r- ■-.t'VJ , . 



->»^i4Mn||||i:'^^'".ii" 



^U'_. j^,^ 



CHARLES WILLIS WARD'S 

 WESTERN WORK 



Charles Willis Ward has less need for money than most of us, hut 

 salabUity is Ward's measure of value; consequently the unique establish- 

 ment he is creating on the shore of the Pacific is planned on modern commer- 

 cial lines and its ability to make its oum way will be the demonstration of 

 its success. . ► , 



HERE is reason to question 

 if any man who imported 

 forcing stock^ last season 

 did better than change 

 his old dollar for a new 

 one. Perhaps it is this 

 that has created such 

 marked interest in the 

 western work of Charles 

 Willis Ward, frequently 

 the subject of fragmentary notes in 

 The Review, although it may be that 

 the man's virile character would create 

 comment concerning a less unusual un- 

 dertaking. 



But Ward is. starting to supply from 

 the Pacific coast the stock for which 

 we heretofore have relied on Belgium, 

 Holland and Japan. 



Wliat a Sick Maa Does. 



Here is a man starting a large, exact- 

 ing and, to a certain extent, untried 

 business at the age most workers are 

 ready to retire. Next year Mr. Ward 

 will be 60, for he was born in a Mich- 

 igan lumber camp in 1857. As a matter 

 of fact he has retired twice, but he is 

 a difficult person to keep on the shelf. 

 The first time he stopped work his 

 play developed the Cottage Gardens at 

 Queens, N. Y., and made the place 

 widely famous for the carnation seed- 

 lings he raised there. 



The second time the doctors put him 

 on the invalid list he was summoned to 

 Eureka, Cal., to defend his rights to 

 timber lands that were a part of his 

 father's estate. 



The New Start. 



Today he is as well as at any time in 

 his life and the Cottage Gardens Nur- 

 series have evolved from his renewed 

 energy. Adopting the characteristic 

 Californian view, he says the wonder- 

 ful climate cured him, but a scientist 

 might aver he became so engrossed in 



winning his lawsuit and in developing 

 the wonderful institution his prophetic 

 vision saw that he forgot his aches and 

 pains. At any rate, he never was 

 busier. 

 Resolved to make Eureka his home 



Charles Willis Ward. 



and possessed of a never satiated de- 

 sire to see things grow, Mr. Ward 's first 

 step was a series of experiments in 

 plant culture to determine the possi- 



bilities of Humboldt county soil and 

 climate. 



The Cottage Gardens Nurserle& 



From this came a corporation of 

 which Mr. Ward is president and gen- 

 eral manager, S. E. Bergstrom secre- 

 tary-treasurer and K. Nyeland superin- 

 tendent, owner of a 220-acre farm at 

 Carlotta, a splendidly equipped nursery 

 at Eden, just outside of Eureka, and a 

 range of retail greenhouses on C street. 

 All the stump land at the nursery has 

 been blasted and is being rapidly 

 cleared; tens of thousands of ornamen- 

 tal plants in scores of varieties have 

 been shipped in and planted for grow- 

 ing on into specimens. Great quanti- 

 ties of Dutch, French and Japanese 

 bulbs have been secured for propaga- 

 tion and Humboldt county has gained 

 a live business which, bids fair to be- 

 come a great establishment, shipping 

 a large output to all parts of the 

 American continent. 



An Expert's Opinion. 



When David Fairchild, of the U. S. 

 Department of Agriculture, inspected 

 the government enterprises on the coast 

 in August, especially the bulb-growing 

 work at Bellingham, he paid Mr. Ward 

 a visit. After going into the matter 

 thoroughly, he said he believed it quite 

 possible this will prove the best soil 

 and climate in America for the cultiva- 

 tion of Dutch bulbs and that it may 

 quite conceivably become the bulb cen- 

 ter of the world. 



So well have bulbs done at the Eden 

 nursery that Mr. Ward went up to 

 Victoria, B. C, a few weeks ago and 

 bought the entire stock of the Holland 

 Bulb Farm, on which W. J. Van Aalst 

 had made more than a local reputation. 

 The stock consists of 1,500,000 bulbs, 

 which are now being moved down and 

 replanted at Eden. In addition, quan- 



A General View of the Cottage Gardens Nurseries as the Establishment Appears Two Years After its Inception. 



^kf-.*.-..'Z.^«;A>, ■ v.-'-- - _ :i :>: ^nvt:^ 



