10 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



May 26. 1910. 



MRS. E. M. GILL. 



A lilc of reniarkablo activity and still 

 in active Liisiiu'ss as a llorist at the ago 

 of so vcavs — still wide-awake and pro- 

 gressive! Such is the record of Mrs. E. 

 M. Gill, of IMedford, Mass. Some idea 

 of Ihe extent 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 Elorists' (Jlub of Boston, 

 Floral Eml)lem Society, Women's Relief 

 (-'oi ps of Medford, Sarah Bradlee Fulton 

 clia[)ter of D. A. R., S. C. Lawrence Re- 

 lief Corps No. 5, Medford Visiting 

 Xurs(>s' Association, J^adies' Aid Asso- 

 ciation of the Soldiers' Home in Chel- 

 sea, and ^ledford Historical Society. 

 She has been chosen several times as 

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

 eii(am]iments of the G. A. R. 



The (ianleners' and Florists' Club of 

 lii>st<in fittingly celebrated her long con 

 iicriioii with that organization March 

 1*1* ot this year by electing her an hon- 

 (uarv member. Her association with 

 till' Massachusetts Horticultural Society 

 ha.- continued for forty-five years — 

 sinre ISC).'). During that long j^eried she 

 has been a regular exhibitor of flowers 

 and fruits in the society's shows, and 

 an unfailing prize winner in the classes 

 reipiiring 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 

 alfectionately 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 

 llower committee (always comijosed of 

 men) to accompany them on their 

 I'ounds of garden inspection. 



Mrs. Gill was born on Essex street, 

 Boston, June 28, 18.30. She is a daugh- 

 ter of Atherton and Maria Keith Bow- 

 ilitch. 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 1840 to George 

 Gill, of W'atertown, Mass. In 1854 they 



Mrs. EUen M. Gill. 



( Plioloirrapli iiiadi' June 'JH, I iKio. at the afr<' nf 70 years, i 



yet, with all this activity, she has been 

 so modest and retiring in (lis|)osition 

 that she has yielded only once to the 

 numerous retpiests that she deliver 

 talks, or seiies of talks, before various 

 societies. On this one occasion her ad- 

 dress, at Worcester, was a notably goo<l 

 one. 



When to these traits of her character 

 — her combined energy and ditlidence — 



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 ;id<led since then. 

 She has engaged in the business for 

 both jileasure and profit. In earlier 

 .vears her exhibits at the horticultural 

 shows wei'e 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 he. 

 advanced age, none of the youngei 

 exhibitors can surpass the graceful auc 

 artistic arr.angement of her flowers. 

 Along this si)ecia} line the sweet-voiced, 

 silvery-haired woman is every inch ai 

 artist. 



SMILAX AND ASPARAGUS. 



Will you give me some informatioi 

 regarding the modern methods of grow 

 ing smilax and asparagus, mentioninj^ 

 the kinds of benches, the depth of soil 

 and drainage, the temperature, etc.? 



L. C. S. 



Smilax is usually planted in a solid 

 be(|, containing about two inches of 

 drainage material (or more if cinder^ 

 or broken stone are plcMitiful), 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 

 aj)art 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 ]>lanteil 

 in May or June and carefully trained 

 to the strings. A light shading is bene 

 ficial during the hot weather and may 

 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 growth 

 will be helped bv giving them 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 temperature of CO degreet 

 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 jdants 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 jdants. 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. 



