THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
117 
specimens in the vicinity of Mount Rainier in Wash¬ 
ington for the purpose of exchanging with horticultural 
gardens abroad. Concerning the United States reserva¬ 
tion designated as the Pacific Coast Park Reserve, em¬ 
bracing an area ten miles square about Mount Rainier, 
the superintendent says ; “The natural beauty of this 
reservation is indeed wonderful. Its numerous streams, 
cascades, torrents and waterfalls, amid solid walls of 
rugged rocks, and verdure have no equal anywhere. 
The symmetrical and charming beauty of the character¬ 
istic trees, crowning and dressing the tops of ridges, 
hills and mounds with their varied undergrowths, con¬ 
stitute unequaled national groves, clusters and groups. 
Those trees, by reason of their altitude, have made very 
short annual growths, and thus have become extremely 
dense and compact in their foliage and twigs, their resi¬ 
nous as also their miniature moss forming upon them 
making them extremely inflammable. This fact induced 
some of Tacoma’s visiting citizens, as reported by set¬ 
tlers and guides, to set fire to them, merely to enjoy a 
momentary rocket conflagration, and thus many an in¬ 
valuable forest gem has been killed and the beautiful 
park scenery of Paradise valley irreparably marred and 
injured, while others have ruthlessly cut down live trees 
for their camp firewood. In a short time, if such van¬ 
dalism is not peremptorily stopped, one of the, if not 
the most, beautiful natural parks in the United States, 
will have been ruined beyond reparation.” 
TREE FERNS FOR PITTSBURG. 
The entire collection of tree ferns now at the World’s 
Fair, the finest collection in the world, has been sold to 
W. H. Phipps, of Carnegie, Phipps & Co., and by him 
will be presented to the city of Pittsburg. Mr. Phipps 
recently gave that city a magnificent conservatory, cost¬ 
ing $i 50,000. He will now fill it with rare and beautiful 
plants, and will draw heavily upon the Jackson park 
supply. The price paid for the Australian ferns is in the 
neighborhood of $10,000. Even at that price they were 
sold at a sacrifice. Experts pronounce them the finest 
collection of the kind ever made and one that cannot be 
duplicated even in Australia. There are seventy-two 
specimens in the collection. The tallest specimen is 
several inches over twenty-eight feet in height The 
group includes bird’s-nest ferns, stag’s-horn ferns, and 
the Australian dendrobe, or orchid. All the plants are 
in excellent condition. Some of them are over lOO years 
old and bid fair to live several centuries yet. 
The conservatory that Mr. Phipps has presented to 
Pittsburg is the most extensive ever built in this country. 
It was designed and erected by the Lord & Burnham 
company, and is located in Schenley park, opposite the 
Carnegie library. The length of the conservatory is 454 
feet, while it covers an area of about 34,000 feet of 
ground. The glass surface is over 60,000 square feet. 
Mr. Phipps proposes to stock this conservatory with a 
collection of plants as rare and unique as can be obtained. 
After purchasing the Australian ferns he gave an order 
to purchase at the Fair anything of value that may be 
at the disposal of the exhibitors. 
Ctmong (Broit^crs anb Dealers. 
Vick & Hill, of this city, have purchased ten acres of 
land of C. H. Banker of Barnard’s Crossing, and intend 
to commence grading ground at once preparatory to the 
erection of greenhouses, barns, etc. 
The Alliance Nursery Company, represented by J. B. 
Ireland, opened an office in the Ellwanger & Barry building, 
in this city, recently. The company’s packing grounds and 
nurseries are at West Brighton, N. Y. 
Robert Brown, who has had charge of Brown 
Brothers office at Portland, Ore., has returned to Roch¬ 
ester and is now connected with this office. Mr. Morris, 
who has had charge of the Chicago office has assumed 
the duties just left by Mr. Brown, and a gentleman long 
connected with the Chicago office has taken Mr. Morris’ 
place. 
A new company, incorporated by R. M. Ireland, Frank 
Harvey and F. E. Shopin, called the Elgin (Ill.) Nurseries 
Company, has been formed with a capital stock of $10,000. 
It is not likely that these gentlemen will embark in the nur¬ 
sery business, but Mr. Ireland, assignee of the E. H. Ricker 
Company, thought that it might help the sale of the nurser¬ 
ies (if they are sold) to have a new franchise, as a company 
buying them might not care to run under the old company 
name. If the old company should succeed in raising money 
and getting back the nurseries, then it is likely that the new 
incorporation would be dissolved.— Florist's Exchange. 
Frederick L. Ames, vice-president of the Old Colony 
Railroad Company and well known among horticulturists 
and nurseiymen, by reason of his immense collection of 
orchids, died of heart disease, in a stateroom on the steamer 
Pilgrim, at the New York dock in North River, on Septem¬ 
ber 13th. Mr. Ames was the richest man in New England. 
He was an active director in the Western Union Telegraph 
Company, the Union Pacific, Chicago & Northwe.stern and 
seventy other railroad companies. He headed the list of 
directors in all the leading trust companies of Boston, was 
the largest real estate owner in that city and had large real 
estate interests in Kansas City, Omaha and other places in 
the West. Mr. Ames was 58 years of age. He had the 
finest collection of orchids in the United States, at his home 
at North Easton, Mass., and valuable collections of paint¬ 
ings, china and etchings, at his home in Boston. He was 
believed to be worth $35,000,000. He leaves five children. 
William Seelye Little, died September ist, at his residence 
397 East Avenue, in this city, aged 61 years. The de¬ 
ceased was born at Cherry Valley, this state, and spent his 
boyhood there. He prepared for college at Poughkeepsie 
and was graduated from Union College, in the class of ’52. 
He engaged as a civil engineer with the Wabash Railway 
Company, and in 1858 came to this city to enter the nursery 
business with the late H. E. Hooker. At the time of Mr. 
Little’s death the firm consisted of himself, his son, Charles 
