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HORTICULTUEE 



December 14, 1912 



A VISIT TO WELLS'. 



In a quaint little village known as 

 Merstham are the far-famed nurseriefj 

 of our old friend, William Wells. Wil- 

 liam (we speak of the father, for 

 there is a William the son), is not 

 unknown to enthusiastic "Mummers" 

 on the other side of the Atlantic and 

 those of our readers who have made 

 his acquaintance need no introduction 

 to him or description of his plain, 

 sturdy, John Bull-like straightforward- 

 ness and honesty of purpose. He is a 

 typical Britisher of the gardening 

 type, no fuss, no nonsense, no make- 

 believe, but just himself, and no 

 otlier. William knows something 

 about chrysanthemums. He knows 

 how to raise them, how to import 

 them, how to grow and show them and 

 probably how to sell them. Thafs 

 his business; ours is only to write 

 about them. So once again on a pleas- 

 ant October morning we set forth to 

 visit his place and see the novelties 

 of the season before they are placed 

 before the public at the big shows 

 where "Mummers" most do congre- 

 gate. Long experience has shown us 

 that if we want to do serious, critical 

 work, to go round a nursery by one's- 

 self, accompanied by a guide such as 

 William, is the only satisfactory waj 

 to do it. To try to do it at a show is 

 to court, if not failure only a partial 

 success, for hand-shaking and gossip 

 are there too frequently in the ascend- 

 ant. 



The big show house at Merstham is 

 a double span, 120 by 50 feet, in which 

 the gems of the collection are shel- 

 tered from the variable weather we 

 are justified in expecting between the 

 time of pheasant shooting and the 

 close of the chrysanthemum season. 

 Our readers must not assume that is 

 the only house; we pass one after the 

 other low-pitched houses containing 

 earlies. decoratives, late stuff for cut- 

 ting and also singles in which there 

 seems to be quite a boom in these 

 latter days. Fancy the old-time florist 

 looking at singles! Why, a quarter 

 of a century ago he and his colleagues 

 would have pitched the whole lot on 

 the dunghill. Time changes all things. 

 But we of the old school instinctively 

 give precedence to the big show 

 blooms and we are ushered into the 

 glass structure aforesaid, there to 

 feast our eyes to our hearts' content 

 on the gems of the collection for 

 show. 



In one-half of the house the big 

 bloom plants are arranged. Some of 

 the varieties, of course, are not new 

 seedlings, but have been grovv'n one 

 er two seasons. We notice Japanese 

 are almost wholly those on view — 

 substantial blooms of dimensions 

 needed on the show board. Some 

 have already made their name; others 

 have yet fo do so. H. E. Converse 

 strikes us as a beauty — long, spread- 

 ing florets, twisted and curly at the 

 tips. Mrs. R. Sutford is one of the rich- 

 est and biggest of crimsons. Lenox is a 

 big Jap., deep in build, a close, com- 

 pact flower — color pure canary with 

 silvery yellow reverse. Queen Mary 

 is a new white, a colossal show Jap. 

 of premier quality. Mr. J. H. Cocken is a 

 rich pure golden yellow and although 

 a Jap. has medium twisted florets, 

 curly at the tips with reverse lather 

 paler. Frank Payne, a huge show 

 Jap. of the drooping petalled type is 

 most delicate in color, pale rosy blush. 



A GIANT CHRYSANTHEMUM 



The photograph from which the ac- 

 companying picture was reproduced 

 comes from Denver, Colo., and the 

 grower of the plant Illustrated was 

 Wm. E. Keith, an old-time Bostonian, 



now with the Park Floral Co. The 

 plant carried S15 blooms and, although 

 not a trained plant, was really a well- 

 giown and symmetrical specimen. The 

 variety is Georgiana Pitcher. 



In yellow along the same bank of 

 bloom we see some grand Lady Tal- 

 bot, Countess Granard. Mrs. L. 

 Thorn, and several others. By way 

 of a change we come across an in- 

 curved of American origin. Golden 

 King, a lovely shade of rich golden 

 yellow like our old variety, Jardin des 

 Plantes. Pockett's White Australian 

 is another big one. It has rather nar- 

 row florets, which are long, drooping 

 and twisted and will make up a flower 

 of great depth. For color E. J. Brooks, 

 Gertrude Peers, a rosy crimson, Mrs. 

 R. A. Witty, rich crimson and gold, 

 want beating. An immense Jap. is 

 Antigone, milky white, a perfect glob- 

 ular mass of closely intermingling 

 florets. A grand thing is Mrs. G. 

 Lloyd Wigg, recently certificated. The 

 florets are pale canary of enormous 

 length, drooping and curly, and the 

 flower as shown is almost like a 

 shower bouquet. 



Under the other span of this house 

 are set up the collection of show 

 singles. Mrs. W. Garner, Mrs. T. Gil- 

 ben, Edith Pagram and a whole host 

 of others. We leave this house and 

 close by we see the ground where 

 30,000 lifted plants for stock have 

 been growing till recently comprising 

 the most useful of the Japs., me 

 decoratives, the singles and the earl- 

 ies. Another house contains Pompons 

 and Anemone-flowered varieties that 

 have almost gone out of fashion, and 

 for which there is still a little sale. 

 The house adjoining contains singles 

 for cuttings in which a large trade is 

 now being done by all our specialists. 



One of the results of William Wells' 

 visit to America may be seen in the 

 erection of two new lofty houses for 

 carnation culture on the American 

 plan. In one he has on the bench 

 system 3,400 plants; in the other 3,000. 

 There are many other houses and 

 frames and pits full of material for 

 turning into money, but we are in- 

 vited to go round the turn of the road 

 to a recently acquired piece of land 

 where our friend, aided by the efforts 



of his sons,' has somewhat extended 

 the sphere of operations. Planted out 

 on this ground is the hardy herbace- 

 ous collection, roses and specially 

 Michaelmas daisies which were mak- 

 ing a grand display of color. The en- 

 tire collection of early outdoor chrys- 

 anthemums are grown in long rows 

 in alphabetical order. 



We could have said much more, but 

 our task is done and yet only half 

 done, if we have failed to impress our 

 American readers with the necessity 

 of paying a visit to this eminent grow- 

 ers' place next time they happen to 

 be in old England during the autumn 

 season. C. HARMAN PAYNE. 



OBITUARY. 

 Dr. William A. Buckhout. 



Dr. William A. Buckhout, Professor 

 of Botany and the senior professor 

 at the Pennsylvania State College, 

 died of heart disease on Tuesday, De- 

 cember 3, 1912. 



Dr. Buckhout was born December, 

 1846. and graduated from the Pennsyl- 

 vania State College in 1868. In 1871 

 he became Professor of Botany and 

 Horticulture in this college. In the 

 changes brought about in agricultural 

 sciences during recent years he be- 

 came Professor of Botany. For many 

 years he was Botanist of the Pennsyl- 

 vania State Board of Agriculture. In 

 1888 he was appointed to the Pennsyl- 

 vania State Forestry Commission and 

 was a prime mover in the state In 

 creating and taking an active interest 

 in Forestry. He was a Fellow of the 

 American Association for tlie Ad- 

 vancement of Science. He was author 

 of papers such as "The Chestnut as 

 a Fruit and Food," "The Effect of 

 Smoke and Gas on Vegetation," "A 

 Microscopic Examination of State Col- 

 lege Water Supply," "Forest Fires," 

 and others, with annual reports as 

 State Botanist. The people of Penn- 

 sylvania will join his family in mourn- 

 ing his death. 



