406 



HORTICULTURE 



November 8, 1919 



VISIT TO PENNSYLVANIA GROWER 

 Many Houses Inspected by the Lancas- 

 ter County Florists' Association 

 Thursday, Oct. :)0th, opened up 

 threatening rain and no prospect of 

 that lost art, "seeing the sun," but In 

 spite of this we gathered at the home 

 of President Elmer Weaver via trol- 

 ley and automobile and after seeing 

 that all were provided with accommo- 

 dations the start was made to West 

 Grove, Chester County, picking up 

 members and machines along the route 

 until we numbered 48 at our last stop. 

 Christiana. 



Christiana is the home of M. J. Lirin- 

 ton, our Lancaster County lily king, 

 and we spent a short time looking over 

 his place, but found many of the lily 

 houses empty as bulbs were not to be 

 had to fill them. They will be filled up 

 as fast as possible with narcissus, 

 freesias and other bulbs, as well as 

 lilies, the latter of which are beginning 

 to come in. The carnation range is 

 filled In good shape and has part of 

 the space taken up with stevia, snap- 

 dragon and chrysanthemums. 



The Conard & Jones place was our 

 next destination and a full hour was 

 epent inspecting what was new to 

 many of our party — house after house 

 filled with mall order stock, stock that 

 will pay dividends to the buyer, and 

 sent out under a system that makes 

 errors of rare occurrence, all of which 

 accounts in part for the large trade 

 built up in this line. 



With Antone Wintzer connected 

 with the firm one of course expects to 

 see cannas and we were not disap- 

 pointed, the large number in the fields 

 were about over their beauty, although 

 they were still presentable, but a num- 

 ber of his seedlings were in boxes in- 

 side, and they plainly show his un- 

 tiring effort and great skill in hybridiz- 

 ing. There were some twenty or more, 

 all good, but among- them are several 

 that will make the name of Wintzer 

 revered for generations to come. 



Robert Pyle is of course the founda- 

 tion head of this business and has an 

 organization he can be almost as 

 proud of as Mr. Wintzer can of his 

 cannas. It was through Mr. Pyle that 

 we were invited to make this trip as a 

 delegation and for the remainder of 

 the day he was our host with the as- 

 sistance of Mr. Yeatman and Mr. 

 Carey. 



They piloted us to the immense new 

 house built by the Richards Bros. 

 This is in its second year and is filled 

 with the best carnation plants we 

 have seen this season, showing that a 

 new house and new soil will produce 

 results that the man with an older 

 house and soil that has been growing 

 carnations for a number of years can- 

 not obtain, unless his place is big 

 enough that he can get soil that is 

 practically virgin for each season. 



Howard Thompson's was next in 

 line and here carnations were just a 

 trifle behind the Richards Bros. Vieing 

 with the greenhouses as an attraction 

 to our party was the fine old Chester 

 County homestead, making a perfect 

 picture on the side of the hill. 



Lawrence Thompson's had the usual 

 number of carnation houses, a few 

 bouses of sweet peas and mushroom 

 houses galore, all of which promise a 

 revenue for the coming winter, with 

 the mushrooms about 30 laps ahead of 

 the greenhouses at the present time. 



One of the lasting impressions of 

 this trip will be the few varieties of 

 carnations that are grown in Chester 

 County. Of the places we visited 

 Matchless, Mrs. C. W. Ward, Benora, 

 Aviator and a few Sagamore were the 

 list. In my boyhood days I remember 

 a trip through this same section when 

 from twelve to twenty varieties of 

 carnation were to be found growing 

 on a moderate sized place. Now one 

 sees whole houses of one or two of the 

 above varieties, showing the commer- 

 cial trend of this business. 



It was now getting close to one 

 o'clock and appetites were keen, so a 

 quick run was made to Kennett 

 Square and 72 of us lined up for dinner 

 at the hotel, our 48 as guests of the 

 Chester County Florists' Club. We 

 also had with us Mr. and Mrs. S. S. 

 Pennock, Mr. Arthur Niessen and 

 Messrs. Dennis Connor and Bates of 

 the Lord & Burnham Co. 



Grouped at round tables with a 

 Chester County man or two to each, 

 the dinner became a social event. 

 After the coffee Mr. Robert Pyle acted 

 as toastmaster, proving himself no 

 novice in this position; after welcom- 

 ing us as their guests in a manner 

 that left no guess as to its sincerity, 

 he called on Mrs. Albert M. Heir for a 

 few remarks as a representative of 

 the Ladies' Auxiliary. She in a few 

 pleasant words gave our appreciation 

 of the hospitality shown and asked 

 every one present to boost the S. A. 



P. & O. H. convention for Baltimore In 

 1921. Mr M. J. Brinton, in his usual 

 eloquent style voiced the sentiments 

 of the men of our association, and 

 short addresses were given by Messrs. 

 Arthur Niessen, Elmer Weaver and S. 

 S. Pennock followed by Mr. Wilkinson 

 who bade us Godspeed for the Chester 

 County Club. 



Before leaving Kennett Square we 

 visited the establishments of Wm. 

 Swayne, who has the largest assort- 

 ment of chrysanthemums in the state 

 and whose houses are always a treat 

 to lovers of this flower at this particu- 

 lar season of the year. A house of 

 radishes planted between his snap- 

 dragons as a catch crop shows that 

 greenhouse room has some value in 

 his estimation. 



Yeatman & Way had a wonderful 

 house of tomatoes heavily set with 

 fruit and the foliage good and healthy, 

 top to bottom. They also grow sweet 

 peas and mushrooms in quantity, a 

 number of new hollow tile houses be- 

 ing added to their already large space 

 given to mushrooms. Mr. T. K. Lar- 

 kins is in the same line of business and 

 as he is a member of the State Senate 

 and has to spend considerable time in 

 Harrisburg he has adopted a unique 

 way of handling his establishment by 

 giving 50 per cent of the net return* 

 to his employees, instead of the usual 

 weekly wage, and retains the other 50 

 per cent for running expenses and his 

 own end of the business. This worked 

 out very well last season. 



Turning on our tracks we went back 

 to Brandywine Summit and visited the 

 establishment of the Harvey's. Here 

 we found the old houses torn down 

 and replaced with modern structures 

 along the lines of their large house 

 built several years back for sweet 

 peas. Everything now is planted to 

 roses and they will have 46,000 bloom- 

 ing plants this winter. Not having 

 seen any other rose establishments for 

 comparison we can not say that they 

 are the best in the country, but there 

 certainly could not be any much bet- 

 ter; they are timed for a heavy holi- 

 day crop and unless I miss my guess 

 the cut this season will run beyond the 

 800,000 they cut last winter. 



Darkness prevented us from visiting 

 any other establishments and the run 

 home was made in good time, every 

 one well pleased with the trip and 

 ready to give three cheers and a tiger 

 for the Chester County Club. 



AI.BERT M. Hkbk. 



