A MEMOIR. 9 



of which they treat. The best proof of the popular 

 estimation and value placed upon Mr. Henderson's 

 books, is to be found in the enormous circulation and 

 steady annual demand that the various editions have 

 enjoyed. Up to this time, there has been distributed 

 of his six works on horticulture and agriculture, a quarter 

 of a million copies, a circulation unparalleled in such 

 literature in this or any other land. 

 ■ Apart from the fact that he was the first writer in this 

 country to make known methods of culture in both the 

 vegetable and floral departments of horticulture that 

 were suited to our climate, the strong individuality of the 

 man stood out on every page, and those who sought in- 

 struction from his books, felt as they read, that no secrets 

 of the greenhouse or garden had been withheld, that any 

 new details of culture, labor-saving methods or devices, 

 which in practice his practical and comprehensive mind 

 had laid bare, were not only simply but completely told. 



Scarcely second to the personal influence displayed 

 in his published writings was the effect of his enormous 

 personal correspondence. It is quite within bounds 

 to state that in the last thirty five years he wrote or 

 dictated at least one hundred and seventy-five thousand 

 letters. 



Of this enormous number more than two-thirds were 

 written by his own hand, for until the introduction of the 

 typewriter ten years ago he never used either a steno- 

 grapher or an amanuensis. No correspondent, however 

 humble or obscure, who applied to him for advice or in- 

 formation ever asked in vain. Besides it was his in- 

 variable practice to reply to correspondents at once. No 

 matter how weary body or mind might be, all letters 

 were answered the day they were received. This habit 

 of promptly and fully replying to all inquiries gave 

 him an influence and a personal following of such mag- 

 nitude as no horticultural writer of his own or any 

 previous era ever enjoyed. 



