708 



HOBTICULTUKE' 



November 14, 1914 



Obituary 



John L. Parker. 

 John L. Parker, for many jears the 

 leading florist of Birmingham, Ala., 

 and highly respected in business and 

 social life, committed suicide by shoot- 

 ing on Tuesday, Nov. 3. He was 49 

 years of age. He leaves a widow. 



Christian Ackerman. 

 Christian Ackerman, St., of River- 

 side Floral Co., died at his home in Co- 

 lumbus, Ohio, on Monday, October 26, 

 at the age of 58, after a long illness. 

 He leaves a widow and four sons. 

 Three of the latter were in the busi- 

 ness with him. 



F. C. Kirchhoff. 

 Old in experience but still young in 

 years, Frederick C. Kirchhoff passed 

 away at liis residence 4705 Milwaukee 

 avenue, Chicago. November 2nd. Mr. 

 Kirchhoff was born in Germany 51 

 years ago and left the fatherland for 

 Chicago when ten years of age, and 

 began his experience as a florist al- 

 most at once. He has been identified 

 with the nortliwest side of the city 

 and helped greatly to develop it. 

 Three times lie built greenhouses and 

 store, only to move farther out and 

 his last place is just nearing comple- 

 tion. Mr. Kirchhoff leaves a widow, 

 two daughters and five sons, two of 

 whom, p;award and Herbert, will con- 

 tinue the business. 



John Gilmartin. 



The fatal mistake of taking a drink 

 in the dark caused the death in five 

 minutes of John Gilmartin, 42 years 

 old, in his homo on the estate of Peirce 

 Bros., W'averley Oaks road, Waltham, 

 where he was employed as a gardener. 



Before leaving the greenhouses 

 there, Gilmartin filled a pint bottle 

 with a powerful disinfectant and car- 

 ried it home for use in killing flies. He 

 took a hot mustard bath to help re- 

 lieve a cold and was about to retire 

 shortly before 11 o'clock when he de- 

 cided to take a drink of whiskey out 

 of a pint bottle he kept in the house. 



Reaching for the whiskey bottle in 

 the dark, he got the disinfectant in- 

 stead, and took a long drink. Agonized 

 screams brought his wife and two 

 children to his side quickly, but before 

 a physician could be summoned he 

 was dead. 



Henry Cannell. 



We clip from a lengthy account of 

 the life and achievements of the late 

 Henry Cannell in The Gardeners' 

 Chronicle, the following notes: 



The news of the death of Henry 

 Cannell, the noted florist and founder 

 of the firm of H. Cannell & Sons, will 

 be learned with regret by gardeners 

 everywhere. He died on the 25th inst. 

 at Swanley, the small Kentish village 

 with which his name is associated, in 

 his 82nd year. Deceased was born at 

 Norwich in March. 1833. the eldest 

 son of a large family. His gardening 

 career commenced at the early age of 

 11'-^ years in the nursery business of 

 Messrs. Mackey and Stewart, Norwich. 

 I>ater he became gardener at Portnall 

 Park, Virginia Water, where he re- 

 mained for a few years, and on leaving 

 that establishment he opened a nur- 



sery business at Woolwich on land be- 

 longing to his uncle. His new enter- 

 prise prospered, but the district was 

 nnsuited to plants, and he removed to 

 Swanley. away from the smoke and 

 fog of the Metropolis. How the "Home 

 of Flowers" at Swanley grew into one 

 of the largest nursery businesses in 

 the country is well known, as is also 

 the great part its owner played in the 

 popularizing and developing of such 

 florist flowers as the chrysanthemum, 

 pelargoniu.il, fuchsia, dahlia, Chinese 

 primula, violet, heliotrope, canna and 

 begonia. During more recent years 

 Mr. Cannell directed his labors more 

 especially to the improvement of zonal- 

 leaved pelargoniums and cannas. and 

 his exhibits of these flowers were al- 

 ways features of the R. H. S. fort- 

 nightly meetings. He was greatly in- 

 terested in cactaceous plants, and 

 it was his pride to refer to 

 his collection as one of the 

 most complete in the country. 

