May 27, 1911 



HORTICULTURE 



780c 



Obituary 



Ransom B, Jones. 

 Ransom B. Jones, florist, Stamford, 

 Conn., died on May 7th. 



C. O. Hunt. 

 C. O. Hunt, St. Elmer, Chattanooga, 

 Tenn., died May 6th. His business 

 will be continued by his wife. 



S. A. de Graaff. 



On April 25, S. A. de Graaff, senior 

 member of the firm of Graaff Bros., 

 Ltd., died at Leiden, Holland, aged 71 

 years. 



George L. Chadborn. 

 George L. Chadborn, well known 

 as a manufacturer of lawn mowers, 

 died at his home, Newburgh, N. Y., 

 May 11, aged 77 years. 



A. W. Lempe. 



Despondent over business cares, Ar- 

 thur W. Lempe, 23 years old, a florist, 

 committed suicide by drinking car- 

 bolic acid at the home of his parents, 

 1000 25th avenue, Milwaukee, Wis., on 

 May 15th. Lempe had a floral shop 

 at 581 Downer avenue. 



Seth C. Wood. 

 The death of Seth C. Wood, a suc- 

 cessful nurseryman and orchardist, 

 occurred May 16 at his farm home, 

 on the Long Bridge road, north of 

 Knowlesville, N. Y., at the age of 69 

 years. He leaves his wife, one daugh- 

 ter. Miss Jessie M. Wood, of Roches- 

 ter; one son, Edward H. Wood of Hol- 

 ley, and one brother, Jay Wood, of 

 Knowlesville. 



John G. Forbes. 

 John G. Forbes, for many years a 

 prosperous florist of Auburndale, 

 Mass., died on May 18th, after two 

 years or more of sickness which 

 caused him to sell out and retire from 

 business two years ago. John Forbes 

 was reputed to be the best flower 

 salesman coming into Boston forty 

 years ago, when he represented C. J. 

 Power of South Framlngham, Mass. 

 He went into partnership with P. R. 

 Mathison, as Mathison & Forbes, at 

 Egleston Square, Boston, and on the 

 dissolution of the firm started in Au- 

 burndale, where he has been ever 

 since. His old partner, Fred Mathi- 

 son, outlived him but three days. 



came direct to Minneapolis from that 

 country 46 years ago. For 16 years 

 he was manager of the Mendenhall 

 greenhouses, the first of the kind in 

 the city. Later he entered business 

 for himself and some time afterward 

 took his son into partnership. He is 

 survived by a son, Theodore W. Nagel, 

 a daughter, Mrs. D. G. Miner, and a 

 brother living in Davenport, Iowa. 



The funeral was on May 18th at 

 Lakewood Cemetery. About 35 flor- 

 ists attended in a body. Theo. Wirth, 

 Hugh Will, Aug. and Oscar Swanson, 

 Gust. Matinquist and Jerry Jorgenson 

 were pall bearers. C. N. R. 



Eggert Nagel. 



This well known pioneer florist of 

 Minneapolis, Minn., met a shocking 

 death on the evening of May 16. Mr. 

 Nagel was on his way to a meeting of 

 the West Side Commercial Club. It 

 was raining heavily, and as the car 

 approached Mr. Nagel left shelter and 

 started across the street. An auto- 

 mobile came through the blinding 

 rain at the same moment, running 

 rapidly, and pressed him so closely 

 that he was compelled, to escape the 

 auto, to try to run across in front of 

 the car. He was struck by the latter, 

 thrown thirty feet and picked up un- 

 conscious. He was taken to his place 

 of business, where he died in a few 

 minutes. 



Mr. Nagel was 69 years of age, a 

 native of Hamburg, Germany, and 



Fred. R. Mathison. 

 On Tuesday afternoon, May 23rd, 

 there was laid away in its last rest- 

 ing place the body of one of the finest 

 men who ever adorned the florist 

 trade of America. Endowed with an 

 intellect far above the average, sturdy, 

 industrious, and self-reliant, Fred. 

 Mathison carved out for himself an 



Fred R. Mathison 



honored record as a business man, 

 and by his whole-souled generosity 

 and companionable traits won a large 

 place in the hearts of his associates. 

 He was pre-eminently one of the fa- 

 mous "Old Guard" of the Boston hor- 

 ticulturists, four-fifths of whom have 

 now gone to rest. 



