EARLY BOTANISTS AND BOTANICAL SECTION. 45 



wedded life of twenty years, during which every care had been 

 bestowed upon her, she was called home June 14th, 1885. 



Of Mrs. Streeter's zeal and enthusiasm in carrying on the work 

 of the Botanical Section, many members still live to give their testi- 

 mony. From the beginning, she felt that the first work of the Section 

 should be the collection and preservation of the plants growing in the 

 vicinity, before a catalogue could be published. During the four 

 remaining years of her life, she labored, and inspired others to labor 

 with her in the same cause, so that before her death she had the 

 pleasure of seeing many of the plants of Monroe and adjacent counties 

 mounted and placed in cabinets for the use of the Society. She also 

 secured gifts of plants from other botanists with whom she corres- 

 ponded. 



But Mrs. Streeter's ambition went beyond the accumulation of a 

 herbarium. With her eager thirst for knowledge, she longed to 

 push out into unknown fields, and unquestionably, had her life been 

 spared she would have attempted, at least, the solution of some of the 

 unsolved problems of plant life. The writer well remembers the 

 statement once made by Mrs. Streeter that she was willing to devote 

 all her time of study to the vegetable kingdom. The turmoil and 

 strife of historical narratives wearied her. In the peace and quiet of 

 the plant world she found the rest and satisfaction she craved, for she 

 ever looked " through Nature up to Nature's God." 



Among the papers contributed by Mrs. Streeter to the meetings 

 of the Botanical Section were: "Cross Fertilization of Plants," 

 " On the Order Compositce," " Ferns of Rochester and Vicinity," 

 "On the Order Ranunculaceae," and " Plant Histology. " Besides 

 the formal papers, she gave many talks on various topics relating to 

 Botany. 



While not caring to take time from her beloved botany to study 

 with intensity the animal kingdom, Mrs. Streeter felt great kindness 

 for animals. She saw the necessity of training children to look upon 

 the lower animals with sympathy, and she was instrumental in having 

 Bands of Mercy formed in many of the Rochester schools. And here, 

 perhaps, it will not be inappropriate to mention a companion without 

 whose assistance much of the labor of collecting plants could not have 

 been accomplished in her frail state of health. This companion was 

 her gentle horse, Bonny, who would wait with utmost patience while 



