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HOETICULTUEE 



November 16, 1912 



Obituary. 



Robert Turton. 

 Robert Turton, florist, of St. Louis, 

 Mo., died of heart failure on Oct. 25. 

 He was a civil war veteran. A wife 

 and five children survive him. 



NEW ROSE MRS. GEO. SHAWYER. 



On 5% ft. stems. 



Henry Greschens. 

 Henry Greschens, a florist, of Ala- 

 meda, Calif., died at his residence, 2.527 

 Clement avenue, on November 4; aged 

 62 years. 



Linden Bree. 

 Linden Bree, Nevada County horti- 

 cultural commissioner, and a well- 

 known horticulturist, died at the 

 home of his mother in Grass Valley, 

 Calif., on Nov. 1; aged 39 years. 



John Watson. 

 On Oct. 30, John Watsou, formerly 

 a florist in Seattle, Wash., died at the 

 home of his daughter in Albany, N 

 Y., at the age of 77 years. He was 

 born In England but had resided in 

 America for over 30 years. He leaves 

 a widow and three sons. 



James Kerr. 

 "We learn from our British contem- 

 poraries of the death of Mr. James 

 Kerr, of the firm of Messrs. Kerr 

 Brothers, nurserymen, florists and 

 seedsmen, Dumfries. Mr. Kerr died in 

 the hospital at Napier, New Zealand, 

 where he was engaged in horticultural 

 pursuits. Violas and dahlias were 

 among his specialties. He was a 

 brother of G. W. Kerr, well known as 

 a sweet pea authority, associated with 

 W. Atlee Burpee & Co., at Fordhook. 



Joshua I. Maxwell. 

 In the death of Joshua 1. Maxwell, 

 on Oct. 23, Geneva, N. Y., loses one of 

 the founders of the nursery business 

 in that city, a business which has 

 made the section famous. In 1S52 h?, 

 with his brother, who had begun busi- 

 ness a little earlier, started the nur- 

 sery business when there were but two 

 other nurseries in town, and the total 

 plantings did not exceed ten acres. 

 When they gave up business, about 

 twenty years ago, they alone had over 

 1000 acres planted. Mr. Maxwell was 

 88 years of age. 



Death claimed for its own last week 

 in Hamilton, Ohio, one of Cincinnati's 

 old retail florists, Casper Titenberg. 



FLOWERS DESTROYED BY SEWER 

 GAS. 



On November S, when the flower 

 store of Morse & Newell, 135 Marri- 

 mack street, Haverhill, Mass., was 

 opened, the entire contents, plants and 

 cut flowers, were found dead. Most of 

 the foliage was on the floor. The prin- 

 cipal loss will be ten large 4-8 ft. 

 palms and the cut flowers. The cause 

 ■was traced to a sewer, but this was de- 

 nied by the owner of the building. 

 Newell claimed that the heavy rain of 

 Thursday night drove the foul air from 

 the main sewer iiipe into an open drain 

 where no trap had been placed under 

 the building, and as the heavy air 

 could not get out as rain acted as a 

 barrier, and filled the basement and 

 percolated all through the store. The 

 matter was pushed to a finish, when 

 the city ordered an investigation, and 



city engineers and inspectors of plumb- 

 ing first declared it impossible, but 

 after one defect after another was 

 shown and when the inspectors and 

 Newell went to the hotel toilet in the 

 second story of the building and turn- 

 ed down hot peppermint in the bowl 

 and found it filled the basement, they 

 both declared that the entire sewer 

 system will have to come out and new 

 put in, and that there was no other 

 cause than this that spoiled the stock 

 in Morse & Newell's. The owner of 

 the building was then requested to pay 

 for what was damaged and dead. 

 There were four drains and none of 

 them had any traps and nothing to 

 prevent sewer matter running into the 

 basement, yet for three years the 

 holder of the lease had been unable to 

 get a thing done. It was proved that 

 the entire fault rested on the owner of 

 the building, and the city ordered le- 

 pairs at once. 



In connection with the obove facts, 

 Mr. Newell wishes to state through 

 this paper that he has been buying car- 

 nations from Leonard Cousins, Jr., 

 Concord Junction. Mass., and blamed 

 him on a shipment made early in the 

 week, where the flowers closed up over 

 night, but has now become convinced 

 that his goods were A No. 1 and the 

 trouble was caused by a leak in a 

 sewer. He wishes to publicly apolo- 

 gize to him, finding his goods just as 

 he represented them. 



THE SWEET PEA IN AMERICA. 



It is now some time ago sonce I read 

 your delightfully refreshing letter by 

 Rev. W. T Hutchins, telling of the 

 "Great Triumph of the Sweet Pea in 

 America." as seen at the Boston Show 

 of the American Sweet Pea Society. 



I have been surprised that only in 

 1912 were the American seedsmen, 

 growers and press realizing the beauty 

 and possibilities of the eweet pea. The 

 old proverb "It is never too late to 

 mend" must bring cheerful consolation 

 to the parties mentioned. Never did 

 the proverb carry so much hope as it 

 did at the Boston Show. I imagined 

 when reading the reports, that I saw 

 such staunch enthusiasts as Mr. W. At- 

 lee Burpee, Mr. Sim, Mr. Bunyard, Mr. 

 Geo. Kerr, Rev. W. T. Hutchins and 

 others, shaking hands and congratulat- 

 ing one another that at last they had 

 crowned their "Queen" and a long 

 reign of popularity was assured. 



The British Society has done and is 

 doing wonderful things, but what has 

 enabled the Society to do these things? 

 My humble opinion is that to Thos. 

 Jones. Ruabon, Wales, Alex. Mal- 

 colm, Duns, Scotland, and other am- 

 ateurs, who in the earlier days of the 

 sweet pea showed us the possibilities 

 of the flower, is due a large share of 

 the honor. Perhaps, however, the 

 greatest honor must be given to the 

 British seed trade for the way they 

 educated the public in sweet pea mat- 



