Medford Historical Society Papers, Volume 6.

[p. 37] but it was finally published in 1890. As the work was of such magnitude as to make it an expensive publication, the subscription was limited to five hundred copies, but in spite of the cost, the edition was soon exhausted, and it is now impossible to purchase a single copy. The introduction was written by Oliver Wendell Holmes, to whom was due the inspiration that led to the making of the book.

No sooner was one task completed than another was already planned and well started. His ‘Typical Elms’ was scarcely before the public when his notes show that observations had for some time been recorded for his last and greatest work, ‘Handbook of the Trees of New England,’ which he also brought out in collaboration with Mr. Henry Brooks. This is fully illustrated with plates carefully prepared from living specimens by Mrs. Elizabeth Gleason Bigelow of Medford. The entire range of our native trees is given in detail with illustrations of buds, leaves, flowers and fruit. The text was prepared with great pains; every part was carefully scrutinized, revised many times after being submitted to the best experts on the subject, until the final product is a book accurate in almost every particular, and one admirably adapted to the use intended.

His love for nature led him to spend his summer vacations in places where he could enjoy her to the best advantage. The majority of them for the last thirty years were spent on the island of Nantucket, mainly in the village of Siasconset. He also made excursions several times into the Maine woods. The summer of 1900 was passed with his family in Nova Scotia and a part of 1902 in Newfoundland, where in both places he botanized extensively and added largely to his collections.

From his interest in science in general he became a member of the Middlesex Institute and of the Natural History Society of Boston. He was one of the founders of the New England Botanical Club and an active member at the time of his death.