1880 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



S78 



ft couple of miles or so out of Philadelphia, a 

 city which has since extended twelve miles be- 

 yond—and ''Pratt'a Garden" is now a part of 

 East Fairmount Park. 



It was about the time of young BuiSt's arrival 

 in Philadelphia that the tren)endous strides in 

 horticulture about Philadelphia began, in which 

 he subsequently took a leading part. The 

 nurseries then in existence in and near the city 

 were Bartram's, conducted by Colonel Carr; 

 McMahon's near Broad and German town Road ; 

 Landreth's, in Moyamensing; Maupay's, at 

 Rising Sun, and Hibbert's, which was the first 

 conspicuously florists' establishment. In the 

 whole city of Philadelphia there were only two 

 greenhouses which kept gardeners, though there 

 were a few more in the suburbs. Such a thing 

 as a bedding plant was unknown. Hardy her- 

 baceous plants and box edgings made up the 

 chief garden attractions, and only those who 

 had greenhouses with rare exotics believed thej' 

 had much of which to be particularly proud. 

 The year after Mr. Buist settled in Philadel- 

 phia, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society 

 had itt< first grand exhibition, and from this time 

 the love of gardening went steadily forward. 



In 1830, Mr. Buist entered into partnership 

 with Mr. Hibbert, and Hibbert & Buist did an 

 immense business as florists at Twelfth and 

 Lombard streets. They commenced at once the 

 importation of rare plants and flowers, paying 

 attention especially to the rose. This flower was 

 and always will be popular, no matter how taste 

 may change in other respects, and, next to the 

 Camellia, perhaps, held the leading place in the 

 regard of Philadelphians. Rapid and successful 

 propagation was not then as it is now, and prices 

 were correspondingly high. Good roses brought 

 $1, such as now sell for 35 or 50 cents. Among 

 the importations of H. & B. about this time were 

 the Noisette rose, Jauue des Prez, on which they 

 made a clear profit of $1,000. It should be here 

 noted that Mr. Buist was the first to inaugurate 

 the sale of plants in markets, or rather on the 

 streets of Philadelphia— for Philadelphia has no 

 floral market house — and it was through this far 

 seeing plan that so many of the rare roses were 

 sold. Finally, purchasing the interest of Mr. 

 Hibbert on the latter's death, he commenced 

 the seed business at 84 Chestnut street, in connec- 

 tion with the nuraery and greenhouse business. 

 As the business grew he took a larger one at 

 97 Chestnut street, and finally purchased the 

 large building 922 Market street, and after 



placing it on a substantial footing, resigned it to 

 his second son, Robert, who has for some years 

 past continued in the prosperous career com- 

 menced by his father. 



Resuming, however, the floral part of Mr. 

 Buist's career, it was not long after the introduc- 

 tion of the rarer roses that he obtained, through 

 Tweedie, an energetic plant collector — and after 

 whom Sir William Hooker named the genua 

 Tweedia — the first of our pretty garden Verbenas, 

 V. Tweediana. This Mr. Tweedie sent from 

 Buenos Ayres, in 1834. Mr. Bui:>t at once com- 

 menced their improvement, and with such suc- 

 cess that his seedlings were in immense demand 

 in Europe, and made him well-known there. 

 In 1840, hundreds of plants of Verbenas — 

 Hendersonii, V. McArraniana and V. Buisti — 

 were sold in England. These were all seedlings 

 of Mr. Buist. It may be here noted that it was 

 in consequence of these Verbenas that Mr. 

 Buist's name became familiar to the writer of 

 this sketch, and which a few years later led to a 

 correspondence, which finally resulted in the 

 acceptance by him of an invitation b}' Mr. Buist 

 to settle in Philadelphia. It was the improve- 

 ment of the Verbena that first led to the intro- 

 duction of the distinct class of bedding plants, 

 which now form so large a part of the florists 

 trade. Large numbers of rare plants were not 

 only introduced here for the first time through 

 Mr. Buist's agency, but came directly from other 

 countries, and sent by him for the first time to 

 flower lovers in the old world. Poinsetta pul- 

 cherrima was his primal introduction through 

 the Mexican Minister, Mr. Poinsett, and the 

 double one, which has recently appeared and is 

 so popular, was introduced into Europe by him, 

 " It was,"' he said to the writer, " probably the 

 first time in the history of the world that a sale 

 of a flower was made by the ocean telegraph." 

 He was extremely fond of improving flowers; 

 and perhaps the last sale he ever made to 

 Europeans was the whole stock of a pure dwarf 

 white Azalea of his raising, which sale he 

 made in the spring of the present year. 



In 1848, his Twelfth street premises had be- 

 come too small for his florist business, and ho 

 bought the land for the present famous Rose- 

 dale, in which the present writer became con- 

 nected witli him, remaining with him till the 

 final removal of the establishment there in 

 1850. 



But the influence of Mr. Buist on horticulture 

 was not confined to the progress of horticulture 



