EARLY BOTANISTS AND BOTANICAL SECTION. 43 



When collecting he gathered quantities of specimens which he 

 sent to societies and institutions in Europe. Once in speaking of this 

 he said: "I gather for all Europe, — all Europe." His large and 

 valuable herbarium is deposited at Mt. St. Alphonsus, Esopus, N. Y. 



Those of our members who were acquainted with Father Holzer, 

 have spoken of him as being of very genial manners and particularly 

 good company when on botanical excursions. Like all our collectors, 

 he especially enjoyed excursions to Bergen swamp, that Mecca of 

 western New York botanists, and his rapturous exclamations over 

 the rare specimens found there still linger in the minds of those who 

 heard them nearly forty years ago. 



One of Father Holzer' s personal possessions, which was kindly 

 loaned our committee by the present Rector of St. Joseph's Church, 

 shows how interested he was in botany and how his love for plants 

 was interwoven with his daily life. In a little leather-covered 

 memorandum book he had copied in his fine German hand the whole 

 of some botany. Pocket editions of botanies were not then obtain- 

 able, and it was evident that he had made this copy in order to have 

 it with him at all times for ready reference in field work. In the back 

 part of the book were descriptions of plants which were useful in 

 medicine. 



Father Holzer's command of English, judging from the contents 

 of this memorandum book, was quite equal to his knowledge of his 

 own language, for he sometimes used one and sometimes the other 

 with equal facility. 



Father Holzer's death was universally regretted by the citizens of 

 Rochester. It was felt that the church had lost a zealous and faithful 

 priest, society a valued member, and science an energetic and learned 

 disciple. 



Mary E. Streeter. 



Although there had been for so many years such an interest in 

 the flora of this vicinity, there was no regularly organized botanical 

 society in Rochester until in 1881. 



April 13, 1 88 1, Mrs. Mary E. Streeter called a meeting of those 

 interested in botany, at her home on Scio Street. Eleven persons' 

 responded to the invitation, and then and there the Botanical Section 



