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GENEALOGY COLLECTION

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K»i- fliinili- of Mr IIi'IkIithoh's liut Ki^imture.

Peter Henderson.

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GARDENER— AUTHOR— MERCHANT.

A MEMOIR.

Alfred Henderson.

NEW YORK:
Press of McIlroy & Emmet.

1890.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1890, by

McILROV & EMMET,
In th*: Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington,

1733498

To the Memory of
MY MOTHER,

This Memoir is Lovingly Inscribed.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

In the preparatory announcement of this memoir, it
was stated that it only professed to outline the magni-
tude of Peter Henderson's services to American horti-
culture. Those familiar with my deceased father's ca-
reer, will quickly perceive that I have kept within the
boundaries of that announcement. Further, I fully real-
ize how much of his labors in many directions have not
been touched upon at all. The original intention was to
prepare a larger, and I had hoped a more thorough and
careful record of his life. It was, however, suggested,
that as such a volume from its size would preclude a
large distribution, it would be more satisfactory at this
time if an abridged sketch was prepared which could be
placed in the hands of every one who had known him in
any or all of his various relations to horticulture.

I have, therefore, prepared this memoir on the lines
suggested, and in begging your acceptance of it, I am
conscious that the story has been but crudely told. At
the same time I shall feel satisfied if I have succeeded
in emphasizing the declaration made by one of his many
eulogists that " Peter Henderson justly earned the honor,
gratitude and respect of the greatest of nations."

ALFRED HENDERSON.

New York, December ist, 1890.

PETER HENDERSON.

BORN IN PATHHEAD, SCOTLAND. DIED IN JERSEY CITY, N. J.
JUNE 9, 1822 JANUARY 17, 1890.

HP HE 17th of January, 1890, will be a date forever
■ memorable in the annals of American horticulture;
for, on the morning of that day, at half past ten o'clock,
at his home in Jersey City, a gray haired man lay dead;
a man who although long past the meridian of life was
when death touched him still in the zenith of his fame.

A man whose peaceful achievements had won for him
an illustrious name throughout the land of his adoption,
and who by his wise counsel, cheering words, and unselfish
aid, had endeared himself to thousands of his fellow-men.

Crowning all, by a life so true, a character so lofty,
that his steadfast friend John Thorpe* voiced the feel-
ings of a multitude when he declared " that to have
known him was an honor." That gray haired man was
Peter Henderson.

Half an hour after his death the sad fact was flashed,
not only over this continent, but to other lands, where
also the echoes of his fame had sped, and strong men
and gentle women wept even as his kindred, at the
termination of a career in whose unsullied glory two
continents had a share.

That Peter Henderson died universally regretted, the
gardening world already knows ; but that his passing

* "Father" and first President of the Society of American Florists.

8 PETER HENDERSON.

away left a void in thousands of hearts, perhaps only we
who knew him best and loved him most, can thorough-
ly realize.

Yet, had we in any sense, failed to understand or ap-
preciate either the magnitude of his services to Ameri-
can horticulture, or the grandeur of his character, the
host of sympathetic messages, which in the dark days fol-
lowing his death, fell fluttering at our feet, would have
been all-potent reminders of our irreparable loss.*

That this remarkable man, possessed in an unusual
degree, the power to invest all he said, wrote, or did, with
his strong, dominant, yet kindly personality, there was no
doubt, and while the reasons were as clear and simple
as his own irreproachable life, here we can only outline
a few of the many noble attributes with which he was
endowed.

Turning first to his business career, it will be found
that his straightforward and generous dealings with
over a million people, extending over forty years, made
his name from the outset, a synonym for all that
is honorable in trade, and yet such characteristics alone,
could scarcely have evoked the thousands of touching
tributes his death called forth, for while great business
success honorably achieved, should always command our
admiration, still after all, such distinction is ephemeral,
unless supplemented by deeds or works that will endure
long after commercial success has been forgotten. Few
are the business houses that last for a generation, and
fewer still are they, on whose roofs the mosses of a
century rest.

But it is when we approach Peter Henderson, the horti-
cultural writer, that we find his power and personality
displayed in the highest degree. " Gardening for Profit"
published in 1866, was the first book ever written ex-
clusively on market gardening in this country, that, and
also his subsequent works have ever since been recog-
nized as the highest American authorities on the subjects

• From the day of his dc.ith up to this time, November, 1890, the family of Mr.
Henderson h.ive rncived trom all parts"! tin- world, nearly eight thousand letters of
iymp.it! .' 'I • andolenot

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.

io PETER HENDERSON.

Biographical.

Peter Henderson was born in Pathhead, a village
twelve miles south of Edinburgh, Scotland, June 9th,
1822. He was the youngest of three children, Ann,
lames, and Peter, born to James Henderson and Agnes
Gilchrist, his wife. The father, James Henderson, was a
man much respected throughout the district, for his in-
dustry, integrity, and many other exeellent traits. His
occupation was that of a land steward, and for his
serviees he received a stipend of ^30 per year. Small
as this salary ($150.) appears to our more modern eyes,
it was no inconsiderable sum in those days. On
this the elder Henderson brought up his children
decently, paid for their tuition at the parish school,
and " could look the whole world in the face, for he owed
not any man." From his father Peter inherited many
of his best traits as well as the superb health which was
afterwards such a factor in helping him to success. To
his mother's side however he was indebted for his intellect-
ual endowments. His maternal grandfather, Peter Gil-
christ, (born in 1740, died in 1810,) in whose honor he
was named, was early in life a shepherd, but later on
became a nurseryman and florist.

Peter Gilchrist was an unusually studious man, and
for his station in life the possessor of a pretentious
library. It is related of him that on one occasion he paid
jC2°- f°r a copy of Matthew Henry's Commentaries
on the Bible, an enormous sum for a man of his means
a century ago. He was a man of marked ability and wield-
ed a very considerable influence, in fact, he was the
universal referee for the district on all disputed questions.
< inmdfather and grandson must have had many mental
traits in common, for the grandson later on in his larger
field, was arbitrator and referee scores and scores of
times on matters both within and without the domain of
horticulture.

Peter was sent at an early age to the parish school
where he first exhibited that marvelous industry which
all through life was his great distinguishing characteris-

A MEMOIR. j i

tic. At the same time his sister, Mrs. McDougal, says
that a utilitarian instinct was very marked all through
his school-days, and relates that in the last six months
of his school life having a chance to take up Latin,
while he embraced the opportunity, he grumbled con-
siderably, because as he said, he could see no practical
use for it.

His mother died when he was eight years old, and as
his father never married again, the boys, James and
Peter, were cared for by their sister. His elder brother,
Mr. James Henderson, who was an unusually popular
and genial man, died in Jersey City in 1857. Of the three
children born to James Henderson of Pathhead, Mrs.
McDougal alone remains, a venerable and cultured lady,
now in her seventy-fifth year, of whom her illustrious
brother was wont to say, " that as long as he had known
her he had never heard her make an unkind remark of
any human being."

The amusements of country lads in the south of Scot-
land at that date were limited, their spare time being
mostly spent in hunting for birds-nests and for the eggs
of jack-daws, (a small species of crow.) The ruins of
Crichtoun Castle, so graphically described by Sir Walter
Scott in his poem of Marmion, is but a short distance
from where Peter Henderson passed his boyhood's days.
" Crichtoun ! though now thy miry court,

But pens the lazy steer and sheep,

Thy turrets rude, and tottered Keep,
Have been the minstrel's loved resort.
Oft have I traced within thy fort,

Of mouldering shields the mystic sense,

Scutcheons of honor, or pretence,
Quartered in old armorial sort,

Remains of rude magnificence."

The old ruin was a great resort for jack- daws in his
time, and he was ever fond of telling of the dangerous
risks he and other youngrters ran in hunting there for
their nests. Another diversion out of which serious conse-
quences often flowed, were the battles with stones that
occurred between contending factions of the village lads.

