January S, 1910 



HORTICULTURE 



39 



Charles Sprague Sargent 



This famous dendrologist wap 

 born in 1841, and graduated from 

 Harvard in 18G3. Appointed Di- 

 rector of the new acquired Arnold 

 Arboretum in 1873, he has guided 

 the hehn of this institution since its 

 inception. The formation of tliis 

 Arboretum has been his work and 

 liobby and he has spared himself in 

 no way in accomplishing his task. 

 Ably assisted by his lieutenants he 

 has made this Arboretum what it is, 

 one of the foremost — perhaps the 

 foremost — institution of its kind in 

 the world. For the purpose of 

 stocking this Arboretum he has 

 traveled far and wide, and has been 

 the direct or indirect agent in the 

 introduction of an enormous quan- 

 tity of hardy trees and shrubs. His 

 correspondents are everywhere and 

 probably no institution in the world 

 has been (and still is) such a great 

 distributing agency in the matter of 

 this class of plants. His work is of 

 world-wide reputation. In our own 

 country he or his agents have re- 

 discovered and introduced to gar- 

 dens a large number of rare and 

 imperfectly known or lost plants; for example, Shortia 

 galacifolia. 



In 1892 he traveled in Japan and collected there a 

 quantity of ornamental trees and shrubs ; one of the 

 best known and most appreciated of these being Azalea 

 Kaempferi. In 1900 he made a tour round the world, 

 and in 1906 visited South America. These journeys 

 added further increase to the Arboretum collections. 

 Mr. Sargent was also one of the first to realize the enor- 

 mous floral wealth of the interior of China and he, more 

 than any one man, has been responsible for the recent 

 exploration work in that country. The garden at his 

 residence, Holmlea, Brookline, is among the finest in 

 New England, and is known through the length and 

 breadth of this land. It contains many magnificent 

 trees and shrubs, amongst others the largest plants out- 

 side Japan of Cercidophyllum japonicum and Magnolia 

 kobus. The collection of Indian Azaleas there was one 

 of the earliest formed and most complete in this coun- 

 try. A voluminous writer, all his works are remarkable 

 for their lucidity, close diction and accuracy. He was 

 special editor of the tenth Census Keport on the forests 

 of North America. This work laid the foundation for 

 his subsequent publications on forest trees. His monu- 

 mental work, the "Silva of North America," occupied 

 nearly twenty years in preparation, being published in 

 14 vols., quarto, in 1891-1892. Later he gave us his 

 "Manual of Trees." He edited the "Garden and For- 

 est," a publication superior to anything of its kind here- 

 tofore attempted and its short life was much to be re- 

 gretted. The journey to Japan resulted in a series of 

 charming articles in "Garden and Forest." These were 

 subsequently collected into book form under the title, 

 "Forest Flora of Japan." 



As a worker and patron in the field of horticulture 

 we have to look across the water, to men like Sir .To«epli 

 Banks in the eighteenth century, and Sir William 

 Hooker in the early half of the nineteenth century, for 



Flioio. Copyrighted Thos. E. Marr, iqo^ 



Pkofessor Charles Sprague Sargent 



Awarded first George Robert White gold medal by Massachusetts Horticultural 



Society for distinguished services to horticulture. 



a comparison. Mr. Sargent combines in an extraordi- 

 nary degree the attributes of these remarkable men. His 

 influence on dendrological horticulture in this country 

 has been immense and will be even more greatly felt as 

 the years roll by. 



His botanical works are too numerous for mention 

 here ; but, as we all know, for several years past he has 

 devoted much time to the elucidation of the perplexing 

 problems of the American Crataegus. The more strik- 

 ing of these together with other plants are figured and 

 described from time to time in his publication, "Trees 

 and Shrubs." A big man in every sense of the word, a 

 strong man, a man of few words and great deeds, a 

 man with an inordinate capacity for harcl work, a man 

 possessed with the happy knack of without seeming 

 efEort gaining from his friends and colleagues their 

 hearty co-operation and assistance. Such a man is 

 Charles Sprague Sargent — a genius of whom any coun- 

 try may well be proud. In making him the first recipi- 

 ent of the George Eobert White Medal, for distinguished 

 service to horticulture, the Massachusetts Horticultural 

 Society has made no mistake and has honored itself in 

 so doing. 



New Rose Radiance 



Our front cover page this week is devoted to an illus- 

 tration of the most notable of the season's novelties in 

 roses introduced by the veteran rose specialist, John 

 Cook of Baltimore, who has already given to the florist 

 trade of x\merica several fine roses, including one of 

 their most popular and profitable forcing varieties — My 

 Marvland. Eadiance, the new candidate for favor, is a 

 seedling from Cardinal, color brilliant pink with a 

 silvery lining to the petal. The buds are large, stems 

 long and flowers very fragrant. The variety is a con- 

 stant bloomer the whole season througrh. 



