THE SECRETARY'S PORTFOLIO. 



PETER HENDERSON. 



Peter Henderson, business man unsurpassed, the beau ideal of 

 what a florist may become ; practical, persevering, and with a name 

 unsullied among men, a fluent writer, and a man who has probably 

 done more toward the advancement of the Art of Horticulture in 

 this country than any other one man, has left for all time his desk, 

 his famil}' and his friends. 



Mr Peter Henderson was born at Pathhead, a small village about 

 ten miles outof J^dinburgh, Scotland, in 1823. He left school at the 

 age of fifteen, having received as fair an education as the schools of 

 Scotland could give at that time, and he was indentured as an appren- 

 tice to a gardener for four years. He quickly showed the enterprise 

 and ambition that have characterized his life. For although he com- 

 menced his apprenticeship in a company of ten, before he was eighteen 

 3'ears of age he had twice successfully competed for the medals given 

 by the Botanical Society of Edinburgh for the best herbarium of native 

 and exotic plants. This competition was open to the whole of Great 

 Britain. This gave him a practical knowledge of botany, which has 

 been of immense benefit to him as a horticultural writer in after life. 



After serving his apprenticeship in Scotland, he emigrated to this 

 country, arriving in New York at the age of nineteen. He worked 

 for one year at Thorburn's nursery in Astoria, Long Island, and 

 another year with the late Robert Buist of Philadelphia. Mr. 

 Buist, Sr., was a life long friend of Mr. Henderson, and he has 

 often said that the man that has since become so prominent as a 

 horticulturist was one of the best workmen he ever had. From Mr. 

 Buist, Mr. Henderson went to Mr. Charles Spang, Pittsburgh, Pa., 

 to erect a range of graperies and greenhouses, and to generally 

 superintend his private grounds. 