12 PETER HENDERSON.

In these battles the " boy was father to the man," for
Peter Henderson always commanded one side. A story
is told of him which forcibly illustrates his fertility in
resource, even in his very early days. He could not
have been over seven years old when an old gun a foot
or two taller than himself came into his possession. He
had powder, but no bullets, and of what use was a gun
to a boy without bullets ? At last he remembered that
in the rear of Crichtoun House, (the residence of his
father's employer) the lower windows were protec-
ted by iron bars, sunk in stone and soldered with lead.
H e got all the lead there he needed for his bullets. A day
or two later the desecration was discovered and a hue and
cry was raised, but the small offender was never detec-
ted. Fifty-five years afterwards in visiting the scenes
of his boyhood, he was interested enough to show Mrs.
Henderson the spot where he had obtained the lead for
his bullets, and to his astonishment the holes had never
been filled up and the traces of his jack-knife were still
plainly visible.

The desire common to so many ambitious country-
bred boys to find their way to large cities, took possession
of him at the age of fifteen, when his school-days ended.
The first chance came in the offer of a position in a liquor
store in Edinburgh. The scenes he there saw were suffi-
cient in a few months to make him give up his position and
thus was laid the foundation of the temperance prin-
ciples that he advocated and maintained all his life.
Peter Henderson was perhaps as proud of this incident as
of any experience in his career ; because he returned to
his native village as uncontaminated as when he left it.

At the age of sixteen the dawn of his renown began
to glimmer, when he was indentured as an appren-
tice in the gardens of Melville Castle, situated near Dal-
keith, which under the direction of the then head-
gardener, George Sterling, was considered the best
training school in all Scotland. Mr. Sterling was a
character, and his famous pupil in after years never
wearied of quoting his quaint remarks. He was, too, a

A MEMOIR. 13

great disciplinarian, and such of his apprentices who
were able to stand his four years' rule had but little
trouble afterwards in securing positions.

There seems to have been a gap between his Edin-
burgh experience and his procuring a more congenial
position. In that interval he had no predilection
for the profession of which in after years he was to
be such a great exponent. In fact his expressed desire
at 'that time was to enter a banking office. When his
old and life long friend Mr. Hugh Wilson, now of Salem,
Mass., who was then employed in the gardens of Melville
Castle, suggested to him that he should become a
gardener, he refused to entertain the idea at first, and
only took it up finally because nothing better offered.
As soon, however, as he entered on his work at Melville
Castle, he became enthusiastically interested, especially
in botanical nomenclature. He had only been a few
months in his new position when Mr. Ballantyne, a
nurseryman in Dalkeith, asked Mr. Sterling to name his
collection of hardy herbaceous plants that had become
badly mixed. Sterling replied that he would send " ane
o' his callants doon " * to name them and selected Peter
for the task. The naming was done so quickly and so
correctly that Mr. Ballantyne rewarded the youth with a
sovereign, and complimented him on the good use he had
made of the short time he had been at the business. In
his talk with him, Peter told how during the summer
he had employed his spare time in making a herbarium
to familiarize himself with botanical names. Mr. Ballan-
tyne told him to bring it to him when finished, and it
pleased him so much that he presented him with a silver
medal, which he had intended to offer as a herbarium
prize to a local society. The following seasoif
Peter Henderson competed for and won the medal
offered by the Royal Botanical Society of Edinburgh
for the best herbarium of native and exotic plants ;
a competition open to the whole of Great Britain. This
gave him a practical knowledge of botany which

* " One of his young men down."

14 PETER HENDERSON.

was afterwards of great benefit to him as a horticultural
writer.

The above incident shows, that George Sterling dis-
covered in his young apprentice a bright pupil and
secretly was very proud of him, yet delighted to find fault
and Squeers-like teach him practical lessons. Thus on
several occasions he had to lecture him on the difference
between " dry " and " killing dry " as affecting plant life.

It happened that Peter on more than one occasion had
allowed batches of plants in the greenhouse, to get into
the " killing dry " state, and finally one day after a more
henious offense than usual, Mr. Sterling took him by the
ear and marched him up, that he might see the results of
his inattention. This practical illustration was so suc-
cessful that the Nestor of American horticulttire never
again forgot its meaning.

We have stated that the gardening course at Melville
Castle covered four years, and it may not be uninterest-
ing to state the wages paid apprentices at that time.
The first year they received nine shillings a week, the
second ten shillings, the third eleven shillings, and the
fourth twelve shillings ; a shilling being equal to 25
cents of our American money. Out of these wages the
young men fed and clothed themselves, but were lodged
in a building connected with the greenhouses and known
as the "Bothy." Life in the "Bothy" was free and
easy, and, on the whole rather comfortable. Each ap-
prentice took his turn a week at a time, to cook and do
the housework.

The food was very plain, consisting morning and
evening of " halcsome parritch (porridge) chief of Scotia's
food." The noon meal nearly always consisted of pota-
toes and milk, and skim milk at that. Once a week, on
Sundays, they indulged themselves in coffee and bread
and butter.

During the four years they did not taste meat of any
kind on more than a dozen occasions, and yet Mr. Hen-
derson has repeatedly stated that not a single man lost
a day by sickness in all that time.

A MEMOIR. 15

It was during his term at Melville Castle that the
gardens of a large private place, which had formerly
been open to the public, were closed. As the place
contained a very fine collection of plants, the eight or ten
young radicals, in the " Bothy " of Melville Castle, held
a council of war and decided that each should prepare an
article for the press protesting against the owner's
action in barring out the public.

When the apprentices met again, the articles were
read, and the one contributed by Peter Henderson, the
youngest of them all, was unanimously adopted as the
best expression of their views. It was published, and
although its author years afterwards admitted that the
view taken was entirely erroneous, the article was suffi-
ciently strong and able to call forth a half column reply
from one of the leading London papers.

While at Melville Castle, he first put into practical
application his temperance principles, by example and
entreaty inducing most of his companions to abstain
from going to the village tavern Saturday nights, which,
previous to his arrival had been the regular custom.

It was during his 'prentice days, not content with the
education he had received at school, that he and Mr.
Wilson walked ten miles twice a week for a year, to at-
tend a mathematical class in Edinburgh. And his thirst
for knowledge was so strong, that in his first apprentice
days, his companions in the " Bothy " used to laugh at
him for reading the Dictionary at his r ^eals. He kept
at it for six months, until he finished it, and then pro-
nounced it a most interesting book, " no matter what
others might say." The practical outcome of it was
that his " Bothy " companions found that when he was
through, he could spell and define any word which they
might put to him. But, with all his studiousness and
industry he was not a recluse by any means, for there
is ample testimony to show that in all the frolics of the
country side he was always the leading spirit.

Old Adam Kitchen, for fifty-two years carpenter at
Melville Castle, where he still plies the hammer and saw,

16 PETER HENDERSON.

remembered him well and told our envoy last spring that
" Peter was a shrewd, kindly lad and most industrious."

Mr. Kitchen also has reason to remember him from an
experience he suffered at the hands of Peter and two or
three other kindred spirits. He had just been married
and was bringing- his bride home to his cottage, and
when he reached there, he found that all the doors and
windows had been so effectually barricaded that it took
considerable time to gain an entrance.

But the time had arrived when he was to turn his face
to the New World, at that time a. terra incognita in Britain
to the gardening profession, the land, however, destined
to be the real arena of his labors and triumphs. Before
following him to America, we must note an incident
connected with his departure from " Bonnie Scotland"
which reveals another ana delicate phase of his character.
This anecdote only became known to us after his death.

It seems that Miss Melville, daughter of Lord Melville,
had been very kind to both Peter Henderson and Hugh
Wilson, and just before their departure for America,
both young men wished to show their appreciation of her
thoughtfulness. They had little to give, but decided
that they would present her with their herbariums. In
some way Mr. Wilson presented his first, and in return
Miss Melville forced a sovereign into his unwilling hands.

When Hugh reported to Peter what had been done, he,
fearing that his motives might be misconstrued if he
presented the herbarium in person, arranged that it
should not be sent to Miss Melville until the day he sailed
for New York. When it is remembered that he arrived
in New York with but three sovereigns in his pocket, this
episode will show the mettle of the youth, in putting
beyond his reach, what would have been a considerable
addition to his cash capital.

A MEMOIR. 17

Arrival in America, and First Gardening
Experiences.

It was in the spring of 1843 that he arrived in New-
York, after a six- weeks' voyage in a sailing vessel, called
the Rose ins.

