May 4, 1918 



HORTICULTURE 



431 



BULBS PLANTED IN GRASS. 



Obituary 



Joseph Tailby 



Joseph Tailby, widely known as a 

 florist and hybridist for half a cen- 

 tury, died at his home in Wellesley, 

 Mass., on Thursday. April 26. He was 

 seventy-six years old and his health 

 had been failing as the result of an 

 accident several years ago. Mr. Tail- 

 by was born in Leicestershire, Eng- 

 land, and in 1864 came to America. 

 After spending two years in Hoboken, 

 N. J., in New York and Framingham, 

 he settled in Wellesley and established 

 business as a florist. He early be- 

 came identified with the Massachu- 

 setts Horticultural Society as a mem- 

 ber and exhibitor and came rapidly to 

 the front as a skillful cultivator of 

 flowers for the Boston trade, taking 

 premiums frequently at the exhibi- 

 tions for the products of his skill in 

 growing and In hybridization. A fine 

 cucumber, named Tailby's Hybrid, a 

 cross between White Spine and one 

 of the long English varieties, which 

 he raised about forty-five years ago is 

 still grown in this neighborhood. To 

 the best of our knowledge Mr. Tailby 

 held the distinction of having brought 

 to Boston the first bloom ever seen 

 here of the Marechal Niel rose, a 

 variety which was destined to occupy 

 a big place commercially in the flow- 

 er market for many years. 



But Joseph Tailby became best 

 known to the florist trade of America 

 through his raising and introduction 

 of the Grace Wilder carnation in 1881, 

 this being a variety without a peer in 

 its day and the first really good com- 

 mercial carnation of its color, and 

 which was extensively grown every- 

 where. In the same year, Mr. Tailby 

 Introduced Fred Johnson, a light red 

 carnation and Princess Louise, rose 

 pink, and both of these had consider- 

 able local celebrity. More recently he 

 produced a new race of hybrid yellow 

 callas. 



Joseph Tailby was a contemporary 

 and associate with Harris, Atkinson, 

 Sheppard, Comley, Norton, Wood, Ed- 

 gar, Mathison, Grey, Galvin, Dawson 

 and others who achieved wide renown 

 and was almost the last living of that 

 brilliant coterie of gardeners and 

 florists who were the leading factors 

 In placing Boston in her position of 

 horticultural pre-eminence a genera- 

 tion ago. He was a man of genial and 

 kindly impulses, at all times ready 

 and willing to extend a friendly hand 

 and give freely and unselfishly of his 

 knowledge to help the young begin- 

 ner in horticulture. Ever green be 

 his memory. 



He leaves a widow and two sons. 



W. W. Simonds 



William W. Simonds, long connected 

 with the seed trade of Boston, died on 

 Saturday, April 27, aged sixty-six 

 years. Mr. Simonds' began his busl- 



YfUow Trumpet Narci.ssus 



Our cover this week, also the illus- 

 tration shown on this page, give but 

 a faint idea of the beautiful scene pre- 

 sented each spring on the Bayard 

 Thayer estate at Lancaster, Mass.. 

 when wide stretches of meadow and 

 border land sparkle with myriads of 

 narcissi in many types. This estate 

 is probably the foremost in New Eng- 



Naturallzefl in lirass 



land in its floral and arboreal rich- 

 ness, its beauty and progressive char- 

 acter being jointly due to the floricul- 

 tural taste and public spirit of Mrs. 

 Thayer and the rare gardening profic- 

 iency of her superintendent, William 

 Anderson. Throughout the entire year 

 there is not a day when something 

 noteworthy may not be seen at this 

 interesting place. 



ness career as book-keeper for the old 

 seed firm of Hovey & Co., on North 

 Market street, Boston. After the 

 death of Chas. M. and Brown Hovey 

 who constituted the firm, he and John 

 Hovey took the business and carried 

 it on, until the death of John Hovey, 

 in Merchants Row and later in South 

 Market street, after which Mr. Sim- 

 onds assumed full charge and con- 

 tinued the business under the name 

 of Hovey & Co. until now. He led 

 a very reserved and secluded life, and 

 had few intimacies in the seed trade. 

 He leaves a widow but no children. 

 Messrs. Webster of the Ames Plow 

 & Implement Co., and Guerineau of 

 T. J. Grey Co., were appointed to 

 prepare resolutions on behalf of the 

 Boston seed trade. 



M. J. Hannigan 



Michael J. Hannigan, for the past 

 eight years in business as a flower 

 grower in Pikesville, near Bailtimore. 

 Md.. died on April 19, after a brief ill- 

 ness with pneumonia. Previous to es- 

 tablishing in business Mr. Hannigan 

 was superintendent of the private es- 

 tate of A. H. Hoen and made a fine 

 record as a skillful gardener. His age 

 was 54 years. He leaves a widow, 

 three sons and two daughters. 



Conrad Hess 

 Conrad Hess, one of the old time 

 Baltimore florists, located for many 

 years on Friendship Ave., died on 

 April 16, aged 76 years. He was born 

 at Frankfort, Germany, and came to 

 this country when a child with his 

 parents, his father being a florist and 

 markPt gardener. He leaves a widow. 



James E. Connor 

 James E. Connor, gardener for the 

 past ten years for J. L. Houston, 

 Coatesville, Pa., died on April 28th, 

 of pneumonia. He was 48 years of 

 age and was bom and raised at 

 West Grove, Pa. He was connected 

 with the Dingee & Conrad Co. in 

 his early days and was later in the 

 florist business with his brother-in-law 

 James A. Brown, Coatesville. He 

 leaves a wife and two children. His 

 older brother Dennis T. Connor is 

 well known in the horticultural trade, 

 having been in it all his lite and since 

 quitting the growing end lias been as- 

 sociated with the Lord & Burnham Co. 



Nancy Wilder Bigelow. 

 Pomologists generally will be in- 

 terested to learn of the death of Mrs. 

 Andrew Bigelow, of Southboro, Mass., 

 daughter of the late Marshall P. Wil- 

 der. She died on April 15 at the "Old 

 Homestead" on Washington street, 

 Dorchester, Mass., aged 93 years. 



OIneyvllle, R. I. — The greenhouses 

 of Richard P. Higgins at 217 Academy 

 avenue were entered Saturday night, 

 April 20. and ribbon, valued at $40 

 was stolon. When Mr. Higgins opened 

 up Sunday morning the place was se- 

 cured in the usual way and it is be- 

 lieved the thief gained an entrance by 

 forcing a window sash. 



