A MEMOIR. 23 



he carried into his own business interests, always broad- 

 ened when he came to speak of the future of American 

 horticulture. In August, 1886, he read an address on 

 " Floriculture in the United States in t/ie Past Forty Years " 

 before the Society of American Florists at their annual 

 convention in Philadelphia. Coming from the man who 

 was always the central figure at its gatherings, its conclu- 

 sion here given, invests itw:ith more than ordinary interest. 

 " If the business increases in the same ratio for the 

 next forty years, rest assured the now humble florist will 

 have a place in the community, and that the increase 

 will even be greater, there is good reason to believe. In 

 the early days of floriculture, nearly all the men engag- 

 ing in the business were " old-country men," who had 

 been private gardeners, often lacking in education and 

 intelligence and utterly untrained from the nature of 

 their occupation, in business habits. Now hundreds of 

 young men, with their better opportunities of education, 

 are training in the business in all sections of the country, 

 and I think it safe to predict that the leading florists, forty 

 years hence, will be far better business men than even 

 the most prominent among us now. And it may be that 

 when the Society of American Florists meets again, in 

 this good old city, four decades hence, some other vet- 

 eran, now a stripling here to-day, will tell as I have done, 

 of the primitive ways of the craft, as practised " forty 

 years ago." 



His Books, and other Contributions to Horticul- 

 tural Literature. 



Peter Henderson's first horticultural writings in this 

 country appeared in Hovey's Magazine, published in 

 Boston. The initial article was on the transplanting of 

 large trees, and written while he was in Pittsburgh. In 

 concluding the article he in effect said that he was 

 " more at home handling a spade than a pen." Mr. Chas. 

 M. Hovey, editor and owner of the magazine, was struck 

 with the vigor and originality with which he wrote and 

 encouraged him to continue his contributions, and 