On the threshold of his American career, he met with
an experience, for which many a struggling gardener
had in after years reason to feel grateful. After
landing, he started out to look for work, and, as was the
custom in those days, as it is now, called first at a down-
town seed-store.* He courteously asked the proprietor
if he had a situation open for a gardener ? The pro-
prietor, who was seated reading a newspaper spread out
on the desk before him, did not even take the trouble to
look up from his paper, but gave him the surliest kind
of a " No," for an answer. The almost brutal manner
of his reception made such an impression on the youth,
that before he reached the sidewalk, he vowed that if
the time ever came when he should be in a position,
where men should apply to him for assistance in finding
situations, if he could not aid them, he would at least
always remember to treat them courteously and kindly.
Commonplace as this incident seems, but few have any
conception of how fraught it was with good to the mul-
titude of private gardeners, who in the past thirty-five
years applied to him for situations. Among the many
thousands of letters of sympathy and condolence received
by Peter Henderson's family after his death were hun-
dreds from private gardeners; and the burden of their
messages nearly always was, " 1 have lost my best
friend."

After his rebuff at the seed store, he at once
secured employment in the nurseries of George
Thorburn, at Astoria, L. I., where he remained a year.
Thence, to broaden his experience, he went to Robert
Buist, Sr., at Philadelphia, then the leading nurseryman
and florist in the United States. Mr. Buist was at once

* The seed-store in which he was so coldly received, has not been in existence for
over a quai ter of a century.

iS PETER HENDERSON.

impressed by the young gardener's energy and industry,
and a warm friendship sprung up between them, which
terminated only with Mr. Buist's death. In after years
Mr. Buist said that he was the best and most skillful
workman he ever had. From Philadelphia he next
secured a position as private gardener with Mr. Chas.
F. Spang, of Pittsburgh. He travelled by canal from
Philadelphia in charge of greenhouse material; and Mr.
Henderson often spoke of this trip as a most delightful
experience, lasting as it did for nearly three weeks of
delightful weather, giving him ample time and oppor-
tunity to botanize by the way. During his stay at Pitts-
burgh, he remodeled Mr. Spang's greenhouses and
grounds.

The country at this time was greatly excited over the
Mexican war, and as his prospects did not seem over
bright, he decided to enlist in the army. Indeed so bent
was he upon taking this step, that Mr. Spang argued the
point with him until nearly midnight before he succeed-
ed in dissuading him from his purpose. He ever looked
upon this as the turning point in his career and always
felt grateful to Mr. Spang for dampening his martial ardor.
He remained in Pittsburgh until he had accumulated a
capital of $500, with which in 1847 he, in partnership with
his brother J ames, who had about the same amount.started
in the market garden business in Jersey City. The place
they rented contained about ten acres and had three
small greenhouses on it, one 50 feet long by 20 feet wide,
and the others 40 feet long by 16 feet wide. For the
first two years it was a hard struggle, but the energy and
industry of the brothers pulled them through. After a few
years they dissolved partnership, Mr. James Henderson
buying a new place, in what is now known as the hill sec-
tion of Jersey City, and devoting himself to vegetable
growing entirely.

Peter Henderson continued at the old place; and as
he found the taste for ornamental gardening increasing,
he began to add to his greenhouse department, which
eventually superseded the market garden, but for

A MEMOIR. 19

years he personally and successfully conducted both the
market garden and greenhouse departments, spending
more than half of his working hours in his shirt sleeves,
often drenched to the skin while leading his men in
some active operation out of doors.

Finding his quarters limited, he bought a plot of ground
of about six acres back of Jersey City, which he cultiva-
ted until about 1863, when the greenhouse department be-
came so extensive, and its demands on his time so exact-
ing, that he sold the " Back Lane " place, as it was called,
and devoted himself solely to the Jersey City establish-
ment, which by this time, in addition to the market
garden, included twelve greenhouses, besides a large
number of pits and frames.

The amount of labor he performed in those days was
prodigious; he would rout out his force of men every
morning by day-break and all operations, either of
garden or greenhouse, he led personally. Often in the
busy season, the day's labor would be carried on in the
greenhouses until ten or eleven o'clock at night, where by
lamp light, cuttings would be made, plants potted and
staked, and labels written, — it being an iron-clad rule that
no plant was to be sold or delivered unless properly and
distinctly labeled. The wooden tallies or labels which for
years past have been turned out by machinery by
millions, were in the 50's made by hand. Cedar posts
would be sawn and split into convenient lengths and
then with knives were whittled down to label size. The
younger members of the force, in the spring and sum-
mer mornings, used to make up bouquets which were
retailed by boys in the streets of New York in the after-
noon. He, however, soon gave up selling cut flowers in
this way.

About 1853, he opened an office in New York with
Mcllvain & Orr, afterwards Mcllvain & Young, at No. 9
John street, where during the spring and early summer
months he sold and took orders for delivery the next
day, of such greenhouse and vegetable plants as were
in season ; and in addition Mr. Mcllvain sold plants in

20 PETER HENDERSON.

small lots, at auction for him from about 1 1 130 A. M.,
until 1 P. M., daily. This however was done more as an
advertisement, as his sales were principally from orders
received personally and by mail. He was then, as
always, a very busy man, and so jealous of wasting time,
even at lunch, that he had a waiter at the restaurant he
frequented, under pay to watch for his coming, and
as soon as his face appeared in the doorway, his dinner
would be on the table by the time he got there.

In 1864, he gave up the grounds he had so long occu-
pied in Jersey City and moved to what was then known
as South Bergen, distant a mile from his old place.
Here he had been buying from time to time until he had
secured nearly ten acres. On this he erected what was
at that time considered a model range of greenhouses,
heated and ventilated in the best known methods then
in vogue.

This range of glass structures was visited by rmndreds
of florists to whom it served as an example for years.

In 1S80, all these houses were pulled down and recon-
structed, as experience had shown they could be im-
proved upon; so a second time his greenhouse establish-
ment served as a model and as such it still remains
to-day. At the time of his death this part of his estab-
lishment covered over five acres solid in glass.

Busy as his life was he devoted no little of his time to
helping beginners in his own line of business, often
going long distances for this purpose. His advice as to
the selection of suitable land was considered invaluable,
and his judgment as to the construction and heating of
greenhouses, and the selection of the most profitable
classes of plants to grow, was unerring. A marked con-
firmation of this appeared two months ago in a sketch
of the present president of the Society of American
Florists, Mr. M. H. Norton, wherein it is stated that
when he first started business with his brother, and
began the culture of bedding plants and violets in span-
roofed greenhouses, the latter being quite a venture at
that time, that, " one of their first and best advisers was

A MEMOIR. 21

the late Peter Henderson, and that his advice was sound
is demonstrated by the abundant success of the young
firm from the very start."

While thus busily engaged in all operations of the
greenhouse and garden, he was a frequent contributor to
the various horticultural journals, the Gardener 's Monthly,
the Horticulturist, Tilton's Journal of Horticulture, (while it
lived) and the American Agriculturist rarelv issuing a num-
ber without something original and timely from his pen.

By the increased facilities and economical methods he
now used, the output of plants had become so large and
the competition so keen that he felt constrained to
send his surplus stock of plants to auction, and with his
accustomed energy and foresight established a system
of growing plants for auction only. This also was a
marked success from the start, and is now looked upon
as a legitimate part of the business in New York and
other large cities.

His quick brain was constantly on the alert for simpli-
fying and cheapening the cost of production ; and by ex-
ample and by words, he was ever urging those under
him to seek short ciits in all their methods. This con-
stant striving not only brought its due reward, but to
Peter Henderson, more than to all others, are the florists
and market gardeners of this country indebted for the
shortening of the multifarious operations of both green-
house and garden. Scores of these methods are indelibly
associated with his name, and almost as many more
have lost the connecting link with the master mind with
whom they originated. To him, more than to any one
man in this country, is due the raising of the florist's
business to the level of other mercantile pursuits.

He retained his office at No. 9 John street until 1862,
when by his advice, James Fleming and Wm. J. Davidson,
two bright young Scotch gardeners, having opened a
seed store at 67 Nassau street, he moved his office to
their store, abandoning the auction part and relying
wholly on his annual catalogue and newspaper advertis-
ing, which he had just then begun, for the development

22 PETER HENDERSON.

of the business. In 1865 he bought Mr. Davidson's share
in the seed business, the firm then becoming Henderson
& Fleming. He continued with Mr. Fleming for six
years, when the partnership was dissolved.

Establishment of the Seed Department.

