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Decembku 15, 11)04. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



J99d 



Guuervatory of H. H. Rogers, the Standard Oil Magnate, at Fairhaven, Mass. 



well afford to omit the Pike in its favor. 

 He will be too late to see the showy out- 

 door features, but he will find that every 

 greenhouse has a theme of its own, one 

 house being devoted to orchids, another 

 to acadaa, another to century plants, and 

 for eT9ry man in this audience it is the 

 chance of a life-time to see a big coUee- 

 tion of cacti and other desert plants. The 

 visitor will see the great botanical and 

 horticultural library of 36,000 volumes, 

 including the wonderful collection of 

 herbals and pre-Linnean works given by 

 Dr. Sturtevant, formerly director of the 

 New York Experiment Station ; the her- 

 barium of 400,000 specimens, which will 

 settle for you any troublesome question 

 about a species that you are likely to 

 have. You will get some glimpse into 

 the wonderful method of working and 

 note-taking which enabled the leading 

 German physician in St. Louis, Dr. En- 

 gelmann, to achieve a world-wide reputa- 

 tion in botany and to earn the title of 

 "the most painstaking botanist America 

 has ever known. ' ' You may see the val- 

 uable work which is being carried on in 

 diseases of trees and the preservation 

 of railroad and ship timbers in co-opera- 

 tion with the United States Department 

 of Agriculture. 



There is so much to see that the visitor 

 may be tempted to omit the training 

 school for gardeners, but anyone who 

 can see with the eye of imagination 

 should not fail to catch a glimpse of the 

 two great new plantings in which hardy 

 trees and shrubs will predominate, sixty 

 acres of which will be a North American 

 tract, representing the passing botanical 

 system of Bentham and Hooker, while 

 eighty acres will be devoted to the com- 

 iijg system of Engler and Prantl. 



One phase of the Missouri Botanical 

 Garden is sure to strike every visitor. It 

 is no cold-blooded, abstract institution, 

 with no care for the real wants of the 

 people, but a place that is full of the 

 personality of a man with good red blood 

 in his veins. Here is the man's country 



house, just as it was in his lifetime, his 

 city house moved thence and set up again 

 to serve as herbarium and office, his veg- 

 etable garden, his smoke-house, where he 

 prepared his own hams, and a hundred 

 other things that speak of a gentleman's 

 estate. Henry Shaw liked flowers and 

 lots of them and he fixed it in his will 

 so that there would be plenty of flowers 

 for the people, arranged in forms that 

 they can really enjoy. If you despise 

 carpet bedding, barely tolerate parterre 

 work and take only the mildest interest 

 in formal gardening of every kind, it is 

 because you have not visited Shaw's 

 Garden and seen some really good exam- 

 ples. Is it any wonder that Shaw 's Gar- 

 den has a unique place in the affections 

 of the people of St. Louis? The horti- 

 cultural visitor who comes out of the 

 World's Fair and inquires of the near- 

 est policeman or citizen the way to the 

 Missouri Botanical Garden is likely to 

 be answered with, "Oh, you mean 

 Shaw's Garden. "Why, you take the Olive 

 Street car to Vandeventer and take a 

 south bound car marked Shaw's Gar- 

 den." There could be no surer sign 

 that this scientific institution is in close 

 touch with the people. 



But this very warmth of personality 

 which makes every visitor's heart kindle 

 toward the place is itself a limitation to 

 a certain extent. Henry Shaw made mis- 

 takes. He was shrewd enough about the 

 things of his own time, but he could not 

 foresee the future any more than we can. 

 Perhaps there were good reasons in his 

 time for not letting the people enjoy the 

 garden on Sundays, but there is no good 

 reason for it to-day save the dead hands 

 that reach out of the past and keep the 

 gates shut except for two Sundays dur- 

 ing the summer, when by the provisions 

 of the will the public may enter. Forty- 

 three thousand persons did enter Shaw's 

 Garden on those two Sundays last year. 

 Again, Henry Shaw believed that the 

 best way for the garden to make money 

 was to hold forever all the lands he gave 



it and not part with any portion of it 

 only on long-term leases. He could not 

 foresee that a certain part of that prop- 

 erty could never be made to yield an 

 income on that basis. Fortunately the 

 courts have allowed the Garden to sell 

 this portion and invest the money in a 

 more profitable way, so that the income 

 of the Garden is greatly increased, a re- 

 sult which Henry Shaw would never have 

 deprecated. 



ST. LOUIS. 



Qub Meeting. 



The December meeting of the Florists ' 

 Club Thursday afternoon, December 8, 

 while not so largely attended as was 

 expected, proved very interesting. The 

 meeting was called to order by ex-Presi- 

 dent Beneke, as President Juengel was 

 reported sick and "Vice-President Pilcher 

 al»ent, but the latter took the chair 

 later and filled it in an able manner. 

 Three new members were elected. Swan 

 Peterson, of Gibson City, 111.; C. C. 

 Sanders and F. H. Weber. The trustees 

 were not ready to report on the list of 

 essays and were given until the next 

 meeting. 



After the regular business of the 

 meeting was transacted the question came 

 up as to what disposition should be 

 made of the money left over from the 

 guarantors' fund of the S. A. F. con- 

 vention. After heated argument it was 

 decided that the money should be paid 

 back to the members in proportion to 

 their subscriptions. The treasurer's re- 

 port showed that the club is in fine shape 

 financially, also in membership. The 

 chair appointed a committee of three 

 to ascertain how many members will at- 

 tend the carnation meeting at Chicago 

 next month, also to look up best possible 

 rates. The committee is J. J. Beneke, 

 F. M. Ellis and J. F. Ammann, and will 

 report at the next meeting, which will 

 be held January 12, at 2 o'clock, at 



