The Florist and Pomologist, in a kindly notice of the late Edward Meehan, remarks: "He was one of the earlier improvers of the fuchsia and other garden flowers. His son, Professor Thomas Meehan, is Professor of Botany in the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia."

It may be worth noting that the improvement of the dahlia was among the earliest of his hobbies. " Springfield Rival," perhaps, among the first to bring this flower up to the florist's standard, was one of his raising.

He used to experiment largely with seedling chrysanthemums, but he took one called " Webber's Queen" as his standard of excellence, and could never feel that he raised one equal to it.

The first hybrid fuchsia ever raised, was probably "St. Clare." Fuchsia fulgens was introduced from Brazil about 1840. At any rate, in 1841 it bloomed at St. Clare, and was used as the male parent. The female parent, Fuchsia longiflora, was still standing, making a plant probably fifteen or twenty feet high when the writer saw it four years ago.

The seedlings bloomed the following year, " St. Clare" being considered the best of them. So strict was Mr. Median's idea of honor that he refused money offers for the plant, because the work on it was done in his employer's time, and it was given to a leading nurseryman in exchange for new or rare plants, as were all the other good things he raised. The beautiful Clianthus puni-ceus was raised by him from seed brought home by a New Zealand missionary, and the Diplacus aurantiacus, set down in botanical works as of "origin unknown," was a cross of his between Diplacus glutinosus and D. puniceus.

He was among the first to start the present popular race of silver-leaved geraniums. There was a loose growing variegated kind known as the "Mangles" long in cultivation, and an old scarlet known as the " Salmon." This last was the male parent. From this cross came "St. Clare," which was such a decided advance that it has scarcely yet gone out of cultivation. This was given to or exchanged with the same florist, we believe, to whom " Springfield Rival " dahlia was given.

Professor Meehan's title comes chiefly from his position in the State Board of Agriculture of Pennsylvania, though he also holds that honorary title in other bodies. His position in the Academy of Natural Sciences (except as Senior Vice President) is simply Vice Director of the Botanical Section, to all three of which he has been annually-elected for some years past.