In 1S71, on his forty-ninth birthday— an age when
most business men begin to think of laying their armor
down — he established, in Cortlandt street, New York, the
seed business, now known to the whole world under
the name of Peter Henderson & Co. The partners in
the original firm were Peter Henderson, Wm. H. Carson
and Alfred Henderson. In 1876 Mr. Carson withdrew,
and a new partnership was formed between Peter Hen-
derson, James Reid, and Alfred Henderson. Mr. Reid
died in 1887, and from that year until the death of its
honored founder, the firm was composed of Peter Hen-
derson and his sons, Alfred and Charles. While person-
ally most of his time was taken up at the greenhouses,
he still was able to throw an enormous amount of energy
into this department, which, from its very nature, is
capable of a much greater expansion than that of plants,
articles almost exclusively a luxury. His fertility in
devising schemes for its development was something
phenomenal, even to those most familiar with his works
and ways. Scarcely a day passed but what practical
and valuable suggestions were thrown off from his busy
brain. He it was who first conceived, as early as 1872,
the idea of offering to the horticultural public, the oppor-
tunity of procuring all their supplies from one firm.
This idea was qmckly perfected in its details and found
its expression in a phrase or" his own coinage " Every-
thing for the Garden," a term in a business sense, almost
synonomous with the name of Peter Henderson. His
long experience as a market gardener probably made
him realize more than most seedsmen, the necessity of
testing seeds l)et ore offering them for sale, but what-
ever the cause, the fact remains, that he was the first in
this country to initiate the true and natural way of prov-

A MEMOIR. 23

ing the vitality of seeds — that is, by sowing them in the
soil, the seedman's usual plan being to germinate them
in moist cotton or flannel — nearly always a misleading
method. Not only this, but annually in his trial grounds
he made certain of their purity by thorough comparative
tests. His judgment as to the value of new varieties of
both seeds and plants was almost infallible; and there
are very few novelties that he endorsed but have
stood the test of general culture, and are to-day recog-
nized as standard sorts. That he originated and intro-
duced more valuable new seeds and plants than any
other one man in America is a fact that those competent
to judge, will quickly admit.

His Services to the New York Horticultural
Society.
In 1874, the New York Horticultural Society, after be-
ing practically defunct since 1 860, was resuscitated, very
largely through his efforts. He gave a considerable
portion of his time to its reorganization, and though he
would never accept any prominent office, he attended
all its meetings faithfully, and by his contributions to its
various exhibitions and his liberality in offering special
premiums for essays and exhibits at its monthly meet-
ings, assisted materially in making it a success. He was
also a zealous member of the Society of American
Florists and — recollecting his own early experience, — at
the convention held in Chicago in 1888, offered a pre-
mium of $100 for the best herbarium of native plants
gathered within the year, and correctly named, to be
competed for at the meeting at "Buffalo the following
year. This offer brought out several excellent exhibits,
the second best of which was so good that he voluntarily
gave $50 as an award for the painstaking manner in
which it was mounted and arranged.

Catalogue and Advertising Skill.
Any record of the business career of Peter Henderson
would be incomplete that overlooked the skill and origin-
ality which he continually displayed in the preparation
of his plant and seed catalogues. Until within the last

24 PETER HENDERSON.

ten years, he personally wrote and prepared all the
matter for the plant catalogues, and after the seed de-
partment had been added, he also wrote the important
portions of it for many years. He had the rare gift of
being terse, and at the same time, comprehensive and
interesting in his description of the articles he had to
offer. His newspaper and magazine advertising also
exemplified his wonderful versatility. Not only did
he show great skill in the wording of advertisements,
but in their mechanical appearance they were always
bold and original, and in their results nearly always
successful. It is believed that the use of a heavy black
border, which so often surrounded or enclosed his adver-
tisements, originated with him many years ago. For
effectiveness in arresting the reader's attention, it has
seldom been surpassed by any advertising device. It must
be admitted that it never added beauty to an advertise-
ment ; and it is also only fair to say that it worried for years
many publishers who fluctuated between a laudable
desire to have the advertisement in their papers, and a
violation of their aesthetic tendencies.

The use of a fac -simile of an advertiser's autograph,
he always considered a most effective addition to an ad-
vertisement, when it could be brought in. In his own
practice his written signature was always largely used.
This idea was a borrowed one, he first noticing Joseph
Gillott's pens advertised in that way years before he
ever supposed that he should become a great advertiser
himself.

There are few pursuits in which the business depart-
ments are more weighted with detail, anxiety, or vexa-
tious annoyances, than the occupations in which Peter
Henderson loomed up supreme. It was always the rule
of his life to attack first whatever work was the most
difficult or disagreeable. Exasperating details that others
would shirk he would take hold of and patiently and
thoroughly carry to completion. In his business, as in
other work, he was even in his last days as eager and en-
thusiastic as a man of twenty-five. The optimistic spirit

A MEMOIR. 25

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 the 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 heregiven, invests it with 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 Hoi'eys 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

20 PETER HENDERSON.

several years later, when he had settled in Jersey City,
Mr. Hovey decided to see for himself what his young
eorrespondent was like. He found him not literally
handling a spade, but doing pretty nearly the same thing
when he discovered him on the top of a manure pile, turn-
ing it with a fork. Soon after this, he began to write for the
Horticulturist, then the only horticultural magazine pub-
lished in New York ; The Gardener s Monthly, Philadel-
phia ; Moore's Rural New-Yorker, Rochester, N. Y.; The
Country Gentleman, Albany, N. Y., and other kindred
publications. For some time his contributions were on
vegetable culture almost exclusively, but as he drifted
into the ornamental branch of horticulture, his articles
began to cover that department also. Whether as a
market gardener, a florist, or a seedsman, Peter Hender-
son always considered himself just what these designa-
tions imply. That his writings materially aided in
building up the different branches of his business is be-
yond all question. In fact, from the beginning, all his
literary work was done in his leisure intervals, or taken
from time that he considered legitimately belonged to
his business. At the same time his nature and character-
istics were such, that whether it redounded to his
benefit or not, the horticultural world always heard
from him, when he had any thing to say that he
believed would be of general interest or value. The
fact is, that it was inherent in the man to add his quota
to the sum of human knowledge. Corroborations of
this without number could be given, but a single instance
will suffice. As far back as 1866, in a magazine
discussion over horticultural patents, among other things
he said : " I consider that man particularly unfortu-
nate who asks a patent for what he thinks to be a dis-
covery in horticulture, for there is a free masonry about
the craft which begets a generous exchange of informa-
tion, and he that holds a ' secret ' to himself or in-
trenches his 'discovery' behind a patent right is not usually
benefited thereby ;" and further on in the same article,
he says : " I never was good at keeping a secret." Such

A MEMOIR. 27

were his views twenty-four years ago, and such would
be his views were he alive to-day. For whether in the
domain of the vegetable garden, or in the more delight-
ful pursuits of the greenhouse, this earnest, watchful,
and thoughtful man was ever near to Nature's heart,
and bit by bit he wrested from her, cultural secrets
which later on would be quickly made known, so that
all who chose might reap the benefit of his ceaseless
observation and experience.

His first book, Gardening for Profit, was written in
the summer of 1866. Although he was then well-known
as a horticultural writer, yet his modesty was such, that
when the late Dr. George Thurber, then editor of the
American Agriculturist approached him on the matter
of writing this book, he refused to attempt it because he
felt that writing a book was beyond his capability. He
was finally convinced, however, that the hour and the
man had come. Whenever he decided to do any thing, it
was settled, he never looked back, and he wrote this re-
markable book in the incredibly short time of one hun-
dred hours. By this it is not meant, that Gardening
for Profit was produced consecutively in that time, but
he had the information right at his finger-ends, so that the
aggregate of time he spent on the book was within the
limit named. This work brought a national reputation
to its author, and its value to the United States is be-
yond computation. A peculiarity of its production was
that it was written at a time when its author was work-
ing at least sixteen hours a day, and largely at manual
labor. At the noon intervals and late at night he wrote
this work lying on his back with a pillow under his head,
or quite as often, writing while lying face downward.
We have said that its value to the nation can never be
estimated, and it is a fact that the first edition appearing
so soon after the close of the war, rendered it of special
and inestimable value to the Southern States. The enor-
mous market-gardening or trucking interests which have
been for years and are to-day, such a factor in the South 's
prosperity, owe their birth and subsequent development
largely to the teachings of Gardening for Profit.

