December 4, 1915 



HOKTICULTURE 



729 



seed and horticultural interests of 

 Plailadelpliia, New York. Wasliington 

 and otiier cities. The establishment, 

 of \V. Atlee Burpee & Co.. in Philadel- 

 phia, was closed for the da.v. and the 

 2UII employees attended the funeral in 

 a body. There was also a lar.?R repre- 

 sentation of members of the Poor Rich- 

 ard Club of Philadelphia, whom Mr. 

 Burpee had liospitably entertained so 

 often at "Fordhook." 



The casket reposed in the drawing 

 room of the Burpee residence at Ford- 

 hook, surrounded by a great wealth of 

 floral tributes. A simple but impres- 

 sive funeral service was conducted by 

 the Rev. il. A. Browuson. pastor of the 

 Tenth Presbyterian Church. Philadel- 

 phia, in which church Mr. Burpee has 

 been an elder for many years. Mrs. 

 Margaret Mitchell, a niece of Mrs. Bur- 

 pee, sang "Lead, Kindly Light." The 

 Rev. Mr. Brownson paid a touching 

 tribute to the loyalty of Mr. Burpee in 

 his friendships and to his warm- 

 hearted generosity and kindliness. 

 Pall-bearers were ex-Governor Edwin 

 S. S*uart, John Gribbel, president of 

 the Onion League; Samuel Y. Heeb- 

 ner, ex-Judge Harman Yerkes, William 

 E. Helme, Henry M. Warren, Percy B. 

 Bromfield and William F. Fell. Inter- 

 ment was made in Doylestown ceme- 

 tery. 



FROM GEORGE C. WATSON. 

 Philadelphia. 



When we survey the field of achieve- 

 ment of the American seed trade dur- 

 ing the past fifty years many promi- 

 nent figures stand out. James Vick. 

 Peter Henderson. B. K. Bliss, John 

 Lewis Childs, Wm. Henry Maule, D. M. 

 Ferry. Albert Dickinson, Jerome B. 

 Rice, John Farquhar and J. C. Vaughan 

 are among the many who have made 

 history and headed the forward move- 

 ment. But the most striking figure of 

 them all has been W. Atlee Burpee, 

 who started in 1878 — 37 years ago — 

 and has just passed away at the early 

 age of 57 years. 



To get a clear idea of what Mr. Bur- 

 pee stood for we must first get the 

 right idea of what a true seedsman 

 stands for. The seedsman does busi- 

 ness on a confidential basis. You 

 can't tell from looking at him. The 

 first principle of a true seedsman is 

 a high sense of honor. .Mr. Burpee 

 had that in a remarkable degree. No 

 dishonorable dollar ever went into his 

 pocket. The second principle is a 

 deep love of truth. No man ever heard 

 Mr. Burpee depart one hair's breadth 

 from the absolute truth about anything 

 he had to offer — and that is saying a 

 lot when you get enthusiastic about 

 some of your pet novelties. In addi- 

 tion to a high sense of honor and a 

 deep love of truth there is this further 

 supreme requirement to enforce the 

 latter: unsubduable courage in its de- 

 fence. Burpee was a courageous man 

 to that final supreme test. He never 

 put a fake on the market himself, and 

 he would oven fight a friend who did, 

 no matter how innocently the friend 

 might do so. 



Gentlemen, that man was a man 

 among men. A big man. A strong 

 man. A wise man. An honest man. 

 A hale man. A jolly man. A witty 

 man. A loving man. A prince. One 

 of the most uiii(|ue and wonderful 

 characters it has been my fortune to 



know during my thirty-two years' so- 

 journ in this country on my way 

 around the world. 



His friends and the universe have 

 suffered an irreparable loss in his sud- 

 den taking away. But let us thank 

 the Lord that He vouchsafed to give 

 us a Burpee even for a limited time. 



"Sound, sound the clarion, fill tlio flfe! 

 To all the sensual world proclaim. 



One crowded hour of glorious life 

 Is worth an age without a name." 



That's from good old Sir Walter, and 

 it fits Burpee. 



We have seen many remarkable pop- 

 ular outpourings to a popular hero, 

 both at iiome and abroad — from roy- 

 alty down and from theocracy up, but 

 never have we seen so ardent a flow- 

 ing out of the human heart to a real 

 man as we saw at Fordhook today. 

 Nov. 29, 1915. 



For miles around the roads were 

 lined with auto wagons, buggies, ox- 

 farts; Last, West, North and South — as 

 far as the eye could reach. They had 

 been paying their respects for hours 

 before we got there on the 1.02 P. M. 

 train, from the Reading Terminal. 

 From Fordhook siding, at the bottom 

 of the Burpee lawn, we watched a sea 

 of heads (from that one train) half-a- 

 mile-long-and-seven-deep. trudging up 

 to pay their last respects to the great 

 departed. 



