EARLY BOTANISTS AND BOTANICAL SECTION. 47 



knowledge was remarkable, but he was particularly well-read on 

 horticultural subjects and his information on all newly discovered or 

 recently introduced plants was always up-to-date and reliable. 



He was a landscape artist of more than local repute, being fre- 

 quently called upon to plan and lay out grounds and cemeteries. He 

 drew the plans for one of Rochester's most beautifully planted 

 streets, Portsmouth Terrace, which was opened after the death of 

 James Vick, nearly thirty years ago. The late George Ellwanger 

 regarded the collection of trees and shrubs planted in this street as 

 particularly choice for such a purpose, and the scheme has been largely 

 copied in other cities. 



Mr. Seelye was a charter member of the Western New York 

 Horticultural Society, established in 1857, His reports as chairman 

 of the Committee on Flowers and Bedding Plants were always of 

 interest and profit. An arrangement had been made with him for a 

 series of sketches of the men who were prominent in the history of 

 horticulture during the past fifty years, but failing health prevented 

 him from carrying out this project. He was greatly interested in the 

 culture of grapes and for a number of years owned a fine vineyard at 

 Vine Valley on Canandaigua Lake. He is credited with having 

 originated several varieties of this fruit. 



As a writer on horticultural subjects Mr. Seelye had an extensive 

 experience, not only being editor of Vick's Magazine for many years, 

 but also of "How to Grow Flowers," published at West Grove, Pa. 

 He was the author of "The Language of Flowers," "How to Make 

 a Lawn," the "Farmer's Handbook," and a game of cards designed 

 to teach botany. He was a fine French scholar and took pleasure in 

 gathering around him a coterie of young people with whom he read 

 and discussed the literature of France. 



Mr. Seelye was an ardent lover of fiowers and early began the 

 study of botany. He was a pupil of Dr. Chester Dewey and in June, 

 1895, contributed a memorial sketch of him for a meeting of the 

 Academy of Science. In this sketch Mr. Seelye paid a warm tribute 

 to Dr. Dewey and the influence which his interest in botany exerted 

 over his pupils, and, indirectly, on succeeding generations. {Proc. 

 Roch. Acad. Science, Vol. j, pp. 182-18^.) 



Mr. Seelye was from the beginning one of the most interested 

 members of the Botanical Section, contributing material for 