23 PETER HENDERSON.

Gardening for Profit was twice revised by its author
since its first publication in 1866 ; the first time in 1874,
the last time in 1886. The demand for this work has
always been so large that the publishers have never
been quite able to accurately estimate the demand. Up
to this time not less than forty-one editions having been
printed. His immortal countryman, Robert Burns,
wrote his famous poem " Tam O'Shanter " in a day, and
one of his biographers has said of it " that since the
battle of Bannockburn it was the best single day's work
ever done in Scotland." So in another sense there are
thousands to-day who believe that it can be fairly claimed
for Gardening for Profit, that no better one hundred
hours' work was ever done on this side of the Atlantic,
than when Columbia's adopted son laid his grand and
grateful tribute at her feet.

The great success of his first book stimulated him to
produce in 1868, Practical Floriculture, which was written
to teach how flowers and plants could best be grown for
profit. This book did for aesthetic gardening what its
predecessor had accomplished for material horticulture —
established thousands in a safe and profitable business.
In 1875 his prolific pen launched a third work, Gardening
for Pleasure, which was intended to, and has fully met
the wants of those desiring information on gardening
for private use, and who have no desire to make it a
business. Its scope therefore was made greater than
either of its predecessors, as it embraced directions for
the propagation and culture of flowers, vegetables and
fruits. A thoroughly revised and enlarged edition of
this work appeared in 1888. Another volume which he
published in 1884, called Garden and Farm Topics, consist-
ing of a number of essays containing special information
in a condensed form, has been one of the most interest-
ing of Peter Henderson's horticultural contributions.
Apart from the practical value of these essays, this volume
gives perhaps a better idea of his versatility, his keen
sense of hiimor, and finally the scientific spirit that he
undoubtedly possessed than any of his larger and more
important works.

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 nattering 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 a literature he had already done
so much 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 which 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 1 884,
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

30 PETER HENDERSON.

the value of the book was augmented by this plan. Quite
a portion of this book is taken up by Mr. Henderson's indi-
vidual cultural directions on certain vegetable and fruit
crops which can be advantageously grown on the farm.
This completes his work as a writer of books, but it does
not begin to cover the multitude of his miscellaneous
articles which, beginning years before he wrote Garden-
ing for Profit he kept continually writing until a week
before his death.

Another field in which he was always the pioneer,
and where he did yeoman's work for the general good of
the profession, was his exposure of horticultural hum-
bugs, which in some guise or other are continually
cropping up. One of the best examples of his work in
this line, and where, in order to get at all particulars, he
assumed the role of a detective, was his exposure of two
French worthies, well known in New York a few years
ago as the " Blue Rose Men." This pair had opened a
store in Broadway, New York, where they had displayed
on the walls colored illustrations of the most impossible
flowers and fruits. For instance they showed a tree on
which strawberries were growing as big as oranges,
peaches almost the size of musk -melons, dahlia flowers
of a celestial blue, etc. When Mr. Henderson arrived,
one of the voluble proprietors was just dismissing a de-
lighted old lad}'- who had bought five dollars worth of
asparagus .seeds, at a cent a piece, warranted to produce
shoots an inch in diameter, in three months from the
time of sowing. Mr. Henderson stood, looking in rapt
admiration before a colored plate of blue moss roses, which
attracted the attention of the polite French salesman, and
on the price being asked, he brought forth from under the
counter, three plants, representing them to be moss roses,
which, by the way, were all alike, and were all our com-
mon prairie rose. As Mr. Henderson tells the story, the
following conversation then ensued. The Frenchman
said, "This one he only bloom once, I tell you the truth,
so I sell him for two dollar; this one, he be the remontant,
he bloom twice — just twice — I sell him for three dollar ;

A MEMOIR. 3r

but this one, he be the cverblooming perpetual blue
moss rose, he bloom all the time, he cheap at five dollar."
I quietly remarked if it bloomed all the tim3, why was
it not blooming now ? He looked at me pityingly and
said, " my dear sir, you expect too much. These moss
rose just come over in the ship from Paris. You take
him home and plant him and he bloom right away, and
he keep on blooming." I did not take him home, but I
took the story, something in the shape it is now told
and had it published in one of the leading New York
papers, and in less than a week the " blue rose men" had
pulled up stakes, but no doubt, to pitch their camp
somewhere else, and set their traps for new victims."

While he would in a good-natured way touch up the
credulity of those who ought to have known better than
to have allowed themselves to be imposed upon by horti-
cultural humbugs, his sense of humor was so strong that
he never failed to tell any similar experience that
happened at his own expense. One of the best of these
stories is Dutch Peggy's Red Mignonette, which he tells
in the following extract from one of his essays written
a dozen years ago. " I have said that old Peggy was also
a vender of seeds in Washington Market. It is now some-
thing over thirty years ago, that a young florist presented
himself before her and purchased an ounce of migno-
nette. Ever alive to business, Peggy asked him if he
had tried the new red mignonette. He protested there
was no such thing, but Peggy's candid manner persuaded
him and fifty cents were invested. The seed looked
familiar, and when it sprouted it looked more familiar,
when it bloomed it was far too familiar, for it was red
clover. Peggy has long since been gathered to her
fathers, and I have entirely forgiven her for selling me
the red mignonette."

Except the usual royalties on his books, paid to him
as an author, for most of his contributions to the various
horticultural journals, Mr. Henderson did not accept
pay. At the same time it is hardly necessary to say,
that for the past twenty -five years at least for whatever

32 PETER HENDERSON.

he wrote, publishers were only too glad to offer him a
liberal remuneration. The American Agriculturist, desir-
ous of obtaining all his contributions, for a considerable
period paid him a price per column that has been con-
sidered perhaps the largest rate ever paid an American
writer. About 1869, Tiltons Journal of Horticulture, a
monthly magazine then published in Boston, but now
out of existence, offered Peter Henderson $6,000 per
annum if he would assume the chief editorship. This
nattering offer he declined.

In addition to all this he did a great deal of anony-
mous writing on horticultural matters, which, for suffi-
cient reasons, he deemed would be more effective than
if they had appeared over his signature. Then, too, the in-
novations in culture that he advocated in Gardening
for Profit and Practical Floriculture, provoked attacks
which forced him to defend many of what at that time
seemed radical ideas, but most of which have been long
since accepted. Besides he had to repel assaults made
upon him, for ventilating and exposing numberless old
world cultural practices, which in our climate it was found
worse than useless to follow. As a horticultural instruc-
tor, he never attempted to teach on any subject with which
he had not had a personal experience; hence, when any of
his views were controverted, he not only never hesitated
to defend them, but few there were in such controversies
that could stand up before his sabre cuts of Saxon speech.
Over most of his critics, too, he had this great advantage,
he could always invite them to " come and see," whether
the radical ideas he advanced stood the test of actual
practice. Nor did he stand on the defensive only, his
good judgment and strong common sense would never
permit him to accept without investigation the dictum
of any man, however eminent, on any subject that prop-
erly came within the field of his profession. We there-
fore find him taking issue with Charles Darwin's state-
ment that certain plants such as the Drosera or Sundew
and our own Carolina Fly-trap {Dioiuea Muscipuhi) are
fed by the insects which their wonderful structure

A MEMOIR. 33

enables them to catch. With a friend, Mr. Henderson
made a most thorough and exhaustive experiment in his
greenhouses with four hundred plants of the Carolina Fly
Trap, one half of which were so protected by fine wire net-
ting, that while they had all the necessary light and air, it
was impossible for them to receive any sustenance except
that derived from the atmosphere and soil. The remainder
of the plants were not only regularly "fed" by hand with
flies and other insects, but were also so exposed, that any
insects in the greenhouse were liable to be entrapped by
them. The result was that the most careful comparison
failed to show the slightest difference between those fed
with insects and those that were not so fed, which satisfied
him that if the plants digested the insects placed in the
leaf -traps, the food was in no way beneficial. Without
expressing any opinion as to whether these plants do, or
do not flourish on an animal diet, the published reports
of the various scientists who have investigated the sub-
ject, clearly indicate, that none of their experiments
were comparative. We think, therefore, that we can with
propriety volunteer the opinion that such conclusions
lose half their force, because the tests were not compara-
tive. And we further believe that in this instance most
people will be apt to think, that the clear headed gardener
who made no pretentions to scientific lore, conducted his
experiments on more practical and logical lines than did
the eminent men with whose conclusions he could not
agree.

