A MEMOIR. 



29 



In 1 88 1, appeared the most pretentious work he had 

 yet evolved, Henderson' s Hand Book of Plants. This was 

 a condensed encyclopedia of over four hundred pages, 

 giving the botanical classification, methods of propaga- 

 gation, and culture of both useful and ornamental 

 plants, &c. While this work met with a flattering re- 

 ception, its author felt that it had been too hastily pre- 

 pared, and so, early in 1889, with his characteristic 

 energy and industry, the work was not only revised but 

 re-written and greatly enlarged. To those who saw the 

 zeal and enthusiasm he threw into what was destined to 

 be his last contribution to aliterature he had already done 

 so mitch to enrich, a tender interest will always cluster 

 around this, his last work. The story has been told be- 

 fore, but no sketch, however meagre, of its author can 

 pass it by. Mr. Henderson read, corrected and passed 

 the last pages of the new edition December 26th, 1889, 

 and a week later, January 3d, 1890, he was stricken with 

 the sickness whicTi on January 17th, following, culmin- 

 ated in his death. The delay incident to the printing 

 and binding of the book, made the middle of February 

 reached before copies were received, so that the bound 

 and completed volume he never saw. This last edition 

 is so much fuller and more comprehensive than its pre- 

 decessor, as to have merited in the opinion of several 

 leading horticultural journals a new and more compre- 

 hensive title. 



His fertile mind opened up an entirely-new vein in 1884, 

 when in conjunction with Mr. William Crozier, one of the 

 best known and most successful farmers in the country, 

 he produced the work. How the Farm Pays. While Mr. 

 Henderson was not a farmer, yet his long and varied ex- 

 perience in gardening peculiarly fitted him to share in 

 this work. How the Farm Pays was produced by the aid 

 of a stenographer, Mr. Henderson's questions and Mr. 

 Mr. Crozier's replies being taken down just as they were 

 spoken. As the authors progressed, the benefit of this 

 plan was found, in that the answer often suggested 

 other questions, and it has always been considered that 



