42 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



aud au expert from Cincinnati having- charge especially of the cut 

 flower department. Here in San Diego, after so many years of hard 

 work, we have tried to do but little that would add to her cares, for 

 she was always an invalid from girlhood; still it was a great sur- 

 prise to friends who came here from Minnesota to see her without 

 glasses and with few gray hairs. On, the daj^ of her death, she 

 looked about the same as she did thirty years ago. 



I could write a thousand things pertaining to her and our jour- 

 ney of more than forty years together among the flowers, but the 

 " Horticulturist" has only room for a few items that ought to be re- 

 corded permanently, for as the years go by information about the 

 pioneers will increase in value. 



Many of our old time friends and customers have called to see us 

 in our new home, but O, how many of these have joined the majority! 

 Aud now she who greeted them all so cheerfully is one of their train. 



We never had any children, but for the last few years she 

 cared for a little fatherless one whose history is full of interest. No 

 inother and child were ever more attached to one another, and her 

 greatest pleasure was in going to visit " baby Merritt," after she 

 went to another home. She learned the names of Mrs. Ford's plants 

 when less than two years old; and it was a surprise to all visitors to 

 hear how easily she would pronounce the names of my favorite 

 cacti, which she always asked to see when about the nursery. 



Flowers that bloom in fields elysian 



Fade not like the ones we grow. 

 Dim is now my earthly vision, 



And the tears cease not to flow; 

 Birds and blossoms mourn for me, 



With the pensive pepper tree. 



Is THE Tomato Poisonous?— Nearly everj^body will be interested 

 iti a new theory which has been advanced and is being insisted 

 upon by Dr. W. T. English, who is one of the best-known physicians 

 of Pittsburgh, Pa. 



No other country, up to the present, einploys it as a food. Because 

 of its low nutritive value it should not be regarded as substantial 

 aliment, as it consists of over 85 per cent, water. Writers on dietetics 

 regard it as a diluent. He further assumes that, notwithstanding 

 the general indulgence in this fruit, there is a certain proportion to 

 whom it acts as a poison. This assertion is based upon observa- 

 tions conducted over fifteen years. At least one-half of those who 

 use them suffer more or less without themselves being conscious of 

 the exact cause, while one-fourth are obviously injured. 



The doctor draws the following conclusions: That the use of 

 tomatoes as an article of diet during- the period of heart develop- 

 ment, especially that marking the rapid increase in growth between 

 adolescence and maturity, should be avoided as likely to precipitate 

 evil. Women should not use tomatoes when there is a pre-existing- 

 nervous irritability, and under certain other conditions their use 

 would be foolhardy. All who suffer from rheumatism, heart disease 

 or functional derangement of the heart and circulation should care- 

 fully avoid tomatoes. 



Those who are called upon to endure loss of sleep or inental strain 

 wrill find them worse than useless. 



