FUBBDABY 6, 1919. 



The Florists' Review 



99 



A Story for Flower Lovers 



A description of the Flower Plantation of Willis E. Fryer, 

 one of Minnesota's best known flower gfrowers. 



|0 one who knows much about 

 the horticulturists of Minne- 

 sota will dispute the right 

 of Mr. Willis E. Fryer, of 

 Mantorville, to the title: 

 "King of Flower Growers 

 of the State." Of all the 

 outdoor flower enthusiasts that I know 

 of in this part of the world, Mr. Fryer 

 has brought together and compared the 

 merits of more phlox, iris, gladioli, 

 dahlias and peonies and such other 

 perennial flowers than any other man 

 of my acquaintance. He has not done 

 this merely as the whim and fancy of a 

 rich man, but has managed to do it so 

 as to make them bring a profit. 



Phlox -wltb a Future. 



I had made up my mind this year that, 

 come what might, I would take a day in 

 iris season and again in phlox season to 

 improve my. education in the new and 

 old things in these lines, by making a 

 visit to the Fryer establishment. But 

 when every day as you reach it is full 

 of new work, it is hard to get the time 

 and abide by it. And so I found the 

 thirteenth of June, 1916. I had to make 

 two close connections to make the sixty 

 miles and back in one day, getting up 

 in the small hours of the morning. And 

 when I Woke up it was about to rain 

 and my wife said, "What's the use!" 

 I thought so myself, but if you make 

 plans and don't live up to them you 

 never get anywhere, and so I made my- 

 self go. 



I have never in my life seen a more 

 interesting plot of flowers than Mr. 

 Fryer's patch of seedling iris in full 



WILLIS E. FRYER, 



By CLARENCE WEDGE 



Phlox Mrs. W. E. Fryer. 



bloom June 13. No show of named va- 

 rieties that I have ever seen together 

 could begin to compare with it. 



As I took my first view within the 

 shelter of young evergreens that en- 

 closed it, the first thing that caught my 

 eye, towering above all, was the stately 

 variety that he has named for his wife, 

 Mrs. Willis E. Fryer. It is a flower of 

 the largest size, carried on strong stems 

 thirty-four inches high, the standards 

 of very light blue, giving at a distance 

 the impression of white, the falls of the 

 richest purple, veined at the base and 

 bordered or shaded at the edge with a 



lighter purple. The health and vigor of 

 the plant gives every promise of put- 

 ting this variety among the really use- 

 ful sorts for general planting. I do not 

 recall any of the standard varieties of 

 its color equal to it. If Mr. Fryer had 

 accomplished nothing more in all his 

 experiments with the iris in the past 

 twenty years than the production of this 

 one variety, it would Tiave been well 

 worth his time. 



He has named two varieties after his 

 children, W. J. and Kathryn Fryer, that 

 may prove to be the most valuable of all 

 his seedlings. They are both yellows of 

 the largest size — the standards not quite 

 so rich as the Honorabilis, but fully dou- 

 ble the size and carried higher up, with 

 falls of the deepest, velvety mahogany 

 bordered with yellow. A bouquet of 

 either one of them would cause a sensa- 

 tion anywhere they might be exhibited, 



"Red" Irises! 



I have sometimes had inquiries for » 

 red iris, which is so far from the natural 

 color of this flower that it would seem ' 

 like trifling with descriptive terms to 

 suggest the possibility of there being 

 any such thing. However, we found 

 among Mr. Fryer's seedling coUectiom 

 two or three varieties of rich mahogmasy 

 red that it would be hard to describe 

 without some mention of red. It is im- 

 possible to give anything like an ade- 

 quate idea of the richness and beauty of 

 this collection of hundreds of seedlings, 

 so diverse and interesting that it re- 

 quires more than one visit to properly 

 place the many good things that de- 

 mand our attention. 



Mention The Bevlew when yon write. 



Mantorville^ Minnesota 



Timely Topics. 



The first speaker of the session was 

 Charles Adams, of Springfield, whose 

 subject was "Transportation," which 

 brought out some discussion. Transpor- 

 tation conditions were said to be stead- 

 ily improving. 



F. S. Baker, of Cheshire, Conn., for- 

 mally opened the debate on the new 

 quarantine regulations. W. H. Wyman 

 handled the Federal Horticultural 

 Board without gloves, as, in fact, did all 

 succeeding speakers. Mr. Wyman said 

 the action of the board was arbitrary 

 in the extreme. He criticised the at- 

 titude of the board in failing to con- 

 sider the position of the nurserymen as 

 affected by this ruling. He said that 

 the most recently introduced pest, the 

 corn borer, did not come on any plants 

 or nursery stock, but on jute, hemp or 

 rope. He compared the method of deal- 

 ing with this problem with that of the 

 man who thought there might be fleas 

 on his dog and therefore killed the dog. 

 He risked every one to demand the re- 

 peal of this injurious measure. 



Curtis Nye Smith, counsel for the 

 American Association of Nurserymen 

 and the American Seed Trade Associa- 

 tion, said the board went beyond the 

 authority vested in it in making this 



A Bargain Offer of 



California Privet 



A lot of 400,000 plants of the general character shown im 

 the engraving. They are exceptionally well rooted, were eut 

 back twice, have many branches and are clean and bright, boit 

 as they were cut back late in the season, did not make tke^ 

 usual growth of top. They will grow well and make beauti- 

 ful hedges. 



Price, $8.00 per 1000; or $7.50 per lOOO In car lot*. 



No order accepted for less than 1000. 



J. T. Lovett, Inc., Little Silver, N. J. 



ruling; that, moreover, the measure as- 

 sumed that every country except our 

 own harbored dangerous pests. It was 

 up to the board to prove that such pests 

 exist. J. Horace McFarland strongly 

 condemned the quarantine. Peter F. 

 Koster spoke of conditions in Europe, 

 particularly in Holland and Belgium. 

 He stated that certain interested nurs- 

 erymen here insisted on rose and fruit 

 tree stocks being allowed to come in, 

 as they are urgently needed. Mr. Kos- 

 ter said Europe is short of these and 

 European growers will not ship such 

 stocks to anyone here unless other 



goods were ordered and admitted alone 

 with them. After addresses from J. 

 Edward Moon, Robert Pyle, Messrs. 

 Ruck, Kelly and others, it was unani- 

 mously voted to appoint a committee 

 to draw up resolutions. The president 

 appointed W. H. Wyman, Curtis Nye 

 Smith and Mr. Evans on this commit- 

 tee. Their report, strongly condemning 

 the quarantine, subsequently waa 

 adopted. 



Curtis Nye Smith spoke on new lawe 

 affecting nurserymen and E. F. Boek- 

 well, of New York, made an interest- 

 ing address on "Market Development," 



