Dkckmhkk 2, IS'JT. 



The Weekly Florists* Review. 



^"^^7^^ 



WiUiam Scott. 



caenas, all palms and ferns, including 

 Adiantuni Farleyense, Cyperus alternifo- 

 lius (green and variegated), crotons, and 

 many other pretty plants, also different 

 varieties of berried sprays. H. A. B. 



WILLIAM SCOTT. 



We present herewith an excellent por- 

 trait of Mr. William Scott, of Buffalo, N. 

 Y., who is undoubtedly the most popular 

 writer on matters connected with the 

 trade, and who, we are pleased to be able 

 to say, will in future confine his corre- 

 spondence to the Florists' Review. 

 Mr. Scott's versatility has been a con- 

 stant source of amazement to the writer 

 of these lines, who early noted his ability 

 and encouraged him to write more and 

 more freely for the trade press. No ques- 

 tion referred to him seems to have been 

 too complicated for him to answer, and 

 many times i:iatters outside of a strictly 

 trade character have been treated as ably 

 as they would have been by a specialist 

 and in a far more practical and entertain- 

 ing manner. 



Mr. Scott carries on a general florists' 

 business in Buffalo. He has a down 

 town store and has an acre of land in 

 almost the geographical center of the city 

 and 30,000 feet of gla.ss. Also 12 acres 

 of land in the village of Corfu, near Buf- 

 falo, with 18,000 feet of glass. The latter 

 establishment is devoted almost entirely 

 to the production of cut flowers. His 

 business covers all the various divisions 

 of the trade and this accounts for his 

 familiarity with such a wide range of 

 subjects. This being supplemented by a 

 wonderfully retentive memory aud a pe- 

 culiarly happy, clear and graceful style of 

 composition, has made him the most 

 valued contributor to the trade press. 

 But his popularit}' does not rest solely up- 

 on his writings. He believes in visiting 

 his fellow craftsmen and has traveled ex- 

 tensively. He is good fellowship personi- 

 fied and to meet him is to feel he is your 

 friend, if you are worthy of such friend- 

 ship. We question if anyone in the 

 trade is now more generally known or 

 more universally esteemed than William 

 Scott, and his able administration of the 



office of President of the Society of 

 American Florists is fresh in the memories 

 of all. 



Mr. Scott was born July 31, 1S44, at 

 Leigh Park, Hampshire, England, the 

 country home of Sir George Thomas 

 Staunton, one of the finest gardens in 

 Kurope, where his father was head-gar- 

 dener for 27 years. He attended a pri- 

 vate school in the neighboring town of 

 Havant till he was 13 j-ears of age at 

 which time the schoolmaster became in- 

 sane, but Mr. Scott says this was not his 

 fault. He began work in the garden 

 shortly after this and the first job of gar- 

 dening he can remember doing for wages 

 was weeding chrysanthemums that had 

 been cut down after flowering and were 

 standing in pots under the shelter of a 

 hedge. At 15 years of age he had the 

 care of a conservatory that had to be so 

 scrupulously clean and neat that the 

 petal of a camellia must not be seen on 

 the snow white paths or the trim kept 

 border. Among the plants in this old- 

 fashioned house (which he .says he has 

 since often dreamed he was neglecting) was 

 a Phormium tenax some six feet across, 

 oranges of various species or varieties 

 that yielded bushels of fruit, an Acacia 

 pubescens that went to the roof, and a 

 grand specimen of Araucaria excelsa ten 

 feet high and perfect in form, and still, 

 such is the mildness of the climate of the 

 south coast of England, more than one 

 winter passed without the fires being 

 lighted to heat this house. 



In this beautiful garden were not only 

 the rarest exotic plants, including for 

 those days a grand collection of orchids, 

 almost all the economic plants, and ex- 

 otic fruits, grown to perfection, but the 

 highest type of landscape art was exem- 

 plified. The beauty of the place attracted 

 man)- visitors and Mr. Scott was priv- 

 ileged to see many of the illustrious men 

 and women of Europe who came there to 

 enjoy that beauty. The old baronet 

 cared nothing for fox hunting, shooting 

 or any other sport that enters into the life 

 of a rural landlord in England. He liked 

 to have' as his guests the brightest lights 

 of England, to talk botany to Sir Joseph 

 Hooker, and to be known as the greatest 

 authority in Western Europe on China 

 and the Chinese language. He had 

 spent many years of his earlier life as an 

 attache of the British embassj' in the land 

 of the "almond eyes." 



When the subject of this sketch was 17 

 years of age his father removed to Chi- 

 chester, where he rented the Northgate 

 Nurseries. Mr. Scott worked in the nur- 

 sery, greenhouses and seed store of his 

 father till the spring of 186S, except for 

 two years during which he was employed 

 in the seed store of Mr. W. H. Rogers, of 

 Southampton, famous as a most estimable 

 man and as a good grower of rhododen- 

 drons. In the spring of 1868 a spirit of 

 adventure came over the young man, his 

 brother, and his friend Mr. E. I. Mepsted 

 Australia was the objective point, but was 

 too far away. Then Port Natal was men- 

 tioned, but still too faraway to please the 

 loving parents. Canada was settled upon 

 as a compromise, but the good father 

 said: "Boys, the United States is the 

 place for you, and I have many friends 

 there." James Fleming, then in partner- 



