142 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
Obituary. 
The readers of the National Nurseryman will be glad to join 
with the editor in offering sincerest sympathy to Mr.Hobbs of Albert¬ 
son & Hobbs, on the occasion of the untimely death of his daughter, 
a promising young lady of nineteen years of age. Her death which 
occurred in the early part of October was sudden and unexpected. 
Telegraphic dispatches on October 1, announced the sudden death 
of Major Henry Alvord, for a number of years Chief of the United 
States Dairy Division. Professor Alvord was one of the best known 
men in this field in the United States. He graduated from Cornell 
University. He occupied various positions of importance and trust 
and at the time of his death was attending the Pure Food Congress in 
St. Louis. His presence will be greatly missed in agricultural and 
dairying circles. 
JOSEPH W. THOMAS. 
Joseph W. Thomas, the head, of the well-known nursery firm of • 
Joseph W. Thomas & Sons, proprietor of the Chester Valley Nurseries, 
near King-of-Prussia, Pa., died on the 19th of September, after a brief 
illness at the age of 73. 
Mr. Thomas was widely and favorably known to the nursery trade 
and his death will be keenly felt in the community in which he lived 
and by a large circle of friends. The firm of which he was the head 
was established in 1854, although the business had its origin a- few 
years earlier in the growing and sale of a few maple trees by his father, 
Charles Thomas. The firm at first was composed of Joseph W. Thomas 
and his brother, Ellwood Thomas. The latter retired about the close 
of the civil war, and the business was continued with a steady increas¬ 
ing growth. In 1884 his eldest son, Edwin W., was admitted to the 
firm, and in 1890 a younger son, Charles L., was also admitted, the 
firm name then becoming Joseph W. Thomas & Sons. The plant 
now comprises about one hundred and seventy-five acres of which 
sixty-five acres, is covered with nursery stock, composed largely of 
shade and ornamental trees, evergreens and shrubbery. Of recent 
years the business has grown rapidly and is largely in the surburban 
districts of Philadelphia. 
Mr. Thomas took considerable interest in the grafting of a seedling 
black walnut, which he considered of great merit, and which bears 
his name. Throughout his business life he was concerned to handle 
only the best stock and cater to the wishes of his many patrons; his 
careful and conservative methods have given the firm a desirable 
reputation. 
THOMAS J. DWYER. 
Mr. Dwyer died on October 3rd. He was born in 1885 on the place 
where he carried on his life work and died. As a nurseryman, he began 
life with E. P. Roe, and afterwards worked in the nursery of J. T. Lovett 
at Little Silver, N. J. Later he founded the Orange County Nursery. 
Beginning with four acres of ground he gradually extended and for a 
number of years past, has done a very satsifactory retail business; 
issuing each year a neat descriptive catalogue which has been much 
prized by his patrons. 
Mr. Dwyer was a prominent worker in horticultural societies. It was 
was largely through his energy that the Eastern New York Horticultural 
Society, was organized and did such good work for a number of years. 
In addition to his nursery work he found time to write a small yet very 
practical work entitled “Guide to Hardy Fruits and Ornamentals.” 
The Rural New Yorker has done much to popularize this book which is 
certainly of considerable value to the home maker and gardener. His 
loss will be keenly felt in Eastern New York and by the fruit growers 
of the entire state. 
The recent death of the Very Reverend S. Reynolds Hole, Dean of 
Rochester, England, removes one who may justly be termed the most 
eminent amateur rose grower in the world. He was founder and 
first president of the National Rose Society, of England, a constant 
exhibitor at rose shows and a regular contributor to the English hor¬ 
ticultural press. He was also the author of several gardening books 
and of two volumes of reminiscences; his “Book About Roses” is a 
classic in its line. Dean Hole was a constant refutation of the idea 
that old age must cut a man off from wholesome pleasures, or bring 
gloom and sadness in its train. He lived to be 85 years “young”, 
his presence a benediction to all around, his love for the garden, “ the 
purest of human pleasures,” as Lord Bacon calls it, remaining a hap¬ 
piness to the end. When he visited this country, at the age of 75, he 
still retained the full strength and vigor of maturity, displaying the 
same genial wit and personal charm that figures so clearly in his writ¬ 
ings. We like to dwell upon a life like this, where, with every ap- 
portunity for social advancement, and for association with the great 
ones of this world, the better part was chosen, and keenest pleasure 
found amid those things that may give equal happiness to every one, 
rich or poor, who has the freedom of earth and sun. [Contributed.] 
PERSONAL AND BUSINESS MOVEMENTS. 
We regret to learn that Mr. Chas. Greening, president of the Green¬ 
ing Bros. Nursery Co. Munroe Mich. Co. has been afflicted by ill¬ 
ness which confined him to his room for some weeks in early autumn. 
The Association of American Cemetery Superintendents elected 
the following officers at their 18th annual meeting: President, James 
H. Morton, “City Cemeteries,” Boston, Mass.; vice-president, E. G. 
Carter, “Oakwoods,” Chicago; secretary-treasurer, Bellett Lawson, 
“ Paxtang,” Paxtang, Pa. 
The Ontario Government has been making experimental shipments 
of perishable fruits to Winnipeg and points in the Northwest terri¬ 
tories. The results of these experiments appear to be satisfactory. 
Summer apples realized $.75 to $1.00 per bushel, pears, the same; 
plums from $1.00 to $1.10 per crate of 20 pounds; grapes $1.40 to $1.60 
per crate of 30 pounds, and peaches from $1.10 to $1.25 per carrier. 
The forty-seventh annual meeting of the Missouri State Horticul¬ 
tural Society will be held at Neosho, Mo., December 20, 21, 22, 1904. 
L. A. Goodman, Secretary, J. C. Whitten, President, 
Kansas City, Mo. Columbia, Mo. 
Our Booh Cable. 
Grasses. By Thomas Shaw. Pp. 453. Published by the Webb 
Publishing Company. 
The’book is divided into eighteen chapters and the subject of grasses 
is treated primarily from the standpoint of the farmer. Perhaps this 
is Its strongest point. It takes up the economic grasses of the country, 
in succession and aims'to tell farmers how to grow them. It is some¬ 
what ambitious for any one to attempt to include in a discussion of 
this kind, the characteristics of each kind of grass, its adaption to 
climate and soil, place in rotation; how to prepare the land and sow 
the seed, how to pasture and harvest hay and how to renew the grasses 
when they have run out. This is, however, the task which the author 
sets out to perform. Whether the directions offered under each variety 
are feasible or not is a question which probably experience only can an¬ 
swer. The book is apparently a very valuable contribution to those 
who are interested in grasses. 
Manual of the Flora of the Northern States and Canada. By W. 
L. Britton. Cloth, pp. 1,080, (Price not indicated). Published by 
Henry Holt & Company. 
This manual covers the fern and seed plants native to the region 
between New Foundland and Labrador, to Manitoba, running south 
to Virginia, Kentucky and Kansas and west to the foot hills of the 
Rocky Mountains. The work is based practically on the text and illus¬ 
trations, prepared by Britton & Brown, published in three 
volumes, six years ago. 
The student will find much that is new in this volume. Many of the 
old names have disappeared and as there is no citation of former 
names, he seems at a loss to know what is new and what is merely 
renamed. The tendency of the author appears to have been towards 
the making of new species, or the splitting up of old forms rather than 
the lessening of species by the combining of closely resembling types. 
But when we recognize the variability of plants we must forsee the 
necessity of elasticity and constant change in their nomenclature. 
This book has been out long enough to have been thoroughly tested 
by the botanical public and it seems to be wearing well. 
