May 6, 1916 



HOETICULTURB 



631 



EDUCATIONAL EXHIBIT AT WEST PARK, PITTSBURGH, PA. 



Showing in miniature a typical unkempt home and in contrast how It may be improved. 



Obituary 



Louis Colman. 



On April 5, Louis Colman, formerly 

 IB business as a florist and gardener 

 in Pittsfield and North Adams, Mass., 

 died in Westfield, Mass., on April 5, 

 aged 63 years. His wife and one 

 daughter survive him. 



Ira G. Marvin. 

 Ira G. Marvin, a prominent florist of 

 Wilkes-Barre. Pa., since 1&86. died 

 at his home in Kingston, Pa., on April 

 30. He had been laid up for nine 

 weeks, heart failure causing death. 

 Mr. Marvin was born at Stroudsburg 

 fifty-two years ago. He had branch 

 stores in several towns in the Wyom- 

 ing valley. His widow and several 

 children, and one brother. Steward 

 Marvin, of Stroudsburg, survive. 



Thomas Burke. 



Thomas Burke, retired, father of 

 John T. Burke of the florist firm of 

 Burke & Burns of Providence, R. I., 

 died at the home of his son-in-law, 

 Rob't E. Burns, at Hillsgrove on April 

 26, as the result of being struck by an 

 electric car. His age was ~'i years. 

 Mr. Burke was a native of Ireland, 

 and came to this country when a 

 youth. He was successful in business 

 and gained a large circle of friends. 



John B. Sargent. 

 John B. Savageau, aged i'i. com- 

 monly known as John B. Sargent, 

 florist. Winter iilace. died of blood 

 poisoning at the Leominster, Mass., 

 hospital, on Sunday, April 23, after 

 a short illness. He accidentally 

 scratched one of his fingers and think- 

 ing it nothing serious, did not give it 

 the proper care. Blood poisoning de- 

 veloped and Saturday forenoon he was 

 taken to the hospital. His wife passed 

 away two months and two days ago. 

 Mr. Savageau was born in Masonville, 

 R. I.. Oct 2, 1872. When he was 14 

 years of age he moved to Leominster 

 with his parents. He went to work 

 for Joseph Fuller and learned his trade 

 as florist there. He then went to South 

 Lancaster, where for several years he 



worked in the greenhouse and gardens 

 of Eugene V. R. Thayer under E. O. 

 Orpet. After that he went to Bolton 

 and was gardener for J. Wyman Jones. 

 He returned to Leominster three years 

 ago and started the florist business 

 with a greenhouse off Winter Place. 

 He lately added to this by buying an- 

 other. He leaves three children, John, 

 David and Ida; five brothers and two 

 sisters. 



NOT A "USELESS EXPENSE." 



We often wonder if those who 

 launch the periodical attacks against 

 the many time-honored customs on the 

 ground of "useless expense" are sin- 

 cere. We are sure that if they are 

 sincere, if they are not merely stri\ing 

 to be odd, to receive a certain amount 

 of publicity, that they have not well 

 considered the reason for the custom. 

 There are few customs that are better 

 worth following than that of sending 

 a tribute of flowers to those who are in 

 deep grief following the passing into 

 the great beyond of a dear relative or 

 friend. 



Recently there was given to the 

 press a diatribe against the custom of 

 sending flowers to funerals. It would 

 seem that the writers of this article 

 had never lost the presence of one 

 near and dear and had never had the 

 sweet consolation of receiving from 

 friends and relatives the beautiful tes- 

 timony, speaking louder than words, 

 that their sorrow was shared by otli- 

 ers. 



Flowers do more than express a mo- 

 mentary sympathy. They teach a les- 

 son of hope, they remind that there is 

 a resurrection, a life eternal beyond 

 the grave where the faith in a reunit- 

 ed existence may be experienced. Food 

 and clothing and a roof are essential, 

 but at such a time the call is greater 

 for expressions that relieve the loneli- 

 ness and remind the sorrower that 

 there is still hope for an assured joy 

 to come. Happily the attack on this 

 beautiful custom met with an imme- 

 diate response in the very city and 

 publication where it originated. 



In reply the writer said: "I believe 

 it is Bulwer Lytton who calls flowers 

 Cod's children, and I think there are 

 few of us with souls so unpoetic as 

 not to feel enriched and uplifted by 



their beauty and fragrance, especially 

 when heavy blighting grief is in the 

 heart. I note that there is a movement 

 in embryo here — indorsed by a few of 

 our most philanthropic women — to 

 stop the kind, graceful custom of send- 

 ing flowers to the house of mourning. 

 1 also notice that there has been some 

 similar effort in different parts of the 

 country, but I take it that these good 

 women have not looked carefully on 

 all sides of this matter. 



"In Biblical times the Jewish law 

 decreed that there should be no flow- 

 ers at funerals; that all should be 

 buried in the pine casket in the simple 

 linen shroud, so that absolute equality 

 might be established, without dis- 

 tinction between rich and poor. 'But 

 things change in the flowing condi- 

 tions of life,' and our spiritual and ma- 

 terial needs are progressive, and we 

 require in these modern days of stress 

 and strain all the softening and re- 

 fining influences that civilization can 

 atford. 



"We have necessarily drifted from 

 some of Israel's most austere ideals, 

 just as we have drifted from Puritan 

 ideals, in the broader demands of art 

 and humanity; but this does not pre- 

 vent those who are able to send flow- 

 ers to sorrow-stricken friends from do- 

 ing their full quota of charity. 



"Did we not consider the florists and 

 their large following of girl and women 

 assistants^ who prepare the flowers for 

 funerals, we would want them at these 

 tragic times for their exi)ression of a 

 divine energy permeating the universe. 

 we would want them as a vivid re- 

 minder of the renewal of all things: 

 as a reminder of that dream of immor- 

 tality given by our Jewish ancestors 

 thousands of years ago aiui as symbols 

 of the resurrection of the beloved 

 spirit but lately passed away." — The 

 Cenirten/ Hcautiful. 



Harrisburg, Pa. — A domestic em- 

 l)loyed at the home of H. L. Holmes, of 

 the Holmes Seed Co., was terribly 

 burned on the morning of April 21. 

 when her dress ignited from a lighted 

 match carelessly thrown into a coal 

 bucket. Mrs. Holmes, in helping to 

 extinguish the flames had both hands 

 and arms badly burned. It was only 

 by Jlrs. Holmes" calmness (hat the 

 girl's life was saved. 