We also find him disputing Mr. Darwin's theory of
what he called " Graft- Hybrids "; this naturalist citing
a number of instances where seemingly there was an
amalgamation of the stock and graft. Mr. Henderson's
views are set forth at some length in an article he
read before the New York Horticultural Society, in i88r,
entitled, " Popular Errors and Scientific Dogmas in
Horticulture.'''' Among other arguments he advanced to
refute Mr. Darwin's theory he instanced, " that during
the past quarter of a century, millions upon millions of
Bartlett pears and Baldwin apples have been grafted

34 PETER HENDERSON.

upon millions of stocks, and yet to-day they are as true to
their individuality as the Concord grape or Wilson straw-
berry, that are perpetuated by cuttings or runners, and
not one of them is in any way changed from what it was
when it first appeared, unless b)' the temporary accidents
of soil or climate." This most interesting and valuable
essay clearly shows the strong scientific instinct that
Peter Henderson possessed. Its conclusion, with which
we finish this record of his contributions to horticultural
literature shows a comprehensiveness and loftiness of
thought both tersely and grandly expressed. " I believe
that the smallest or the greatest of God's creations has
a separate and distinct individuality ; that they can-
not be blended except by generation, and that the prod-
uct of generation, whether in the lowest microscopic
germ, or in the highest type, man, has an individuality
distinct and separate that it cannot attach to another."

His Home and Married Life.

Peter Henderson lived nearly all his life in Jersey City,
where as citizen, friend and neighbor, no man stood
higher in the estimation of the community in which for
over forty years he made his home. There it was that
he established his roof-tree, after his marriage in New
York City, in 185 1, to Miss Emily Gibbons, a native of
Bath, England. She was the daughter of Mr. Thomas
Gibbons, and the mother of his three children, Alfred,
Isobel (now Mrs. Robert M. Floyd) and Charles.

Of her, the companion of his early manhood, the share
she bore in bye-gone years, in the daily drama of thrift,
economy and self-denial, even filial devotion cannot ade-
quately record. To their seventeen years of married
life she brought every sweet and noble attribute to be
found in wife and mother. The worldly honors her hus-
band won she scarcely more than saw, for she died in
1868, at the early age of thirty-four years. The turf that
for these many years has crowned her grave, is not
greener than is her memory to-day in the hearts of those
who knew and loved her. All three of her children are

1733498

A MEMOIR. 35

still living. Three years after her death Mr. Henderson
married Miss Jean H. Reid, an intimate friend of his
first wife, and daughter of his old friend, Mr. Andrew
Reid.* Mrs. Henderson still survives her husband.

Personal Appearance, Manner, and other
Characteristics.

Six feet in height, broad-shouldered, 38 inches around
the chest, and 34 inches around the waist, never weigh-
ing more than 160 pounds, Peter Henderson was a splen-
did specimen of physical manhood. His complexion was
florid, and his keen gray eyes twinkled with humor, fully
as often as they flashed fire with thought. During his
latter years, his short-cut hair and closely trimmed beard
and mustache were gray, but that was the only indication
of added years about him. A stranger seeing him for the
first time, would be impressed by his erect carriage, his
head up and shoulders back, with questioning eyes looking
straight at the speaker, — that was his first instinctive at-
titude. This expression changed in an instant, and his
manner, though always kind and courteous, was depen-
dent upon the estimate his rapid brain formed of the per-
son before him. The most ancient of professions, ranks
among its votaries "all sorts and conditions of men,"
and while Peter Henderson was greatly lacking in ven-
eration, no man was quicker to see and admire true
merit, whether in a millionaire or in a humble tiller of
the soil. His friendship with Andrew Carnegie grew
out of a letter which he wrote on the spur of the moment,
to that gentleman after reading his work, " Triumphant
Democracy," a book which thrilled him to the core. On
the other hand, he held in the highest esteem, and
counted among his most valued friends many whom
fortune, in her smiling moods, had seemingly passed by.

His eminence in his profession brought him into per-
sonal contact with many men of national reputation, but
of all the public men that he knew, perhaps the one he

* Many gardeners and florists are still living who can recall Mr. Reid, whose hospi-
table home in East 14th St. forty years ago, was the Mecca towards which most
Scotch gardeners headed on their arrival in New York.

36 PETER HENDERSON.

most admired was the late Rev. Henry Ward Beecher.
The great preacher's well-known love for flowers, brought
them first together over thirty years ago, and it was a
treat to see these two men, each so eminent in his own
sphere, become as enthusiastic as school boys over some
marvel or beauty in flower or leaf.

While Mr. Henderson had handled for over thirty
consecutive years every tool used in the garden or
greenhouse, he never at any time possessed very great
muscular strength, but his nervous energy was simply
tremendous. The Scotch are often characterized as be-
ing clannish and unable to understand how any other
nationality can do a thing quite as well as themselves;
but here was a son of " Auld Scotia " broad enough to
quickly see and admit superiority in others. For in-
stance, Scotchman as he was, and retaining to the last a
great love for his native land, he always averred that
weight for weight, Irishmen were the strongest physi-
cally of any people he ever came in contact with. He
also always contended that no race under the sun could
handle the spade with the quickness and dexterity of the
Irish ; and at any time in his long career you could have
paid him no higher compliment than to have told him
that, in that department of human endeavor, he could
handle a spade equal to an Irishman, which he coidd and
did.

In the first portion of this sketch, reference was made
to the enormous number of letters he wrote during
his lite-time, and it should have been there told, that for
at least the first twenty years of that time he made out
his own bills, kept his own books and filled the greater
part of the plant orders himself. When about the age of
fifty years, he began gradually to ease up in his personal
labor, but even in the last year of his life, the amount
of work he accomplished daily would have been un-
usual for most men of fifty. As far back as 1865, this
enormous amount of writing caused an attack of " pen
paralysis," or as it is sometimes called, " writer's cramp ";
by stopping all writing for four or five months it disap-

A MEMOIR. 37

peared, and, although he subsequently wrote more than
ever, he never had a recurrence of that trouble. He
was one of the most rapid penmen we have ever known,
and when he wrote comparatively slowly, his penmanship
was really beautiful, and had an individuality of its own
so marked, that of the millions of letters received during
the past forty years, we cannot recall more than a dozen
instances in which the writing in any way resembled
his. His hands were finely shaped, and pen or pencil
he always held in the orthodox way as delineated on
the covers of copy books.

Mr. Henderson was not only an abstainer from liquor,
but tobacco in any form he never touched. He was very
regular in his habits, and simple in his tastes. Up to the
close of his life he made it a rule to spend from three to
four hours every day in the open air. All this un-
doubtedly enabled him to perform the enormous amount
of work he accomplished. He was a very rapid walker
and for short distances, a fast runner. Before the iron
gates were put on the ferry boats plying between Jersey
City and New York, he was always one of the first men
off the boat ; and when verging on three score years and
ten, he moved so rapidly that he would overtake most
pedestrians between the ferry -slip and his stores in New
York, a distance of only three blocks.

While we know that industrious men are by no means
rare, the remarkable feature of Peter Henderson's indus-
try was, that it was always accompanied by a wonderful
rapidity of movement, whether of brain or body, and
in this respect it was unusual. His rapidity and ac-
curacy of decision were remarkable, and yet while capa-
ble of grasping large outlines of work or enterprises, he
paid an attention to all details that was as painstaking
as it was indefatigable.

In horticulture, either here or abroad, in certain respects
he had no prototype. The annals of the profession may
be searched in vain to find where any one man attained
the same degree of eminence which Peter Henderson
secured at one and the same time, in three distinct

3S PETER HENDERSON.

divisions of horticulture. To have been either the
leading florist, great seed merchant, or the versatile
horticultural writer, would have been fame enough for
most men. So when it is considered that he held almost
the highest rank in all three departments, we begin to
understand how wonderful his genius and his industry
must have been.

His Modesty and Freedom from Envy and Jealousy.

His modesty as regards his own unusual achievements
showed the rare balance of his mind. What he had ac-
complished, he knew, — no man better, — but he never
boasted of it, nor in any way was he ever egotistical.
No man ever rejoiced at another's success more than he.
Envy was foreign to him and jealousy unknown; in fact
whenever he could applaud merit in another, he took
the greatest delight in so doing. Although a public
spirited man in the best sense, he never could be in-
duced to hold any public office.

