130 TWO GOOD NATURALISTS GONE 



did not take an active part. With the contributions 

 of Dr. Masters to botanical science and literature, 

 specialists of all nations are familiar ; as editor of the 

 Gardeners Chronicle for more than forty-one years he 

 maintained weekly intercourse with a very large circle 

 of readers, many of whom learnt to avail themselves 

 of his profound knowledge of plant life, and his ready 

 good nature in imparting the same. During his editor- 

 ship fashions in horticulture waxed and waned. The 

 mid- Victorian era of bedding-out yielded to a reaction 

 in favour of perennials and old-world flowers. Dr. 

 Masters, eager and sympathetic towards every phase 

 of his favourite craft, managed to hold an even balance 

 among them all, never condemning any system merely 

 because it had fallen out of vogue, yet always ready to 

 welcome new methods. He made the Gardeners 

 Chronicle a valuable storehouse of horticultural and 

 botanical lore. 



Only a few days after Dr. Masters' death came the 

 news of Professor Alfred Newton's to sadden us. He 

 had long held a place in the very foremost rank of 

 ornithologists ; the services he rendered to science are 

 far too important to require enumeration here. Had 

 he never published anything but his Dictionary of 

 Birds he would have been entitled to enduring grati- 

 tude on the part of that large and increasing number 

 of persons who take a keen interest in bird life, and 

 desire to supplement a superficial acquaintance with 

 different species, and more or less casual observation 

 of their habits, by access to sound information. For 

 such persons this dictionary is the very thing; it is 