 Mr. Cannell was a cultivator of un- 

 usual ability, and, in addition, he pos- 

 sessed a keen business aptitude. 



The Victoria Medal of Horticulture 

 was conferred on him in 1902. The 

 troubles of his closing years were 

 somewhat alleviated by horticultural 

 friends, who contributed a fund for a 

 pension. Amongst his most treasured 

 possessions was a gold medal from the 

 inhabitants of Eynsford. who also 

 planted an e'm tree in the princinal 

 part of the village in his memory. Mis- 

 fortunes followed his declining years, 

 at a time when, owing to failing sight 

 and health, he was unable to cope 

 with them. Had he been able to fight 

 his trouble with youth and vigor on his 

 side, we are convinced that his grit 

 and determination would have sur- 

 mounted every obstacle, for Henry 

 Cannell was a remarkable man. 



MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURAL 

 COLLEGE. 



On Tuesday and Wednesday, Novem- 

 ber 3rd and 4th, a chrysanthemum 

 show and exhibition of floral arrange- 

 ments was given by the Department of 

 Floriculture at the Massachusetts Ag- 

 ricultural College. A large number of 

 exhibition chrysanthemums, all of 

 which were grown in the college green- 

 houses, were shown. A contest among 

 the Junior students in table decora- 

 tions added materially to the interest 

 of the show. Wedding bouquets of 

 roses, corsages, and baskets and box 

 arrangements of various kinds of flow- 

 ers were done by the Seniors in the 

 course. Exhibits of new varieties of 

 flowers, potted plants, and pottery 

 were sent by growers and people in 

 the trade. 'The entire exhibition was 

 much larger than any held by the De- 

 partment in former years and was 

 visited by over a thousand people from 

 all parts of the state as well as from 

 the near vicinity. 



The exhibits were prepared and ar- 

 ranged under the supervision of the 

 department staff assisted by the stu- 

 dents of floriculture. The chrysanthe- 

 mums in more than seventy exhibition 

 and commercial varieties surpassed all 

 expectations and elicited much favor- 

 able comment. A feature was an ar- 

 rangement of palms and decorative 

 plants interspersed with pot plants of 

 large, single-stem yellow and white 

 chrysanthemums. Other banks and 

 masses of decorative plants with 



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single chrysanthemums in pots formed 

 a background for the exhibits. 



The Junior students showed both 

 taste and skill in decorating their ta- 

 bles. In this class were sixteen en- 

 tries for which three prizes were 

 awarded. Miss Esther Chase of Hol- 

 den, Mass., received the first prize of 

 $5.00 for a very light and dainty design 

 of Fairy Queen (light pink pompon) 

 chrysanthemums and adiantum. Miss 

 Gertrude White won second prize, 

 $3.00, with a low decoration of Dorothy 

 Dann (bronze single) chrysanthemums 

 and Asparagus Sprengeri, A table 

 decoration of foliage of Japanese ma- 

 ple and Dorothy Dann chrysanthe- 

 mums gained third prize for Mr. Mc- 

 Kechnie. Ornamental vases and pot- 

 tery, baskets and other accessories of 

 the florist were displayed. Large vases 

 of chrysanthemums and box trees were 

 used in the general scheme ot decora- 

 tion. 



Interesting exhibits by growers were 

 sent in. Henry A. Oreer, Inc. of Phila., 

 exhibited plant novelties, crotons, adi- 

 antums, asparagus, etc.; F. R. Pierson, 

 of Tarrj'town. N. Y., showed different 

 types of Nephrolepis; Butler & Ullman 

 of Northampton, Mass., had an exhibit 

 of accessories of the retail florist 

 Peter Fisher, of Ellis, Mass., and the 

 Montrose Greenhouses of Montrose, 

 Mass., exhibited specialties in carna- 

 tions and roses. 



Tuesday evening the Holyoke and 

 Northampton Florists' and Gardeners' 

 Club met at the college in conjunction 

 with the M. A. C. Florists' and Garden- 

 ers' Club. Mr. rtutler of Northampton 

 gave an interesting talk on floral dec- 

 oration. 



