March 6, 1915 



HORTICULTUEE 



305 



J. T. Buttenvorth of Framingham, 

 Mass., grows orchids for the Boston 

 market. A sincere and earnest 

 lover of plants, Mr. Butterworth 

 personally cares for every one of his 

 twenty thousand orchid plants. 

 He was one of the first to grow 

 orchids in quantity for commercial 

 use in New England and as a little 

 touch of personality we might add 

 that M. Norton, an old time Boston 

 tlorist, was Butterworth's first cus- 

 tomer. The first house on the 

 place was built in 1848, by C. J. 

 Power, the original owner. This 

 was a lean-to affair against the 

 side of a barn, which stands today, 

 a fitting demonstration of the re- 

 markable progress in greenhouse 

 construction since that time. 

 There are now twelve houses, most 

 of them built since Mr. Butter- 

 worth came into possession, about 

 sixteen years ago. He served his 

 apprenticeship in England, came to 

 this country in 1888, worked in 

 Stoughton for some time, became 

 manager for C. J. Power and finally 

 bought over the business. 



Not only the stock, but the 

 houses themselves are of interest. 

 All but two are old-fashioned, with 

 small panes, heavy, thick wood- 

 work, and replete with encum- 

 brances and appliances that make 

 the modem house a veritable palace in 

 comparison. But, as Mr. Butterworth 

 says, "each man is the architect of his 

 own fortune," and with the tools in 

 his possession, he has carved out for 

 himself an enviable reputation for fine 

 orchids. In reference to interesting 

 houses, we noted one which formerly 



J. T. BUTTEKWOKTH. 



grew roses and which in its time was 

 the largest house in the state, built 35 

 years ago. In its present condition it 

 runs north to south, but when first 

 built it ran east to west, and in mov- 

 ing not a pane of glass was broken. 

 Hot water is still used to heat the 

 range. 



Very little Importing is done here, 

 as Mr. Butterworth is almost a 

 crank on efficiency and conserva- 

 tion. The weak looking odds and 

 ends accumulated in repotting from 

 time to time are seldom thrown 

 away. With infinite patience and 

 guided by the intuition acquired 

 in life-long acquaintance with 

 plants, all of these are nursed 

 back to healthy, virile life. Thus, 

 very few orchid plants are im- 

 ported from South America and 

 through this practice some fine 

 strains have been selected, which 

 today are to be found nowhere 

 else. 



Speaking of importing — Mr. But- 

 erworth states that the importa- 

 tion of Cattleya labiata is slowing 

 up rapidly, due to the thousands of 

 plants that have been sent to this 

 country in response to public de- 

 mands. Collectors are finding good 

 specimens exceedingly difficult to 

 secure. In his opinion C. Mossiae 

 outclasses all other cattleyas for 

 beauty and quality, but because of 

 its habit of blooming in April it 

 tails to take advantage of the mid- 

 winter demand. 



Orchids are not the only crop 

 grown here, as everything else but 

 roses and violets can be seen in the 

 range. The two newest houses, one of 

 them a Hitchings, contains carnations, 

 the chief varieties being Pink Delight, 

 White Wonder and Mrs. Cheney. A 

 big retail business is done direct from 

 the greenhouses, although much of 

 the product finds an outlet in the 

 wholesale markets in Boston. 



S. L. F. 



Among the prosperous plant growing 

 establishments of Long Island none 

 yield greater pleasure to the visitor 

 than that of A. L. Miller at Jamaica. 

 It is an extensive place and things are 

 done well there but what counts for 

 as much or more is the genial, frank 

 personality of its proprietor. The 

 popular president of the Plant Grow- 

 ers' Association is, indeed, a "shining 

 light" among that alert and thrifty 

 fraternity. Mr. Miller has seventeen 

 houses in all and they are largely 

 filled with Easter plants. Well ven- 

 tilated cool sheds for storing and re- 

 tarding and six autos and trucks for 

 delivery purposes complete an outfit 

 well equipped for the wholesale plant 

 trade. The great advance made in 

 recent years in color and size of 

 bloom of Primula obconica is well In 

 evidence in the large stock seen here. 

 Daisies — the old-fashioned and still the 

 best, marguerite, are a very extensive 

 crop and, of course, there are lilies, 

 hydrangeas, azaleas and Rambler 

 roses in abundance. Among the more 

 uncommon things are some lovely 

 Japanese cherries, calycanthus and 

 Viburnum Carlesii. In the pot-rose 

 houses are entire benches of American 

 Beauty grown to bush form which will 

 be well worth a visit very soon. For 

 St. Patrick's Day large quantities of 

 shamrocks are grown in tiny pots. 



Most of the ground in the 17 acres is 

 devoted to conifers and other orna- 

 mental nursery stock but on account 

 of the encroachment of a proposed 

 park reservation and boulevard the 

 nursery department will in time be re- 

 moved to a 25-acre farm a short dis- 

 tance away. 



G. Peters & Sons have a splendid 

 range of carnation houses at Hemp- 

 stead. There are no less than 75,000 

 plants all told, of which 18.000 are in 

 one large double house with gutters 

 elevated 10 ft., which seems to be well 

 liked by the carnations for they are 

 very fine. Enchantress and Enchant- 

 ress Supreme have been blooming pro- 

 fusely since Christmas without any 

 let-up and a very heavy crop is indi- 

 cated for Easter. 



Rowehl & Granz at Hicksville have 

 one of the most admirable locations for 

 a florist business. The land is natur- 

 ally very rich and perfectly level. 

 They have a fine carnation range 

 which they propose to enlarge to a 

 considerable extent in the near future 

 and the place is just suited for this 

 purpose. One of the carnation houses 

 is 67 ft. by 125 ft., and very lofty, hav- 

 ing been erected over four older houses 

 while the latter were standing, the 

 original benches being continued in 



use after the old houses were demol- 

 ished. Messrs. Rowehl and Granz are 

 brothers-in-law and they make an en- 

 terprising and aggressive business 

 team, already widely known to the 

 trade generally. 



Charles Weber's place at Lynbrook 

 is known everywhere as "The Home of 

 Laura Weber." Anyone interested in 

 a good new carnation will find Laura 

 Weber here in all her glory. Mr. 

 Weber strongly advises growers 

 against the use of a certain adver- 

 tised special plant food which he be- 

 lieves to be responsible for a big loss 

 in split carnation blooms this sea-son. 



M. Matheron at Hempstead has a 

 very promising rival for carnation 

 Beacon which he has named Champion. 

 It is a tremendous grower and the 

 color is dazzling. 



Lord & Burnham houses seem to be 

 the rule in all the places above men- 

 tioned. 



Feb. 26, 1915. 

 Horticulture Publishing Company: 



Enclosed are two dollars in payment 

 for your very valuable paper. I find 

 its contents timely and instructive. 

 Sincerely, 

 Conn. C. S. 



