December 10, 1910 



HORTICULTURE, 



813 



THE GEORGE ROBERT WHITE MEDAL OF HONOR 



An important event in the horticul- 

 tural world the present year is the es- 

 tablishment of the George Robert 

 White Medal of Honor for the mainte- 

 nance of which a suitable fund has 

 been given to the Massachusetts Horti- 

 cultural Society and the medal is to bo 

 awarded by the executive management 

 of that organization. 



Mr. George Robert White of Boston 

 in his deed of trust accompanying the 

 fund states that he has long thought 

 that there was an opportunity for 

 broadening the field of influence of the 

 Massachusetts Horticultural Society 

 and of extending the interest in Its 

 work if some suitable recognition were 

 made of those persons who have ac- 

 complished impoitant results in horti- 

 ■culture; the award to be made inde- 

 pendently of or in addition to any 

 prizes or certificates of merit that may 

 be bestowed by the Society in the 

 course of its regular schedule of pre- 

 miums. 



He has therefore founded the George 

 Robert White Medal of Honor fund, the 

 income of which is to be devoted an- 

 nually for the specific purpose of pro- 

 viding a substantial gold medal to be 

 awarded to the man or woman, com- 

 mercial firm or institution in the United 

 States that has done the most during 

 the year or in recent years to advance 

 the interest in horticulture in its 

 broadest sense. 



The first award of the medal has just 

 been made to Prof. Charles S. Sargent, 

 Director of the Arnold Arboretum, 

 whose eminent service in horticulture 

 is generally recognized both in this 

 country and abroad. His great work 

 has been the introduction of many de- 

 sirable ornamental trees and shrubs 



and the testing of their hardiness in 

 this latitude. 



The George Robert White Medal il 

 Honor will take rank in its own field 

 with the Victoria Medal of Honor of 

 England and the medal of the Legion 

 of Honor of France, and will have a 

 strong influence in promoting the hor- 

 ticultural activities of the country. 



The medal itself was struck at the 

 United States Mint in Philadelphia, 

 from twenty-four karat gold; is two 

 and three-quarters inches in diameter, 

 five thirty-seconds of an inch thick, 

 and weighs between seven and eight 

 ounces. 



On the face, the flguie symbolizes, 

 not the ordinary horticulturist as much 

 as the scientific intellect, whose aim 

 is to improve nature, even to create. 

 if that is possible. The trees in the 

 background represent the allied branch 

 of arboriculture. On the reverse, in 

 the inscription, the name is so de- 

 signed that it can be replaced by an- 

 other name each time the medal is 

 awarded. 



The George Robert White Medal was 

 executed by Mr. .John Flanagan, a na- 

 tive of Newark, N. J., and a student, 

 first of Augustus St. Gaudens, later 

 in Paris, at the Academy Julien under 

 Chapu, and the Atelier Falguiere, at 

 the Ecole des Beaux Arts. During the 

 course of these years of study, Mr. 

 Flanagan was awarded many coveted 

 prizes, and acted as an assistant to 

 MacMonnies on his fountain for the 

 Chicago World's Fair of 1S93. Since 

 then, he has received commissions for 

 many medals, portrait busts, and other 

 works, among the best known being 

 the Brinton Medal, the Langley Memo- 

 rial, and the Hudson-Fulton and Penn- 



sylvania Society medals. Several of 

 Mr. Flanagan's medals have been ac- 

 quired by the Musee du Luxembourg, 

 the Metropolitan Museum, New York, 

 and recently by the Museum of Fine 

 Arts at Ghent. 



A PHILADELPHIA SURPRISE. 



The Aaron Ward while not exactly 

 a new rose is practically unknown in 

 this locality and when Mr. Hill showed 

 us some fine flowers of it at the last 

 Florists' Club meeting, most growers 

 were not only pleased with it but 

 astonished to hear that it had become 

 quite a factor in commercial lines in 

 several cities— notably Boston, where 

 it is grown extensively. We think 

 there will be a lot of Mrs. Aaron Ward 

 planted around here this season, as it 

 is a revelation to all and a most 

 charming variety. The color is cop- 

 pery orange in the bud changing to 

 fawn when fully open, and the form 

 is the most refined and charming of 

 any rose extant— in fact, it appears to 

 the writer to be unique in its perfec- 

 tion of form. A beautiful rose that 

 one falls in love with instantly. We 

 congratulate Mr. Hill on this lovely 

 thing and are surprised that he has 

 not been up to Philadelphia long ere 

 now to tell us about it and book a lot 

 of good orders. 



GEORGE C. WATSON. 



The Michigan State Horticultural 

 Society meets this week at the Bell 

 Opera House. Benton Harbor, Mich. 

 Prof. H. J. Eustis of Lansing, formerly 

 with the department of agriculture, 

 will talk on apples. Prof. M. D. Waite 

 of the U. S. Dept. of Agriculture will 

 discuss "A sulphur series of spraying 

 mixtures," and Prof. L. R. Taft of 

 Lansing will talk on commercial in- 

 secticides and their control. Prof. A. 

 J. Patten of Lansing will also be one 

 of the speakers. 



