702 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



March 3, 1904. 



in this way, that if a dozcu growers in 

 different sections of the country were 

 testing tlie new varieties before their 

 dissemination this collapse might be dis- 

 covered before the raiser had a chance to 

 send them out. We know, and so do you 

 all, of instances where a variety, after 

 giving every promise, being shown at 

 our exhibitions until it would have been 

 in large donuuid, has been withdrawn and 

 not one sent out simply because the own- 

 er discovereil faults and failings in the 

 variety and believed it would be a disap- 

 pointment to those who bought it. This 

 is most honest and honorable conduct 

 and cannot be too highly admired and 

 commended. The opportunity to make 

 a few thousand dollars was sacrificed, 

 but the reputation and confidence in the 

 firm was greatly enriched. 



We all remember, some fifteen years 



tain the best in every class. I am nit 

 insinuating for a moment that the dis- 

 semiimtors of those chrysanthemums, or 

 of the present-day carnations, are prac- 

 ticing anything but a legitimate and 

 honorable business. As long as they can 

 find customers and a profitable sale for 

 their new varieties, they are justified in 

 ailvcrtising and sending them out. It is 

 simply business, and human nature, and 

 will continue till the men who grow to 

 produce cut flowers only realize that, 

 great as the improvement of the carna- 

 tion has been within the past fifteen 

 years, we cannot expect that each suc- 

 ceeding year there are going to be a 

 dozen varieties sent out that surpass all 

 that have gone before. 



To digress a moment. Heredity has as 

 much to do with the improvement of 

 flowers as it has in the improvement in 



Governor Odell. — Patthey. 



ago, that there were a half dozen or more 

 firms in the country who thought it very 

 necessary for the welfare of the chrysan- 

 themum growers of the land that each 

 should send out its set of new varieties. 

 The set was twelve varieties. We also 

 remember that if there was one real ac- 

 quisition in each set, it was all we could 

 hope for, and often more than we got. 

 That prolific production died a natural 

 death, not because the chrysanthemum 

 became less popular, but the florists of 

 the country got wiser and learned that 

 no one firm can have the good fortune to 

 raise twelve varieties of great merit in 

 one year. If they had succeeded in pro- 

 ducing one variety that surpassed in all 

 desirable qualities any existing flower of 

 its color, they had done well and it 

 would have been more profitable to the 

 average florist had he paid the specialist 

 the price of the whole set for one plant 

 of that real good variety and not have 

 wasted money, time and space on t\\<y 

 other, long forgotten and useless eleven. 

 Nothing as absurd has yet taken place 

 with the carnation, yet if you look 

 through the list of new varieties offered 

 this year it is a pretty long one and the 

 man who wants to grow the best is great- 

 ly puzzled to know what to buy, and I 

 think it is the special duty of this so- 

 ciety to guide him in his choice to ob- 



the animal kingdom. There is, there 

 must be, in nature a constant tendency 

 upward and onward toward improve- 

 ment. Plants and animals on the earth 

 without man's interference are here by 

 natural selection. Plants and animals 

 that man has influenced, our economic 

 and garden plants and our domestic ani- 

 mals, are here by artificial selection. But 

 tins improvement does not occur with ev- 

 ery individual and perhaps with the eas.i 

 of floi'ists' flowers not one in 10,000. 

 You carnation specialists know that you 

 may raise 10,000 seedlings, all from par- 

 ents of great excellence. Every seeil- 

 ling has an equal chance, yet many will 

 revert away back to a remote progeni- 

 tor, a single-petaled dianthus. Ten per 

 cent may be equal in size and color to 

 their immediate parent and perhaps one 

 in 1,000 may be superior in some quality 

 to either parent, and different in anoth- 

 er, and if you get one in 10,000 that 

 surpasses the parents in all good quali- 

 ties, you are lucky. You have advanced 

 the flower slowly. and at a cost of time 

 and money, yet slightly you have lifted 

 the flower upwards. 



The advent of a wonderful flower, let 

 it be the Lawson carnation or Catherine 

 Mermet rose, is like the sudden appear- 

 ance of genius among men. "Like be- 

 gets like" is a trite old saying, but only 



partly true. There is nothing in the an- 

 cestry of a Shakespeare, a Burns, a Na- 

 poleon or a Lincoln to account for their 

 inspiration and power of intellect. They 

 towered over their ancestors as well as 

 their descendants, as did that one little 

 seed that produced that matchless flow- 

 er, jNIrs. Lawson. Why this is or what 

 governs it we know nothing, but we 

 know it seldom occurs. 



Now I think I have said enough 

 against the evil of too many new va- 

 rieties being introduced that are not im- 

 provements over existing varieties, ad- 

 mitting at the same time that as long as 

 purchasers can be found these raisers of 

 new varieties are doing a legitimate busi- 

 ness and they will continue to do so just 

 as long as they flnd it profitable, and ad- 

 mitting also that under our necessary ar- 

 tificial culture of the carnation the best 

 of varieties wear out, for propagation by 

 cuttings is not raising a new individual, 

 it is merely dividing and perpetuating 

 the same old plant. The seedling is the 

 birth of an individual and therefore wo 

 look to the man who is a specialist along 

 these lines to give us new varieties that 

 possess health and vigor, as well as the 

 other attributes that make a desirable 

 variety. 



I am aware that several firms which 

 had new varieties to send out have sent 

 to a few growers in different parts of 

 the country a dozen or twenty-five plants 

 for them to test in their soil and cli- 

 mate, knowing that if the variety was a 

 success with them that the word of these 

 men as to the qualities of the variety, as 

 well as the inspection by many growers 

 who had an onnortunity to see it grow- 

 ing, if favorable, would add largely to 

 its sales. This plan is, in my opinion, 

 just what should be done and practiced 

 to a greater extent and with some recog- 

 nized .system. 



To send a bunch of flowers to a meet- 

 ing of some florists' club, as several 

 firms so kindly sent beautiful flowers to 

 our meeting in Buffalo two weeks ago, 

 is a great treat and affords many men an 

 opportunity to look upon these wonder- 

 ful flowers who cannot possibly, from 

 some cause or other, attend our national 

 gathering. Don 't think for a moment 

 that because they have seen these flowers 

 they will not want to attend these con- 

 ventions; it will rather, I think, raise 

 enthusiasm and make them anxious to 

 look upon the wonderful display that we 

 have before us toda.y. W'ithal that is 

 not enough and we learn nothing of the 

 habit, productiveness, faults and failings 

 of the variety that we cannot learn from 

 the few beautiful, perfect flowers that 

 are set before us. 



I have often remarked to a brother 

 florist who was dabbling in the seedling 

 business (it is very fascinating), that if 

 he had the good fortune to raise a seed- 

 ling that proved, under his care, to pos- 

 sess size, color, stem, freedom and other 

 good qualities and it sold well and was 

 profitable, then he should keep on grow- 

 ing it and not trouble himself about 

 sending it out. Keen it and make money 

 from the flowers. The very fact that it 

 did well from the original seedling plant 

 to the time when you had a thousand 

 plants is proof that this seedling of yours 

 was suited with your soil and climate 

 and care. Many florists have done this 

 and I was strongly of the opinion a few 

 years ago, when so many seedlings were 

 offered, that the majoritv of florists 

 would soon depend on their own seed- 

 lings. I think my memory is correct 



