1883.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST, 



285 



when parties are allowed to spend weekly, one, 

 two, or three pages for the course of a year over 

 the name of a plant and its origin, as has been 

 •done in England, over the Helleborus niger, it is 

 neither pleasing nor instructive. Is it worth so 

 much to find out if it should be called St. Bridget's 

 Christmas Rose, or any other name, or from whom 

 it originated? Take again the rose ; what letters 

 have been written on it 1 Yet how rarely are any 

 new ideas expressed. 



What I would urge on writers is to consider 

 whether there is a newness about what they prc- 

 pose to write. Fresh facts may often be had by 

 looking aside from trodden paths, and they will 

 often find somethingthere to interest many readers. 



LANDSCAPE GARDENING APPLIED TO 

 CEMETERIES. 



BY C. M. HOVEY, BOSTON, .M.A.SS. 



I have read, with deep regret, of the death of 

 Mr. Adolph Strauch, of Cincinnati Garden, and 

 Superintendent of the Spring Grove Cemetery 

 since 1854, and to whose excellent taste and ski 1 

 its beauty, so generally recognized, is undoubtedly 

 due. But I was much surprised to read in the re- 

 port of the cemetery committee, upon his decease, 

 that "Mr. Strauch originated the landscape lawn 

 system for cemeteries, gradually developed its im- 

 portant details, and demonstrated its superiority." 

 There could not possibly be a greater error, and 

 no greater injustice done to the memory of one 

 who was not only the first, but who has done*more 

 for landscape improvement, the advancement of 

 arboriculture, or the progress of rural adornment 

 than all others. 



I scarcely need refer to the late J. C. Louden, 

 who died long before the Spring Grove Cemetery 

 was established, and more than ten years before 

 Mr. Strauch took charge of the grounds. Two 

 years before his death, in 1842, he described the 

 '"Principles of Landscape Gardening and of Land- 

 scape Architecture, applied to the laying out of 

 public cemeteries," (Gard. Mag. Vol. 19, p. 93) and 

 even before that the South Garden Metropolitan 

 Cemetery had laid out their grounds in landscape 

 style, a fine representation of which, in a litho- 

 graphic plate, may be found in the same volume, 

 p. 402. • 



Mr. Straach is undoubtedly entitled to all the 

 praise that the committee (of which our old friend, 

 Mr. Probasco, is chairman) for what he did to give 

 Spring Grove Cemetery its charming character. 

 He was no originator of the system, but had the 



good judgment to accept of what had already been 

 done, and do as much as he could to perfect what 

 those who did originate it endeavored to accomplish. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



To Intelligent Correspondents. — All com- 

 munications relatinq- to advertisements, subscrip- 

 tions, or other business, must be addressed to the 

 publisher, 814 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia. 



All referring to the reading matter of the maga- 

 zine must be mailed to the editor, Germantown, Pa, 



No express packages for the editor received un- 

 less prepaid ; and marked " Paid through to Ger- 

 mantown, Pa." 



The Editor's Journey.— The trip of the Editor 

 to the west and north-west embracing in geographi- 

 cal lines some 12,000 miles, was a particularly de- 

 lightful and instructive one, rendered still more 

 pleasant by the kind attentions of friends. Along 

 the Pacific coast his journey took in a large num- 

 ber of points between latitude 36° and 60°, the 

 mouth of the Chilcat River in Alaska being the 

 highest point reached, and where botanical collec- 

 tions were made at half past ten o'clock at night ! 

 Especial acknowledgements of friendly services 

 are due to Mr. Henry Shaw, of St. Louis, Mr. 

 John Reading, of Salt Lake City, Mr. Fox, of 

 San Jose, Mr. O'Neil, of Hayward's, Mr. Shinn, of 

 Niles, General Bidwill, of Chico, Mr. Hutchings, 

 of Yosemite, Dr. C. C. Parry, Dr. Kellogg, and 

 other members of the California Academy of 

 Sciences, (who kindly took charge of the plant 

 collections while the Alaska trip was being taken), 

 Mr. Thomas Meherin, of San Francisco, Mr. 

 Philip Ritz, of Walla Walla, Washington Territory, 

 Mr. Clarke, editor of the Willamette Fanner 

 Portland, Oregon, and very particularly to Mr. 

 Ed. Wickson, editor of the Pacific Rural Press, 

 who amid the very arduous tasks of editing such 

 a popular weekly paper, found time to do a very 

 great deal towards making the California part of 

 the journey instructive and delightful. In striking 

 contrast with the rude boorishness of the officers 

 of Oregon Steam Navigation Company in San Fran- 

 cisco, may be mentioned the gentlemanly courtesy 

 shown by the company's agents in Portland, 

 Oregon, who spent nearly a day in successfully 

 getting justice done through the careless indiffer- 

 ence of the San Francisco officials; and especially 

 are thanks due to Captain Carroll, and Purser 

 Downing of the "Idaho," on which vessel the 