To count the thousands that made 

 their last bow of respect to Burpee is 

 impossible, not only that but the kind 

 of people who came. Every one there 

 was a prince in the business — from 

 Maine to California — he came to do 

 homage to his king — king not by hered- 

 ity but by achievement. And not only 

 in our own line of industry but in all 

 walks of life. Merchants, manufactur- 

 ers, farmers, florists, lawyers, clergy- 

 men, statesmen, suffragettes — every 

 phase and form of human feeling was 

 represented. 



The worthy successors of the great 

 Burpee business — while they have sus- 

 tained (with us all) a great and stun- 

 ning loss, have the inspiration of this 

 wonderful tribute to their honored 

 chief and founder; — to gird up their 

 loins and do all that is in them to car- 

 ry the Burpee flag to even bigger 

 heights. From stepping stones of our 

 dead selves to higher things. That's 

 the slogan. 



FROM W. C. LANGBRIDGE, 

 Cambridge, N. Y. 



"Death loves a shining mark," and 

 this is exemplified in the passing of 

 W. Atlee Burpee. For many years he 

 has stood in the front rank among 

 living representatives of the seed 

 trade, not alone of this country but of 

 the world. Few men have filled so 

 large a space in their chosen line of 

 business, and his strong forceful char- 

 acter has left an impress on the seed 

 trade of this country that will endure 

 for generations to come. 



Mr. Burpee was an honor to the 

 seed business, a force for square up- 

 right dealing, a living protest against 

 shams and fakes. While as an adver- 

 tiser he always emphasized the name 

 of Burpee, he was in the broadest 

 sense a public Ix'iH^f.-ctnr. not only to 

 those in his own line of business but 

 to horticulture in general. It can be 

 said without fear of contradiction that 

 during the last quarter of a century, 



Mr. Burpee has introduced more new 

 types of vegetables of sterling merit, 

 which have become standard varieties, 

 than any other house in all America. 



One feature of the Burpee establish- 

 ment has always been commented on 

 — the intense loyalty of every em- 

 ployee from the highest to the lowest. 

 Every one seemed to be proud of his 

 connection with the house of Burpee; 

 eager to serve the "chief;" eager to do 

 anything to spare him. There is a 

 cause, a reason for this devotion — it 

 was the thoughtful kindliness of the 

 man. For many years it has been Mr. 

 Burpee's custom to look after his em- 

 ployees' welfare and comfort, and any 

 who became ill while in his employ re- 

 ceived his salary during the period of 

 his illness, or at least for a consider- 

 able time, and in addition, often re- 

 ceived the best medical attention free. 

 These are a tew of the reasons for the 

 quite unique loyalty of his employees. 



It is not the purpose of the writer 

 to act as biographer for Mr. Burpee, 

 but knowing him for many years we 

 regard it as a privilege to bear brief 

 testimony to the qualities of heart and 

 brain of this true nobleman. With a 

 considerable part of the allotted three 

 score years and ten still unused, and 

 just where the twilight mingles with 

 the day, he has passed to the great 

 beyond. 



"Take him all in oil, we shall not look 

 upon liis like again." 



FROM MR. BURPEE'S FIRST EM- 

 PLOYEE. 

 Harrisburg, Pa. 



The half can never be told. The men 

 closest to Mr. Burpee are the ones that 

 knew of the many good deeds he did. 

 .Many a blessing has he showered on 

 the poor and needy that no one but 

 those directly interested knew any- 

 thing about. He was always thought- 

 ful about his employees, their welfare, 

 their homes, and their habits. The 

 writer recalls an incident that hap- 

 pened many years ago. when an em- 

 ployee did Mr. Burpee a great injury, 

 but instead of retaliating he said 

 "well, let him go and I hope he may 

 yet see the error of his ways." He was 

 not the man to hold a grudge, — far 

 troui it. The writer, an old employee, 

 always looked upon Mr. Burpee as a 

 brother and I have every reason to 

 believe he felt this same brotherly af- 

 fection for me, being the first em- 

 ployee of the great hotise of Burpee. 

 It is not only a pleasure to look back 

 and think of the hai)py days spent 

 with this house but the constant com- 

 panionsbij) with Mr. Buri)ee made it 

 more so. When I say that I believe I 

 have lost in the death of Mr. Burpee 

 the best friend 1 ever had. I "say but 

 little." Last spring .\lr. Burpee stopped 

 In my city and spent the evening at 

 my home. Needless to say the con- 

 versation ran back to the old days of 

 '78 and '9. I can see his countenance 

 now, radiant, when many old things 

 were brought up. He seemed to like 

 to look back. Speaking of the first 

 edition of Burpee's Farm Annual 

 which was mailed from his old resi- 

 clei'ce. l:',:!2 Arch street, he said: "We 

 bad a lot of fun that night." 



God In all his goodness cannot fall 

 to crown him for the many .tood works 

 he has accomplished on this earth. 



