July 6, 1918 



HORTICULTURE 



11 



very large, it may be necessary to 

 limit strictly the space allowed for 

 any non-competitive display. 



J. R. Lewis, Sec. 

 736 Riverside Drive, New York. 



NARCISSUS MRS. LANGTRY NATURALIZED AMONG HEMLOCKS 



SYRACUSE ROSE SOCIETY. 



About twenty-five members of the 

 Syracuse (N. Y.) Rose Society visited 

 the Rose Test Garden at Cornell Uni- 

 versity on Saturday, June 29. The 

 visitors first inspected the gardens of 

 the Department of Floriculture, in 

 which a large number of species and 

 varieties of annuals and perennials 

 were in bloom. Professor White of 

 the Department welcomed the rosari- 

 ans to the Rose Garden and expressed 

 the hope that their visit might be- 

 come an annual affair. Dr. Beal out- 

 lined briefly the purpose and develop- 

 ment of the garden. The visitors then 

 proceeded to study the varieties in 

 bloom, noting more particularly the 

 newer varieties of Hybrid Teas and of 

 Climbers. A large number of Hybrid 

 Perpetual varieties were past their 

 prime, but many of the Hybrid Teas 

 were in excellent condition. 



Clark L. Thayer. 



OBITUARY. 



Mrs. John Zech 

 Jlrs. John Zech, 1837 Summerdale 

 avenue, passed away at the family 

 home on June 29th, after an illness of 

 only two hours. Mrs. Zech, who was 

 56 years old, was a woman of rare 

 personality and had been in the best 

 of health till two months ago, when 

 she suffered a slight stroke of apo- 

 plexy. Since that time she failed 

 rapidly, although able to be about, 

 when another and more severe stroke 

 ended her life. She was born Jan. 8th, 

 1862, in La Porte, Ind., in which town 

 John Zech, who passed away three 

 years ago, was also born. Both spent 

 their childhood there and when Mr. 

 Zech settled in Chicago she followed 

 to become his wife on Dec. 30, 1883, 

 and with him establish the home to 

 which she has been faithfully devoted 

 for over 34 years. After the death of 

 her husband Mrs. Zech continued to 

 hold his interest in the firm of Zech 

 & Mann, of which their son, Aloys, is 

 the business manager. She leaves also 

 two daughters, Mrs. J. S. Cunningham 

 and Caroline, and a younger son, Leo, 

 and five grandchildren. All the details 

 of the funeral, which was held at St. 

 Gregory's church, were duplicates of 

 those of Mr. Zech. Interment was in 

 St. Boniface cemetery. The trade was 

 largelj' represented and the floral 

 offerings were very many and beau- 

 tiful. 



Bayard Thayer Estate, South Lancaster, Mass. 



"SAY IT WITH FLOWERS." 



It was only a line in a florist's ad- 

 vertisement referring to the Mothers' 

 Day just past, and urging that thought 

 and appreciation of mother be ex- 

 pressed through the ministry of flow- 

 ers, which seem to constitute Nature's 

 language of love. To tie sure, one 

 could not help feeling that it was not 

 altogether altruistic and disinterested, 

 could not help catching a glimpse of 

 the tinsel of mercantile interest in the 

 midst of the gold of appropriate and 

 inspiring advice. Of course, the ac- 

 ceptance of that advice and the acting 

 upon that suggestion would be good 

 for the flower market, and for the 

 pockets of those concerned in it. But 

 what would you? As the Widow 

 Bedott was fond of saying. "We're all 

 poor miserable critters," and there's 

 considerable clay in the composition 

 of the best of us. Possibly it might 

 not be safe to enter upon the discus- 

 sion of mixed motives in many things 

 that we do. So perhaps we might as 

 well take the counsel of the man of 

 flowers at its full face value, and in 

 passing toss him a good-natured wish 

 that his suggestive hint may come 

 back to him with gold in its hands. 

 Words in Flowers 



The hint is certainly suggestive, and 

 it would be vastly for the betterment 

 and the happiflcation of the world 

 were it acted upon more generally. 

 There is such a thing as saying what 

 we have to say in flowers, and a beau- 

 tiful thing it is, too. Not merely or 

 always, of course, in literal flowers, 

 such as grow in our gardens, although 

 there may be force in the suggestion 

 even here. Sometimes a flower is 

 worth more than a sentence or a ser- 

 mon as the expression of a thought of 

 sympathy or affection or cheer. A 

 knot of heartsease will often bring 

 ease of heart, and tulips will speak 

 more eloquently than two lips can, and 



a sprig of forget-me-nots will carry 

 the message that the giver neither for- 

 gets nor will be forgotten. It is a con- 

 stant source of surprise that so many 

 who grow flowers and love them do 

 not realize more than they seem to do 

 the wonderful and manifold ministry 

 of which they are capable, and do not 

 use more this marvelously eloquent 

 and effective speech of good will and 

 cheer to those about them. Here is 

 the true Esperanto, the universal 

 language which all can understand, 

 and to which few will fail to respond. 

 A flower is the one gift that may 

 always be offered, and which will 

 rarely be misunderstood and even 

 more rarely rejected. 



Flowers In Words 

 And there are flower words, as well 

 as words in flowers — words that are 

 sweet and fragrant, like the west wind 

 blowing over violet beds — words that 

 are soothing as the balmy breath of 

 bergamot and lavender; words that 

 are cheery and stimulating to thoughts 

 of high emprise as the flamboyant and 

 challenging beauty of the tiger lily and 

 Jacqueminot. Some people have the 

 good grace of speech of this sort. 

 Their hearts seem to hold a subtle 

 perfume that touches their lips with 

 sweetness. When they speak you 

 think of old-fashioned gardens. Their 

 words are purifying, antiseptic, heal- 

 ing. Noisome odors of swamp and 

 sewer lose their power wherever they 

 come. The sharpest rebuke of a bog 

 is the clover-strewn meadow, and the 

 strongest condemnation of pestilential 

 vapors is the wind-wafted breath from 

 the lily bed. Blessed is the woman 

 whose soul Is fashioned like a flower 

 and whose lips drop perfume! Blessed 

 is the man who has learned the gentle 

 and gracious art of saying in flowers 

 the message that is given him to say! 

 May their tribe greatly increase, for 

 they are a perpetual joy and benedic- 

 tioni — Watchman Examiner. 



