10 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



May 26, 1910. 



r. MES. E. M. GILL. - 



A life of remarkable activity and still 

 in active business as a florist at the age 

 of 80 years — still wide-awake and pro- 

 gressive! Such is the record of Mrs. E. 

 M. Gill, of Medford, Mass. Some idea 

 of the e*tejit of her activities may be 

 gathered from the fact that she is an 

 earnest member of these various socie- 

 ties: Massachusetts Horticultural Soci- 

 ety, New England Dahlia Society, Gar- 

 deners' and Florists' Club of Boston, 

 Floral Emblem Society, Women's Eelief 

 Corps of Medford, Sarah Bradlee Fulton 

 chapter of D. A. E., S. C. Lawrence Re- 

 lief Corps No, 5, Medford Visiting 

 Nurses' Association, Ladies' Aid Asso- 

 ciation of the Soldiers' Home in Chel- 

 sea, and Medford Historical Society. 

 She has been chosen several times as 

 delegate for the W. B. C. to the national 

 encampments of the G. A. R. 



The Gardeners' and Florists' Club of 

 Boston fittingly celebrated her long con- 

 nection with that organization March 

 22 of this year by electing her an hon- 

 orary member. Her association with 

 the Massachusetts Horticultural Society 

 has continued for forty-five years — 

 since 1865. During that long period she 

 has been a regular exhibitor of flowers 

 and fruits in the society's shows, and 

 an unfailing prize winner in the classes 

 requiring the greatest artistic skill. And 



is added this other quality, that she is 

 particularly helpful, in a quiet way, to 

 her fellow members in the societies, it 

 is easy to perceive that her personality 

 is unusually interesting and lovable. In 

 the Massachusetts Horticultural Society 

 the advice of "Mother" Gill, as she is 

 affectionately called by its members, is 

 sought on all matters, and, owing alike 

 to her wide popularity and her rare wis- 

 dom, she has often been invited by the 

 flower committee (always composed of 

 men) to accompany them on their 

 rounds of garden inspection. 



Mrs. Gill was born on Essex street, 

 Boston, June 28, 1830. She is a daugh- 

 ter of Atherton and Maria Keith Bow- 

 ditch. She is a descendant of John and 

 Priscilla Alden and of Richard Warren, 

 who came over in the Mayflower. An- 

 other colonial ancestor is Joseph Hills, 

 who compiled the first general laws es- 

 tablished in New England, for which he 

 was voted 500 acres of land in Dun- 

 stable. He was first speaker of the 

 colonial house of deputies of Massa- 

 chusetts Bay. Her family was also 

 related to Benjamin Vinton French, 

 whose portrait hangs on the walls of 

 Horticultural hall, Boston, and who was 

 a founder of the Massachusetts Horti- 

 cultural Society and its vice-president 

 from 1840 to 1857. 



She was married in 1849 to George 

 Gill, of Watertown, Mass. In 1854 they 



Mrs. EUen M, Gill. 



(PhotoKrapb made June 28, 1900, at thc'age of 70 years.) 



yet, with all this activity, she has been 

 80 modest and retiring in disposition 

 that she has yielded only once to the 

 numerous requests that she deliver 

 talks, or series of talks, before various 

 societies. On this one occasion her ad- 

 dress, at Worcester, was a notably good 

 one. 



When to these traits of her character 

 — her combined energy and diffidence — 



moved to Medford from Melrose. Mr. 

 Gill died in 1898. 



She built her first greenhouse in 1873, 

 and used it for the culture of choice 

 roses, carnations, lilies and violets. Two 

 more houses have been added since then. 

 She has engaged in the business for 

 both pleasure and profit. In earlier 

 years her exhibits at the horticultural 

 shows were composed of flowers selected 



from her beautiful old-fashioned garden, 

 the only one of its kind and size in th<! 

 vicinity. It is said that today, at hei' 

 advanced age, none of the younger 

 exhibitors can surpass the graceful and 

 artistic arrangement of her flowers. 

 Along this special line the sweet-voiced, 

 silvery-haired woman is every inch an 

 artist. 



SMILAX AND ASPABAGUS. 



Will you give me some information 

 regarding the modern methods of grow- 

 ing smilax and asparagus, mentioning 

 the kinds of benches, the depth of Boil 

 and drainage, the temperature, ete.1 



L. C. S. 



Smilax is usually planted in a solid 

 bed, containing about two inches of 

 drainage material (or more if cinders 

 or broken stone are plentiful), and from 

 five to six inches of good, rich soil. 

 Such a bed is good for two seasons, pro- 

 vided the plants are given food enough. 



The bed should be wired crosswise, 

 with the wires about ten inches apart, 

 and the plants should be eight inches 

 apart in the row. Corresponding cross 

 wires are placed overhead, and from 

 these the strings are run to carry the 

 plants, using green twine for the pur- 

 pose. 



The young plants should be planted 

 in May or June and carefully traiiled 

 to the strings. A light shading is behe- 

 ficial during the hot weather and naay 

 be readily applied with a syringe, using 

 either one of the mixtures of whiting 

 and oil or even whitewash. After the 

 plants are nicely established the gro'v^th 

 will be helped by giving th6m a mulch- 

 ing of short manure to a depth of about 

 an inch, and this may be repeated for 

 each crop that is cut from the bed, the 

 usual course being to cut three crops 

 per year from a bed. 



Syringe daily in bright weather and 

 keep a night temp>erature of 60 degrees 

 through the winter. Water freely while 

 the crop is in growth, but give less wa- 

 ter for a few weeks after the crop is 

 cut, until the new growth starts. 



If a permanent bed of asparagus is 

 wanted, for the production of strings, it 

 should have a good layer of drainage in 

 the bottom, and then be filled to a depth 

 of at least one foot with rich compost, 

 giving the plants rather more room than 

 has been suggested for smilax, say 12x 

 12 inches. After the plants get to 

 growing they will take heavier mulch- 

 ing than the smilax, for Asparagus plu- 

 mosus is a gross feeder and will also 

 take plenty of water, both overhead and 

 at the root. In regard to temperature 

 and shading, it may be treated the same 

 as the smilax. 



If the asparagus plants are to be 

 grown for sprays only, they may be 

 planted out on a bench containing five 

 to six inches of soil. If given a mulch- 

 ing from time to time, as the manure is 

 washed in and exhausted, they will 

 stand thus for two seasons, but the deep 

 bed, if well watered, will stand without 

 replanting for six to eight years. 



Red spiders and thrips are the most 

 troublesome insects on these plants. The 

 spiders are kept down by vigorous 

 syringing, and the thrips by spraying 

 with nicotine solution. W. H. T. 



Derry, N. H.— The Franklin Street 

 Conservatories, which were enlarged 

 last fall, are now crowded to their full 

 capacity. 



