

"a'"^^' 



^.^^^^ 



ff -THE ^Ns, 



THE FREESIA FAMILY 



AND ITS FORTUNES 



W/tew enumerating the evidences of recent progress in the florists' 

 trade, do not forget the freesia. As a culti/uated flower ii has had a 

 comparati/vely brief career, hut its improvement in so short a period 

 ha^ been remarkable. And its advance is only one of the symptoms 

 of the general advance in the trade. 



HOUGH not so staple a 

 product as is the rose or 

 carnation or chrysanthe- 

 mum, yet the freesia is in 

 some respects a typical 

 florists' flower. Not only 

 is it typical, or truly rep- 

 resentative of florists ' 

 stock in general, but it 

 serves especially well to 

 exemplify or illustrate certain trade 

 principles, on account of the brevity and 

 distinctness of its history. It clearly 

 illustrates a trio of important practical 

 truths. 



A Trio of Trutlis. 



In the first place, its rapid improve- 

 ment in quality demonstrates that the 

 trade is animated by a spirit of prog- 

 ress. The men who, as a body, have 

 performed such wonders with the free- 

 sia have thus shown unmistakable signs 

 of life. They are not somnolent; they 

 are not afSicted with suspended anima- 

 tion; they are not in need of a pulmo- 

 tor. They are not 

 Rip Van Winkles. 

 There is real en- 

 couragement and in- 

 spiration in that 

 fact. 



But, coming to 

 the second truth in 

 the trio, the career 

 of the freesia also 

 draws attention to 

 the sobering and 

 admonitory fact 

 that a flower's pop- 

 ularity depends 

 largely — principally, 

 shall we sayf — on 

 th e maintenance 

 and improvement 

 of the flower's qual- 

 ity. If any grow- 

 ers fear that their 

 favorite flower is in 

 danger of eclipse, 

 let them get busy 

 and accomplish such 

 feats as have been 

 accomplished with 

 the freesia. O f 

 course, many grow- 

 ers are doing so, be- 

 sides the freesia 

 growers. The free- 

 sia is not alone in 

 its glory; it is sim- 

 ply a conspicuous 

 example of success. 



Again, the meth- 

 od or order that has 



been followed in the improvement of 

 the freesia — ^first the perfecting of the 

 flower in its original color, a so-called 

 white, and then the addition of varie- 

 ties in other colors — may contain help- 

 ful hints for the growers of other flow- 

 ers. So much for the trio of truths, 

 with their encouragement, warning and 

 guidance. 



Its Family BelatlonsMps. 



Something has just been said about 

 the freesia not being alone in its glory. 

 In one respect, however, the freesia may 

 be said to have been notable in its 

 early history for its lonesome, kinless 

 seclusion. According to the best ob- 

 tainable botanical authority, the freesia 

 family — or genus, to be precise — as na- 

 ture gave it to us, consisted of only one 

 species, F. refracta. The irregularly 

 formed, dimly colored, neglected little 

 F. refracta is said to have been the pro- 

 genitor of the entire modern race of free- 

 sia beauties — a bevy of dazzling belles 

 from plain, unfashionable ancestry. 



This Vase of Rainbow Freesia Showed Many Distinct Colors. 



But in a broader sense the freesia, 

 since the beginning of its history, has 

 had hosts of distinguished relatives. Its 

 family, or genus, is a member of the 

 iridacese, the same great order or group 

 of genera to which the iris and gladio- 

 lus also belong. The word "iris," you 

 know, means "rainbow," or "rainbow- 

 cclored, " and it might here be noted 

 that a certain successful experimenter 

 with freesias is now introducing a 

 strain of flowers which he has called 

 the Rainbow freesias, with even more 

 of a striking appropriateness in the 

 name than is apparent at first thought. 



Work of Fischer and Frey. 



It is strange that the humble, dull- 

 hued, patchy-white F. refracta con- 

 tained the potent germ of all the beau- 

 ty that has been developed in the mod- 

 ern freesias — in the clear white of 

 Fischer's Purity, and in the rich and 

 varied tints of Fischer's and Frey 'a 

 latest offerings. Great credit is due, 

 of course, to Fischer, Frey and others, 

 but all the beauty 

 was there, wrapped 

 up in the unprom- 

 ising F. refracta — 

 all the beauty un- 

 folded in the best 

 present varieties 

 and the still great- 

 er beauty to be re- 

 vealed in the free- 

 sias of the future. 

 Let us glance a 

 little more closely 

 at one or two of the 

 details of the free- 

 sia's history. 

 Though the flower, 

 a native of South 

 Africa, has been in 

 cultivation since 

 1816 or thereabouts, 

 it received little at- 

 tention until a quar- 

 ter of a century 

 ago. As already 

 intimated, the first 

 effort was to pro- 

 duce an improved 

 white freesia, a 

 purer white and of 

 better form than 

 the old F. refracta. 

 The first note- 

 worthy result of 

 this effort was the 

 arrival of F. re- 

 fracta alba — not 

 white enough to be 

 true to its name. 



