

254 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



December 22, 1904. 



and other crops were all coming along in 

 good shape. After an inspection of the 

 boiler plant an adjournment was made to 

 the packing shed, where an excellent 

 lunch was served by the Misses Nicholson, 

 to which the visitors did ample justice. 

 James Wheeler, on behalf of the club, 

 thanked Mr. Nicholson for his kind enter- 

 tainment and called for three cheers, 

 which were heartily given, followed by 

 the singing of "He's a jolly good fel- 

 low." 



S. J. Goddard* 



A few minutes' walk took the members 

 to S. J. Goddard's new establishment. 

 Here everything was found in apple pie 

 order. Mr. Goddard also operates an older 

 plant situated some two miles away from 

 his newer and more central location. Time 

 did not permit of a visit to it. Mr. God- 

 dard's new seedlings were greatly ad- 

 mired by all the visitors. Helen Goddard, 

 which attracted much favorable notice at 

 the late chrysanthemum show, was a 

 beautiful sight. The flowers are of a 

 clear, rose pink color, without the slight- 

 est trace of purple or magenta, stem and 

 calyx perfect. A bench of Mrs. Lawson 

 grown alongside looked dull and sour by 

 comparison. We predict great popularity 

 for this variety. Another seedling of a 

 warm flesh color, the color being even all 

 over the flower, is also bound to become 

 popular. Two pure white seedlings are 

 also under trial, also several of other col- 

 ors. 



Of the standard sorts, The Queen was 

 carrying a great crop. White Lawson 

 seemed free but a little lacking in stem. 

 Lady Bountiful carried some splendid 

 flowers. There was a good batch of Mari- 

 on Buxton, one of Geo. B. Buxton's 

 seedlings, a light pink variety. Fair Maid 

 and Enchantress are grown as light pinks. 

 Mrs. Patten as a striped sort and Harry 

 Fenn and J. H. Manley are the favorite 

 crimsons and scarlets respectively. For a 

 yellow. Mr, Goddard grows a bench of one 

 of his own seedlings, rather a coppery yel- 

 low shade with carmine markings. All 

 the carnations were in splendid condition. 

 A variety of other stock, such as lilies, 

 cyclamens, freesias, violets and primulas, 

 are grown here and at the older estab- 

 lishnient. 



An adjournment was made to Mr. God- 

 dard's house after the houses had been 

 inspected and ice cream and other refresh- 

 ments were served bv Mrs. Goddard and 



Mrs. Hale. A rather hurried rush for a 

 Boston car passing tho door prevented the 

 extension of thanks to Mr. and Mrs. God- 

 dard for their courtesies. Some of the 

 poorest sprinters had difficulty in get- 

 ting on the car, and some, we fear, were 

 left behind, but no doubt got home later. 

 After two collations in one afternoon it 

 is doubtful if the members could do cus- 

 tomary justice to their Saturday evening 

 beans and brown bread on reaching home. 



Among those in the party were Janirs 

 Wheeler, J. W. Duncan, Robert Cameron, 

 M. A. Patten, E. Sutermeister, W. Kid- 

 der, F. H. Meade, E. O. Orpet, Alex Ogg, 

 F. Drewett, W. E. Fischer, E. Johannson, 



F. White, Duncan Finlayson, W. Downs, 

 C. Sander, H. A. Stevens, J. McManus, 

 A. H. Fewkes, J. Rosonosky, W. C. Rust, 



G. M. Anderson, G. Holbrow and C. Wal- 

 ters. W. N. C. 



WILLIAM NICHOLSON. 



One of the best known florists' estab- 

 lishments in Massachusetts is that of 

 William Nicholson, at Framingham. The 

 proprietor is an Englishman by birth, 

 hailing from Windermere, in Westmore- 

 land, in the beautiful lake district, which 

 is one of the Meccas for Americans who 

 are touring the British Isles. 



Mr. Nicholson arrived in America on , 

 September 23, 1873, to take charge of 

 the estate of W. H. Mellen, of the firm 

 of Claflin, Mellen & Co., of New York. 

 He managed Mr. Mellen 's Framingham 

 property for fifteen years, growing among 

 other staples, cucumbers, tomatoes and 

 carnations. These were the days when 

 tomatoes netted fancy prices in winter, 

 occasionally bringing as much as $2.25 

 per pound in the Boston market. Cu- 

 cumbers also sold at prices calculated to 

 turn present day growers green with 

 envy. 



On Mr, Mellen 's death, in 1888, Mr. 

 Nicholson hired the plant for two years, 

 removing in 1890 to his present stand, 

 Pleasant Hill Conservatories. In his 

 first year he erected three houses, two 20x 

 100 and one 16x100, and has added to his 

 plant on various occasions until now it 

 is of quite large proportions. The car- 

 nations grown in 1890 included such old- 

 time favorites as Mrs. Fisher, Grace 

 Wilder, Astoria, Buttercup, Anna Webb, 

 F. Mangold, Hinze's White and Portia, 

 all good in their day but not comparable 



to Enchantress, Fair Maid, Roosevelt, 

 Patten and others of today. While carna- 

 tions have always been the leading speci- 

 alty at Pleasant Hill and have won many 

 prizes at the Boston shows, a general as- 

 sortment of other stock is grown. A good 

 deal is sold at home, the balance being 

 disposed of at the Park street market, Bos- 

 ton, of which Mr. Nicholson is one of the 

 directors. Since the inception of the Amer- 

 ican Carnation Society he has been one 

 of the strongest supporters. When the 

 society met in Boston in 1895 his name- 

 sake, Nicholson, a fine, dark pink vari- 

 ety, was well shown. Several years ago 

 he was elected to the presidency of the 

 society, which position he filled with 

 credit. 



Mr. Nicholson is an active member of 

 the S. A. F., C. S. A., American Rose 

 Society, Massachusetts Horticultural So- 

 ciety and Boston Gardeners' and Flor- 

 ists' Club. He is also prominent in Ma- 

 sonic circles. His eldest son, William R. 

 Nicholson, a stalwart who stands six 

 feet three inches, is associated with him 

 in the business and should make a worthy 

 successor to the subject of this brief 

 sketch when the latter decides that he has 

 earned a sufficient competency to enable 

 him to enjoy life more leisurely. We do 

 not imagine, however, that such a day 

 will ever come in a florist 's life, any 

 more than in that of our frenzied finan-' 

 ciers. W. N. Craig. 



THE FADELESS FLOWER. 



We are indebted to our esteemed con- 

 temporary, the New York Sun, for the 

 information that it is upon his thorn- 

 less cactus that Luther Burbank has de- 

 veloped his fadeless flower. Once upon 

 a time there was a saying, "If you see 

 it in the Sun it 's so. ' ' We hope it may 

 hold good in this case and shall wish that 

 the cactus flower may perfume the des- 

 ert air to ambrosial sweetness; but we 

 haven't any other use for everlastings, 

 except on women 's bonnets. 



SOCHETY OF AMERICAN FLORISTS 



On pages 99 and 100 of the proceed- 

 ings at St. Louis, Mo., the remarks 

 credited to William Dilger, of Detroit, 

 Mich., should have been credited to F. 

 P. Dilger, of Milwaukee, Wis. 



Wm. J. Stewart, Sec'y. 



Establishment of William Nicholson at Framingham, Mass. 



