few weeks before 

 the writer of this attended the graduation exercises 

 of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, an insti- 

 tution so famous over the whole United States 

 that nearly two hundred young men and one 

 young woman, gathered together from Canada to 

 Texas, were sent back to their homes amidst the 

 plaudits of four thousand people who met in the 

 Philadelphia Academy of Music to greet them. 

 Possibly not one of all this vast throng — not one 

 among this large body of successful students, knew 

 that the chief founder of the institution was Daniel 

 B. Smith, much less that he was still living, though 

 then on the bed of death. Possibly no man ever 

 lived who cared less for applause ; no one who 

 more truly loved to do good for the mere pleasure 

 of doing it. He was a diligent student through a 

 wide range of science, but botany and horticulture 

 seemed to have the most enduring charms for him. 

 In his seventy- fifth year he took with the writer of 

 this a botanical trip of ten miles to " see once 

 more the AUosurus atropurpurea growing on its 

 native rocks," and at its conclusion remarked that 

 it was probably " the last long trip forme." He 



was one of the old class of amateur horticultu- 

 rists, now almost extinct, whose garden traversed 

 by gravel walks, and lined by neatly kept box 

 edgings, was a perfect botanic garden of hardy 

 flowers, which afforded a source of pleasure and 

 floral study through the whole year. 



As soon as he found he had to give up his long 

 walks among the wild flowers, he spent the later 

 years pleasantly in going over, correctly naming, 

 and rearranging his large herbarium, which he 

 had the pleasure of presenting to the College 

 which he was instrumental in founding. 



In the broad Quaker spirit which animated him, 

 he had very much at heart the giving of an equal 

 chance to both sexes and all colors in the pursuit 

 of knowledge, and possibly few things rendered 

 him the more ready to depart in peace than the 

 announcement, in his dying days, that a young 

 lady, Susan Hayhurst, had for the first time taken 

 the degree of Doctor in Pharmacy in the College 

 which he founded. 



No stone will mark the spot where his Quaker 

 brethren have laid him. Full well they know 

 that even granite will melt away. That his friends 

 may do for other neighbors what he did for them 

 was the height of his aspirations for future fame; 

 and it must have been a great satisfaction to him 

 to feel that though the time must come when his 

 name will be forgotten, what he always tried to do 

 in his quiet way would have a beneficial influence 

 on human progress. 



First Annual Report of the Chief Exec- 

 utive VlTICULTURAL OFFICER OF THE StATE Vi- 



ticultural Commissioners of California for 

 THE Year 1881. — California has an important 

 industry in her vineyards, and these reports, pub- 

 lished by the State, are issued as aids to vineyard 

 progress. Besides the copious notes suggested by 

 every day experience in California, this volume 

 has translations of valuable French works relating 

 to the vine, so that the California grape-grower 

 may profit by whatever is happening in the Old 

 World as well as in his own home. The volume 

 contains one hundred and ninety-two pages. 



Report of Michigan State Po.mological 

 Society. — From Chas. W. Garfield, Secretary, 

 Lansing, Mich. Near five hundred pages of ex- 

 tremely interesting matter. This is the seventh 

 annual one, and published by the State. 



Bulletin of the Buffalo Naturalists' 

 Field Club. — Pubhshed by W. H. Hicks, Buf- 

 falo, N. Y. It is worthy of note that while scien- 

 tific serials continue to disappear in the Old World, 