He was, however, at one time a director in the Bergen
Savings Bank, Jersey City, which through the misman-
agement of its president, suffered a large deficit. For
this neither Mr. Henderson nor his fellow directors were
responsible; but he, and two or three others felt that as
their names had been used in the directorate, they were
morally so, and, they therefore paid out of their own
pockets the bank's loss, so that every depositor was paid
in full.

During the last twenty years of his life he was
asked to fill many positions of honor from his own city,
the state, and the nation, and the strongest pressure
was several times brought to bear, to make him accept ;
but he was inflexible — refusing them all. While no
man ever realized his power better than he did in certain
directions, no one more clearly understood his own
limitations.

A MEMOIR. 39

His Humor and Pathos.

He could hardly be called a wit, but he had a rare-
fund of humor, and few men possessed a keener sense
of the ridiculous than he, and while his sense of the
ridiculous was ever near the surface, no man was
more careful not to hurt another's feelings. The weak-
nesses of his fellow men never aroused his sarcasm,
but pretence or affectation of any sort, he would cut
with words of scathing scorn. Genuine himself, he
despised all false metal, and in small things, as well as
in great, no man ever rang more true.

He was ever easily approached, and many a man and
woman to-day bless him for the time he took from his
busy days, to write them a letter of desired counsel, or
the few moments he gave to impart asked for advice.
His sympathy was universal ; no man had a more tender
heart than he, towards suffering or distress of any kind.
His helpful words of hope and cheer have been an in-
spiration to thousands who to-day have an ache at their
hearts because he walks this earth no more.

His Love of Poetry and Fiction.

Many who saw only the practical business side of
Peter Henderson, will be surprised to know that he was
as full of poetry and sentiment as he was of hard com-
mon sense. He was very fond of novel-reading ; his
favorite authors being Scott and Dickens, and few of
the general reading public were better posted on modern
light literature of the day than he. His love of poetry
was very marked, and, as a Scotsman, he was naturally
fond of Burns' poems, at the same time he had a decided
preference for poetry that had a war-like ring. Camp-
bell's " Hohenlinden," Tennyson's" Charge of the Light
Brigade," " Lord Clyde of Clydesdale," and especially Sir
Walter Scott's "Lady of the Lake," and '' Marmion "
were great favorites with him. Of all poetical produc-
tions, however, "Marmion" always held the first place
in his affections. We cannot b3tter illustrate the senti-

40 PETER HENDERSON.

mental side of his nature than by a quotation trom a let-
ter he sent to his sister from Scotland, where he had
found the neglected grave of his mother, and over which
he had placed a tombstone. After giving some details
of what he had done, occurs this sentence, " No one in
whom our blood flows will ever likely see it again, but
I could not go away without showing this little token of
remembrance."

Love of Animals.

He was very fond of animals, but especially so of dogs
and cats, and it was his delight when an hour of leisure
came to enjoy his many pets. A Scotch collie dog called
Wattie, that he had taught to perform a number of
tricks, was a particular favorite. A magnificent St.
Bernard dog named Jeff, grand and dignified, he owned
for many years. But fond as he was of dogs, he was
even more so of cats ; and as long as we can remember,
there were always four or five around the place. If he
came across a cat in the street, or in fact anywhere, he
was sure to pick it up and fondle it. In the seclusion of
his home, he almost invariably lay stretched at full
length on a sofa, after the cares of the day, with some
favorite puss on his breast, his kind eyes half closed,
and say to those near him, "Just listen to that singing;
now, isn't that music ?" Time and again he could be
seen walking through his grounds with a favorite cat
on his shoulder, who, from his high perch, seemed liter-
ally to be " monarch of all he surveyed." His fondness
for cats must have begun at an early day, as the follow-
ing reminiscence of "Bothy" life indicates, and for
which Mr. Wilson stands sponsor. After telling how he
would always stop to talk to and fondle a cat, Mr.
Wilson says that one dark night, when they were
both on their way to the mathematical school in Edin-
burgh, in jumping a wide ditch they heard a splash
just as they landed <>n the other side. While they
were wondering what the noise meant, they heard a
meow, and in a lew seconds the" Bothy " eat with whom

A MEMOIR. 41

Peter was the chief favorite, emerged from the water.
Peter picked up his faithful follower, and after petting
him, threw him back over the ditch, telling him at the
same time to " clear away home." When the youths re-
turned at midnight over the same route they were sur-
prised to see the " Bothy " cat waiting for them by the
ditch, and supposed he had remained there when he was
thrown back, but to their surprise they learned from their
fellow apprentices that the cat had returned to the
Bothy, dried himself over a furnace, and then gone back
and patiently waited for the return of his master. No
wonder half a century later when a grandchild sug-
gested that cats were ungrateful and had poor memo-
ries, that he should have said : " The poor Beastie! How
can you say that ? Look at old Tom, how he jumps up
on my shoulder and sits there while I go half over the
place. Isn't that love and memory ?"

He was naturally very fond of company; but his life
was such a busy one as to leave him but little time to
mingle much in society, yet at social gatherings he was
always an interesting and humorous talker, and a good
story teller. He had a faculty, too, that few suspected,
in being a splendid mimic.

Love for his Adopted Land.

He always retained a tender feeling for the land of
his birth, of which another of her worthy sons, Mr.
Tames Hope Park * has sung :

There is a land I dearly love,
The land of song and fame
Where roses blow, and daisies grow,
My ain loved hame,

But we would be recreant to his memory, did we fail
to record the almost passionate love Peter Henderson
felt for America and American institutions. No " native
here and to the manner born " was prouder of his citi-

* Mr. Park, formerly of Brooklyn, New York, but now of Canonbie, Scotland, was for
over thirty years, perhaps of all men, Mr. Henderson's most intimate and cherished
friend.

4J PETER HENDERSON.

zenship in this Republic. As soon as practicable after
his arrival in this country he became naturalized and he
always urged all those from the old world, with whom
he came in contact and who intended to settle here, that
it was their first duty to become citizens of this — the
greatest of nations.

Last Days.

Mr. Henderson all his life was a very healthy man.
Until his death, he never had but one serious ill-
ness, an attack of pleurisy twenty-five years before.
Regular and temperate as he was, he was careless of him-
self in many ways, and even when he was past sixty,
time and again we have seen him going the rounds of his
place in winter in his shirt sleeves. For two years
previous to his last illness he declared that he felt, and
he looked, almost as strong as he ever did, and frequently
commented on the physical vigor he maintained and
the amount of work he was still able to perform, for a
man of his years. He was always very regular in his
habits, and held to his routine work up to January 3d
last. On the evening of that day when he returned
home from his New York office, he showed unmistak-
able signs of having "la grippe." Mrs. Henderson had
no trouble in inducing him to remain within doors, and the
next day she sent for Dr. Bidwell. The attack was light
and he was advised to stay in the house for a few days.
On the few occasions in his life that he had been ailing
a little, he was very impatient of such restraint, but
now he was willing to obey the doctor's instructions.
By January 10th, the influenza seemed to have disap-
peared, and tempted by 'a sunshiny day, he ventured to
the greenhouses, just across the street from his resi-
dence. His wife did her utmost to keep him in the
house, but he felt so well that he thought he was running
no risk. Mrs. Henderson, however, took the precaution to
have hiin heavily wrapped up, but he had not been out
of the house twenty minutes when lie returned chilled
through. He was at once put to bed and remedies

A MEMOIR. 43

administered. Next morning- he expressed himself as
feeling all right again. About this time, however, both
Dr. Bidwell and the family thought it advisable to bring
another physician in, and his old and life-long friend,
Dr. A. A. Lutkins, was called. He was carefully exam-
ined by both physicians from time to time, for symptoms
of pneumonia, but until Monday evening the 13th, no
symptoms appeared.

About this time he received a letter from the editor
of the Florida Dispatch, enclosing a clipping that had
been going the rounds of the press, stating that the
famous rose " American Beauty " was of American origin,
and asking Mr. Henderson if this were true. He pen-
cilled a reply, stating the circumstances under which it
was found, and that the variety was really an old French
rose, " Madame Ferdinand Jamain." This was the last
article he wrote, and it was written on what literally
proved to be his death -bed. With characteristic thorough-
ness, in that article, he also mentioned the leading roses
that were of American origin.

