854 



UORTICULTURE 



June 24, 1916 



The Late William F. Kasting 



Since tiie jnildicatiiiii m' our obitiiaiT iimos on iik- 

 deatli of Mr. Kasting of last week nmny messages of 

 condolence from sorrowing friends have been received 

 at this ofliee. From them we select the following: 



I am greatly shocked l\v the news of the death of Wni. 

 F. Kasting. I numbered him among my loyal friends, 

 and greatly admired him for his sterling qualities and 

 for hi.* devotion to the Society of American Florists and 

 his City of Buffalo. 



The Society loses one of its most active and earnest 

 officers and workers, and the city a devoted and loyal 

 citizen. 



To his sorrowing fannly and friends I send my heart- 

 felt sympathy in their liereavement. 

 Yours truly, 



Oil City, Pa. 



It was my privilege to have known the late Mr. Kast- 

 ing since the Convention during the Pan-American E.\- 

 position in Buffalo. There I first became attracted to 

 this robust and sound-principled builder. He was a 

 type that belongs to the new school which adopts for its 

 motive and guide the principle "That if I help to make 

 another prosperous, I will also be prosperous," rather 

 than the principle so jirevalent "That if I can make 

 another man poor I will make myself rich." In these 

 times when strong men, real builders are none too plenty 

 in our midst and are greatly needed, his passing away 

 is indeed a great loss to his family, to horticulture and 

 to the communitv. 



The Topiarian Club Trophy at 

 Harvard 



To tlie Editor, 

 My dear Sir: 



My attention has been called to an editorial in 

 iroHTUi:LTUiiic for April 32, 191G, referring to tlic 

 award of the 'Jopiarian Club Trophy at our Harvard 

 Graduate School of Landscajje Architecture, and I write 

 to correct a two-fold apparent misai>prohi'nsion on the 



l)art of HOUTICULTLKK. 



The Topiarian Club adojited its name many years 

 ago, not from any ]>rofcssional sympathy with topiary 

 work, but because it associated the Cluii with the earlist 

 known name, or at least one of the earliest for the pro- 

 fession. It is misleading certainly, and never to my 

 mind has been altogether fortunate, but a name once- 

 adopted for a Club is, as you know, apt to be lasting. 



The program of the competition included no refer- 

 ence to the Italian style, but called only for "a vei^ con- 

 siderable system of formal gardens," and a.s study had 

 recently been given to the Italian style, and tlie imjwrt- 

 ant principles which it has to teach for fonnal work in 

 this country had been emphasized I suppose the idea 

 somehow got into print that an Italian garden was 

 called for. This could the more easily haiipen since in 

 this country many of our best fonual gardens are (most 

 unfortunately) called Italian gardens, when they are 

 really American gardens based on general jiriciples com- 

 mon to all good formal work but preeminently well ex- 

 emplified in the Italian woi'k of the Renaissance. I 

 should ])ersoually regret greatly any impression getting 

 about that our instruction at Harvard favors the use 

 of foreign styles of gardening as such in this country, 

 except as an occasional curiosity. 



To]iiary work, in its strict sense, is of course in no 

 way strongly associated with Italian formal gardens, 

 and is the last sort of thing any one of our students 

 would be likely definitely to plan for. 



What our people need most is certainly not a fuller 

 appreciation of sylvan or floral beauty of itself, but a 

 fuller appreciation of the value of design and not of 

 planting for itself hut of planting as part — as one ma- 

 terial — in a garden, or in a landscajjc composition. 

 Tours vcrv sinccrclv. 





New York. 



Chaimian School of Landscai)e 

 Architecture, Harvard Universitv. 



FUNERAL OF WM. F. KASTING. 

 Throngs of men prominent in all 

 professions and branches of Buffalo' i 

 business world gave evidence of their 

 esteem and friendship for tlie late 

 William F. Kasting, postmaster, by 

 attending the funeral services held 

 at the family home. 700 Ellicott street. 

 Buffalo. For an hour previou.- t" the 

 beginning of the services within the 

 home, Ellicott street was occupied by 

 a steady procession of men and wom- 

 en and children of his neighborhood, 

 with whom Mr. Kasting was a sreat 

 favorite, all viewing his body and 

 paying silently and tearfully their 

 final tribute. 



Five himdred letter carriers and 

 clerks of the post office lined the 

 street in double row, with the mem- 



bers of Hugh de Payens Commandery 

 Knights Templar, with the represen- 

 tatives of the Buffalo Orpheus of 

 which society Mr. Kasting had been 

 president and always a leader, the 

 Elks, and the other fraternal organiza- 

 tions with which Mr. Kasting had 

 been affiliated, as the funeral cortege 

 passed, through the host of mourning 

 friends. 



The services were simple, consisting 

 of the Masonic ritual, conducted by 

 Queen City Lodge, F. & A. M., and the 

 reading of the 23d and 19th Psalms 

 and the prayers and brief eulogy by 

 the Rev. Christian G. Haas, pastor of 

 St. Paul's Evangelical church. The 

 funeral escort consisted of the Com- 

 mandery of Knights Templar and 

 Queen City Lodge. F. & A. M. The 

 services at the grave included the 

 prayers and the singing by the Buf- 



falo Orpheus of "All Through the 

 .\ight." 



Seldom is exjiressed grief at the 

 death of a friend in such flora! trib- 

 utes as were included in the hundreds 

 of beautiful pieces sent to the Kast- 

 ing home. They came from all sec- 

 tions of the country, from the florists' 

 societies, from letter carriers' organi- 

 zations, from federal and state offi- 

 cials and from hundreds of personal 

 friends. Five motor trucks were re- 

 quired to convey the floral offerings 

 to the cemetery. 



The active bearers were: William J. 

 Palmer, S. A. Anderson, J. B. Wise, 

 Charles E. Schoenhut and Joseph 

 Sangster of Buffalo and Charles T. 

 Guenther of Hamburg. The list of 

 honorary bearers included 50 or more 

 men prominent in professions and 

 business and official life in Buffalo. 