Fred. R. Mathison was born in Cod- 

 sail Wood, Staffordshire, England, 70 

 years ago. Forty-three years ago he 

 came to tliis country. He obtained 

 employment in Arlington, Melrose and 

 Woburn, successively, and then went 

 to South Framingham, Mass., where 

 we knew him first about the year 

 1873 as a flower grower of abil- 

 ity in the employ of the late C. 

 J. Power. A few years later he 

 went into partnership with .Tohn 

 Forbes, who had been salesman for 

 Mr. Power and who, strangely, was 

 buried on the day Mr. Mathison died. 

 Sunday, May 21. The new firm leased 

 the Howard Greenhouse at Egleston 

 Square, Boston, and carried it on for 

 some years, when Mr. Mathison went 

 into partnership with the late Charles 

 Evans as Mathison & Evans at Water- 

 town. Mass. After a few years they 



separated, Evans retaining the old es- 

 tablishment and Mathison erecting 

 new rose houses at Clematis Brook, 

 about 25 years ago, which he conduct- 

 ed until his death with the exception 

 of an interim when he leased the 

 place to two employes, Anderson & 

 Williams, who finally had to abandon 

 it. 



Mr. Mathison had been in poor 

 health for two or three years, and had 

 been very low for some months, the 

 cause of death being given as dropsy. 

 In his time of health he was a genial 

 participant in all the festivities of the 

 craft and active in their organizations, 

 a most entertaining and practical 

 talker in club meetings and elsewhere. 

 President John Burton appointed him 

 as a director of the Society of Ameri- 

 can Florists to serve for the years 

 1892-1893-1894. Messrs. M. H. Norton, 

 Thomas J. Grey, Alex. Montgomery, P. 

 Welch, Jackson Dawson and Wm. J. 

 Stewart acted as pallbearers at the 

 funeral. Burial was at Mt. Peake 

 Cemetery, Waltham, Mass. He leaves 

 a widow. 



MASSACHUSETTS HORTICUL- 

 TURAL SOCIETY SPRING 

 SHOW. 



The spring exhibition, held in Hor- 

 ticultural Hall, Boston, on May 20th 

 and 21st was not notable for size or 

 magnificence, but the exhibits were 

 of excellent quality and variety con- 

 sidering the vagaries of this excep- 

 tional season. A specimen hydrangea 

 from A. W. Preston, gardener J. L. 

 Smith, said to be only a year old, was 

 a triumph of cultural skill and well 

 merited the silver medal bestowed on 

 it. The plant bore 168 large heads of 

 bloom, was gracefully symmetrical 

 without stakes or other supports and 

 measured over 6 feet through. 



Another exhibit, one which received 

 much attention from visitors, was a 

 display of tree and shrub fiowers from 

 the Arnold Arboretum. The variety 

 shown, each under label, was very ex- 

 tensive. Among the showiest subjects 

 were the lilacs of which about fifty 

 varieties were staged and the flaming 

 Azalea Kaempferi from Japan. 



Much interest attached to a group 

 of Lilium leucanthemum and L. myrio- 

 phyllum shown in vases by R. & J. 

 Farquhar & Co. These together with 

 a display of May-flowering tulips were 

 awarded honorable mention. 



Thirty-three varieties of lilacs came 

 from the Blue Hills Nursery, a rich 

 group of orchids from Mrs. J. L. Gard- 

 ner. The other exhibits are sufficient- 

 ly explained in the list of awards 

 (other than the foregoing) which fol- 

 lows: 



Calceolarias— six varieties: 1st, E. A. 

 Clark. Peliirgoiiiiiras— six named show or 

 fancy varieties, in not less than eight-inch 

 pots: 1st. William Whitman; 2d, Mrs. J. 

 L. Gardner: 3d, William Whitman. Six 

 named zonale varieties ; 1st, Mrs. Win- 

 throp Ames. „ , ^ 



Gratuities: Dr. C. G. Weld, 6 plants. 

 Hydrangea hortensis; E. A. Clark. Calceo- 

 larias; Dr. C. G. Weld. Darwin tulips; 

 George Pase. display of Iris Floi-entlna 

 and lilacs ;''Blue Hill Nurseries, collection 

 of lilacs: Mrs. J. L. Gardner, display of 

 orchids; Georsre Page, Oncidium sphacela- 

 tum; E. A. Clark, American Beauty roses; 

 .Mrs. E. M. Gill, annuals and other flowers. 



First Class Certificate of Merit: Dr. C. 

 G. Weld, tor Laelio-Cattleya; L. C. Hyeana 

 X L. C. Canhamiana rubra. 



Cultural Certificate: Miss Cornelia War- 

 ren, Superior cultivation of Cattleya clt- 

 rinn. 3 