All through his illness he was bright and cheerful.
Monday morning, January 13, when his son Charles
called, he was in excellent spirits. In reply to what kind
of a night he had passed, he said, " rather a bad one, but
I feel a great deal better this morning," adding with a
smile, " do you know, Charlie, that at one time I thought
it was " Good-night to Marmion." That same morning
a characteristic incident occured. Among a few letters
that he had intended to answer personally, was one from
a gardener, asking if he could give him employment in
his greenhouses. This letter he handed to his son, say-
ing, "tell him we cannot take him on, Charlie, but be sure
you do it kindly." That same Monday night, pneu-
monia set in. There is every reason to believe that he
had a conviction, that this attack would prove fatal ;
for, a few days before he died, in conversation with his
daughter, Mrs. Floyd, he said " do you know, " (calling
her by a pet name he had given her in childhood)
"that I have an idea that I won't get over this attack,

44 PETER HENDERSON.

and, strange as it may seem, I really don't mucn care;"
he paused for a moment, and then the philosophy with
which he had met every sorrow or trouble in life, did
not fail him, as he uttered these words. "It is a wise
provision of Nature that, as we grow older, our hold on
life loosens."

After the dreaded pneumonia appeared, the days and
nights passed all too rapidly to the anxious watchers,
who saw the life they so much loved steadily ebbing
away. The same wifely thoughtfulness that looked after
this beloved man in the first symptoms of his illness,
was shown still further in the tender care and solicitude
Mrs. Henderson gave him night and day, up to his last
moments. To her, he was the world, and if her unceas-
ing devotion could have saved him, he would have been
with us still to-day. He retained perfect consciousnes
up to eleven o'clock, Thursday night, Jan. 16th ; at that
hour delirium ensued from the mental eclipse of which
he never again emerged. "When Friday morning dawned
it was seen that the end was near, and at exactly half
past ten o'clock, all was over — he had crossed the frontier
of this life, to enter as we fondly hope, the radiant
gardens of Paradise.

The funeral services were held in the First Presby-
terian Church of Jersey City, on Monday, Jan. 20th,
1 890. Notwithstanding a heavy down-pour of rain, the
church was unable to contain the great throng, many
of whom came from distant states to testify their
respect for the deceased. The Pastor, the Rev. Charles
Hcrr, delivered an eloquent and impressive tribute to
the well rounded life which had come to a close.

The Society of American Florists were represented
by a committee of fifty, and other organizations to
which he belonged were also in attendance. The same
Monday afternoon his remains were interred in the fam-
ily plot in Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, N. Y.

A MEMOIR. 45

His Rank in Horticultural History.

Mr. William R. Smith, for nearly thirty-five years super-
intendent of the Botanic Gardens at Washington, and
a man highly distinguished for his botanical research,
paid him the highest possible tribute in terming him " the
great horticultural missionary ; " and Mr. E. E. Smith, in
an address delivered before the California Horticultural
Society, in San Francisco, last February, not only dilated
on the great loss horticulture had sustained in his death,
but expressed the general feeling, that the extent of Peter
Henderson's services would hold his rriemory in lasting
remembrance. Here are a few passages from Mr. Smith's
eulogy : " Peter Henderson is dead. There has come
to the Goddess Flora a grief, and the sad sweet tones of
her funeral chant, as they float o'er the great man's grave,
are echoed by the odors of millions of flowers. No one
will ever know the laurels that in memory have been
placed upon his grave by sorrowing human hearts. One
of nature's noblemen, he embowered our windows with
climbing vines, and adorned and made beautiful our door-
yards with bright flowers; he made green our lawns and
fruitful our gardens. He is dead, but the flowers with
which he has strewn the pathway of life will emblazon
forever his memory upon earth."

Mr. A. D. Cowan paid a beautiful and appreciative
tribute to his memory in a paper read before the New
York Florists' Club, March 10, 1890. Among other
things in his eloquent address Mr. Cowan said: " No
man ever lived who carried on his researches under
greater difficulties, and no one ever exercised greater
perseverance to gain a full knowledge of the subject
which claimed his attention. No one but he handled
the pioneer's pen which brought the dark, selfish and
ignorant methods of the old School of Horticulture
into daylight ; and to Peter Henderson will belong for
generations to come the credit of popularizing, improv-
ing, and developing gardening in these United States."

The opinions above quoted are but types of hundreds

46 PETER HENDERSON.

of expressions given utterance to both by individuals
and horticultural journals after his death, and when this
significant fact is remembered that from 1866 up to this
hour that his horticultural teachings have not been trav-
ersed to any appreciable degree, it shows conclusively
the popular estimate which has been placed upon his
works ; and that judgment steadily maintained for a
quarter of a century, posterity is not likely to reverse.
The unpretentious man who, during the last twenty-five
years of his life, received eulogistic letters and personal
thanks from at least seventy thousand people, for what
his horticultural writings alone had done for them, left
an impress that will endure far beyond his day and
generation.

The coming years we doubt not will be guardians of
his fame ; for wherever rugged manhood toils with
plow or spade, the memory of Peter Henderson will lend
dignity and hope unto his labor. Wherever gentle
woman bends anxiously o'er fragile blossoms, the memory
of Peter Henderson will be as dew to fall upon their
petals. And those who honored him may feel sure of
this, that his monument will be enduring, for it is rooted
in old Mother Earth, and in the flowers, her faithful
children.

His Possibilities.

It is somewhat remarkable that, in the multitude of trib-
utes paid to the memory of Peter Henderson, many
would so far digress as to dwell upon his possibilities in
other walks of life. That he would have attained dis-
tinction in almost any direction was a very commonly
expressed opinion. Some were so far interested in his
career as to suggest certain lines in which, if he had
received the essential education, he would have attained
eminence. For instance the Phrenological Journal said,
"if he had been trained to engineering in its broadest
sense, literature in connection with science, law in con-
nection with ethics, he would have been a strong man."
Singularly enough there is one calling which so far as

A MEMOIR. 47

we know has not suggested itself to any one, but in which
we believe, had he had the preliminary training, he would
have attained great distinction — we mean, the profession
of arms. To begin with, a soldier's career always had the
strongest fascination for him ; and all his life, many of his
spoken as well as his written thoughts, were tinctured
with a martial ring. Then his intellectual characteristics,
or at least those which predominated, were such as are
usually found in military men of the first order; and
finally, he possessed in the highest degree attributes,
where in victory he would have displayed the magna-
nimity of Ulysses S. Grant, and in defeat, the serenity
of Robert E. Lee.

Conclusion.

From the griefs and troubles that line our road from
the cradle to the grave, he was not exempt ; but, over
all, his life was a happy one. Blessed with good health
all his days, showered with the gratitude and applause
of his fellow-men, finding in the daily contemplation of
plant life, a delight and a charm of which he never wear-
ied, with the consciousness which for him had a special
significance, " that he who makes two blades of grass
grow where but one grew before, is a benefactor to his
race;" and then at last to die, as he always hoped he
might die, "in harness," Peter Henderson, when his
hour came, calmly and smilingly bade the world good
night.

During the forty-two years of his business life, Mr.
Henderson employed a large number of people, many
of whom have long since preceded him to the grave.
Could we gather the testimony of that fragment of the
silent host, we may be sure it would be akin to that which
the living felt, when his great heart ceased to beat — that
in him had been lost, not only the just and generous
employer, the unselfish adviser, but the best of friends.
From those who in business relations stood closest to
him, down to the humblest employe, all mourned and
will miss for many a day the presence of the king-like
man whose kindly sceptre swayed them all.

48 PETER HENDERSON.

Great Chieftain of our gentle art, hail and farewell !
Not thy just renown, not the memory of thy blameless
life, which in days to come will be the heritages we most
shall cherish — not these, but the sorrow of those mourn-
ing their kindred dust still lingers uppermost. For thine
own, there will remain while life lasts the recollection
of thy tender care and unselfish devotion, hallowed by
a love that began at our cradles, and which through all
the cares of thy long and busy life, thou didst maintain,
even unto thy dying hour. To thy children's children,
who in future years may happily recall thee, we trust
will long be mirrored in their hearts, the memory of thy
kindly face, illuminated then as now by the halo of thy
imperishable glory.

5099

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