July 5, 1906. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



399 



HENRY BRUCE BEATTY. 



Henry Bruce Beatty, the treasurer of 

 the Society of American Florists, is one 

 of those fortunate folk who follow flori- 

 culture purely for their personal predi- 

 lection toward the pursuit as a pastime. 

 Mr. Beatty is an oil man who turned 

 to natural gas as offering a field more 

 open to individual effort, ability and in- 

 dustry combining to place hini at the 

 head of the world 's largest exclusive gas 

 company, for he is, and has been for 

 some years, president of the Manufac- 

 turers ' Light and Heat Co., of Pittsburg. 

 He is a recognized authority on all ques- 

 tions concerning gas. 



Mr. Beatty was born August 16, 1857, 

 in Mercer county, Pennsylvania. He is 

 the second son of Ebenezer S. Beatty, a 

 pioneer in the oil business at Oil City. 

 He came of a Scotch family which came 

 to America by way of Ireland before the 

 Revolution and has the distinction of 

 having had a representative in every war 

 of the United States. After a careful 

 schooling Henry Bruce Beatty began 

 business life associated with his father 

 at Oil City. It was in 1879 that his 

 thoughts were first turned to natural gas, 

 then going to waste,- but capital was not 

 to be had until some years later. In 

 1881 he removed to Bradford, where he 

 bore a not inactive part in the exciting 

 days of the oil business, when specula- 

 tion was at its height. In 1889, in addi- 

 tion to oil interests in various fields, he 

 acquired an interest in the Pittsburg 

 corporation of which he in 1896 became 

 the head. At the later date its capital 

 was $600,000; today it is $25,000,000, 

 for Mr, Beatty has succeeded, by pur- 

 chase, merger or consolidation, in ac- 

 quiring thirty-five gas, water and elec- 

 tric companies, the stock of which is 

 owned by the Manufacturers' Light and 

 Heat Co. The ability with which these 

 operations have been carried on is per- 

 haps best shown by the fact that a re- 

 cent estimate put a premium of $4,810,- 

 000 on the properties controlled by him. 



In 1879 Mr. Beatty married Mary L. 

 Strong, the daughter of H. 0. Strong, 

 the well-known capitalist with whom, in 

 1887, he returned to Oil City and estab- 

 lished the Oakwood Kose Gardens, build- 

 ing and conducting what was at that 

 time the largest exclusive rose-growing 

 establishment in the United States. 

 Throwing the same energy into this that 

 he had put into his other activities he 

 sdon made it one of the famous places 

 of the day, and, indeed, there are not 

 now many places where a better grade of 

 stock is produced. Mr. Beatty is still the 

 secretary and treasurer of the Oakwood 

 company. In the years he devoted his 

 time to the florists' business he gained 

 a wide acquaintance in the trade and at 

 the S. A. F. convention at Atlantic City 

 in 1894, where Edwin Lonsdale was 

 elected president, Mr. Beatty became 

 treasurer, succeeding the late M. A. 

 Hunt. He is a never failing attend- 

 Bnt at the contention and the warmth 



with which he annually greets his old 

 friends shows the pleasure it affords 

 him to get back for a few days among 

 the associates of the period which he 

 frequently refers to as the best of his 

 busy life. So great is his popularity 

 that he has year after year been contin- 

 ued as treasurer and at Washington last 

 summer some of his friends insisted on 

 nominating him for the presidency in 

 spite of his earnest protests. 



Mr. Beatty has an interesting family 

 and a beautiful home at Pittsburg, with 

 a summer residence at Oil City. Both 

 dwellings are full of treasures of art 



that he is recognized as a strong factor 

 in the great financial and industrial inter- 

 ests of western Pennsylvania. 



LARGE OR SMALL BULBS. 



In forcing lilies, more especially 

 Harrisii, do the larger sizes of bulbs 

 force more easily? In the experiments 

 with ether for forcing purposes tried 

 at Cornell, were the bulbs dormant or 

 had growth commenced before the trial? 

 I have had trouble in getting my lilies 

 to bloom for Easter and thought perhaps 

 it might be caused by using the smaller 

 sizes of bulbs. M. E. 



For years we have used and advocated 

 the use of 5x7 Harrisii lily bulbs for 

 early forcing, those we wanted ta cut 

 from December 1 to February 1 prin- 

 cipally, because there was less waste in 

 using the flowers. If they were used 

 singly in designs there would be no 

 waste in a plant with five or six flow- 

 ers, because the single flower would be 

 cut as it developed, but the great ma- 



H. B. Beatty. 



(Treasurer Society of Amei-iciui Florists.) 



and literature, the collection of which 

 has been one of his chief pleasures. He is 

 a member of the American Bose Society 

 and of half a dozen clubs in Pittsburg 

 and Oil City. In all his relations, both 

 business and social, his quiet dignity, his 

 unassuming ways and substantial worth 

 impress favorably, aside from the fact 



jority of these early lilies are used in 

 bunches, or sprays as they are called, 

 and a plant with two open flowers and 

 one bud is very little waste and can be 

 more gracefully arranged. Yet I find 

 from observing the experience of a very 

 large firm, which makes a specialty of 

 lilies for Thanksgiving and the holidays, 



