June 14, 1917. 



The Florists^ Review 



21 



varieties, like ceerulea, Skinneri, chry- 

 santha, Haylodgensis and glandulosa, 

 with a wide range of colors, make the 

 finest garden plants. Of these chry- 

 santha and its hybrids prove the hardi- 

 est. Some of the other long-spurred 

 varieties are better if treated as bien- 

 nials rather than as true perennials. 

 Spring-sown seed gives the best plants 

 for fall planting, but there still is ample 

 time to make a sowing of this most sat- 

 isfactory and attractive hardy border 

 plant. 



Digitalis, or Foxgloves. 



Where strong flowering plants are 

 wanted of digitalis, or foxgloves, the 

 present is a suitable time to make a lib- 

 oral sowing of seeds. Sow the seeds in 

 a coldframe, cover them lightly, water 

 them carefully and shade until they 

 have germinated. Careful watering in 

 the early stages of growth is necessary, 

 as the little seedlings damp off easily. 

 Good varieties of foxgloves to sow are 

 Ivory's Spotted and gloxiniaeflora. 

 While foxgloves are usually treated as 

 biennials, they are much finer if carried 

 over a third season, when they make 

 big, handsome clumps. 



BALTIMORE. 



John Cook, Veteran Rosarian. 



[This is the first installment of Tate's story 

 of the life and achievements of John Cook, of 

 Haltimore, famous as a producer of new varie- 

 ties of roses. The second will appear in an 

 early issue.] 



My long delayed visit to our friend 

 John Cook has been made, for Saturday 

 I spent a mighty pleasant afternoon 

 with him. Now, this is the first time I 

 had seen him in almost twenty years. 

 He is now 84 years of age, yet I found 

 him hale and hearty and able to superin- 

 tend his fine place. Although the great- 

 er part of the management falls to his 

 two sons, he is a mighty good man to 

 have about in an advisory capacity. 



Bom in Germany. 



But here I am running ahead of my 

 story. Let us begin at the beginning of 

 the life of the man who has done as 

 much to put Baltimore on the map as 

 any other son she may have. For wher- 

 ever Eadiance, My Maryland, Francis 

 Scott Key and Baltimore, itself, are 

 grown, and there is no corner of the 

 United States or Canada where they are 

 not, any one of these varieties suggests 

 the metropolis of the south. 



It was in the little town of Freiburg, 

 on the Ehine, that John Cook first saw 

 the light of day in 1833. At the age of 

 14 his education (that is, the part he 

 acquired in school, for he told me Satur- 

 day that it is still going on) came to an 

 end and he started to learn the flo- 

 rists' business. Now, instead of being 

 paid for his labors, he was obliged to 

 pay for the opportunity to learn the 

 trade. So after serving his three years 

 he spent tliree years in the nursery 

 business. This brought hinl to the age 

 where he was eligible for compulsory 

 military duty and so, like many more of 

 his countrymen, he turned his back on 

 the land that had given him birth to be- 

 gin a new life in a new land. 



His First Baltimore Position. 



It was in 1853 that this German boy, 

 20 years of age, with no assets but a 

 rugged constitution and a thorougli 

 knowledge of the florists' and nursery 

 business, landed in New York and se- 

 cured a position with David Clark, of 



John Cook. 



that city, with whom he stayed about a 

 year. 



Then he drifted to Baltimore. Now, 

 in those days Eobert J. Halliday's es- 

 tablishment on Pennsylvania avenue 

 was a sort of training school for young 

 gardeners coming to this country. So 

 it was natural that John Cook, in our 

 city without work and with only a poor 

 command of the language, should find 

 in this old Scotchman a friend. As we 

 talked over the past and Mr. Cook was 

 telling me what a taskmaster liis em- 

 ployer was, he said that in all of his 

 84 years he had never found a truer 

 friend than Eobert J. Halliday. 



It was not long before. Mr. Halliday 

 found out the ability of the young Ger- 

 man, to whom he was paying the prince- 

 ly sum of $10 per month and his board, 

 and one day he told him: "Jolui, I am 

 not able to pay you what you are wortli, 

 but when the right man comes along I 

 am going to put you on a private 

 place. ■ ' 



Cook saw some of his fellow-employ- 

 ees go out to now positions and was be- 

 ginning to tliink he was forgotten. But 

 one day J. Howard McHenry, a man of 

 unlimited means and refined tastes, who 

 was about to erect some new conserva- 

 tories to cost about $10,000, a big sum 

 in those days, wanted a gardener who 

 could superintend tlie construction and 

 stocking of tliem and asked Mr. Halli- 

 day if he had such a man. He was told 

 he had. John Cook was called into the 

 office. Ho was then 22 years of age. 

 As Mr. McHenry looked him over he 

 said: "Wliy, Mr. Halliday, I want a 

 man of some experience, not a boy." 



I imagine I can see him now in his 

 broadclotli coat and his long pointed 

 stock collar as he replied: "Mr. Mc- 



Henry, you asked me to recommend you 

 a gardener. Knowing just what you 

 want and just what will be required of 

 him, if I did not know that this young 

 man would prove satisfactory in every 

 respect I would not recommend him." 



Well, Mr. Cook was engaged at $25 

 per month. But when he went to the 

 office after his -money, and the money to 

 pay his assistants, Mr. McHenry gave 

 him $35 instead of the $25 he had been 

 engaged for. This place is still one of 

 the show places about Baltimore. 



His next place wns with W. F. Frick, 

 whose fine estate passed to his daugh- 

 ter, who was the wife of Eobert Garrett, 

 president of tlie B. & O. E. E., and again 

 Mr. Cook was givt'ii carte blanche to 

 make this one of the finest places about 

 tlie city. Upland grounds stand today a 

 monument to tlie skill and ability of 

 John Cook. 



Hillside a Labor of Love. 



But across Edmondson avenue was a 

 tract of about thirty acres that attract- 

 ed Mr. Cook's attention because it was 

 hilly. This brings us to Hillside, the 

 liome and range of John Cook today. 

 But before we talk about the commer- 

 cial end, let us look for a few moments 

 at the part whir-li is about liis homo. As 

 you sit on the porch and look over the 

 well-kept lawn, with its fine specimens 

 of trees of various kinds of hardwood — 

 most of tliem there before the owner — 

 fine, stately evergreens and a well- 

 curved drive, you cannot help but real- 

 ize that there is somotliiiig more than 

 the skill and ability of the landscape 

 gardener here displayed — the genuine 

 affection of tlio man who is building a 

 home for those he loves best. As he sits 



