Januabt 10, 1907. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



539 



THE MEN 



WE MEET 



t 



ANTOINE WINTZER. 



Antoine Wintzer's father emigrated to 

 America in the year 1854. He brought 

 \vith him all his family except the eldest 

 sion, who was then an active participant 

 in the Crimean war. His father was a 

 pyofessional gardener and soon obtained 

 a good position after landing at New 

 York. Antoine was 6 years old when 

 tbey arrived, and between the years 1854 

 apd 1862 he attended the public schools, 

 roost of the time at Flushing, N. Y., 

 where his father had moved in 1857. In 

 March, 1862, when he was 15 years old, 

 he entered the Parsons establishment as 

 an apprentice. At this time the Par- 

 sons place was the largest producing 

 nursery stock in America. 



Antoine Wintzer inherited a genius 

 for finding out the requirements of plant 

 life, and under the skilful guidance of 

 J. K. Trumpy he rapidly acquired the 

 practical features of growing grapes and 

 roses, but after spending two years at 

 Parsons' he became dissatisfied, because 

 the line of work they kept him at was 

 too narrow — so he left Parsons and en- 

 gaged with Eugene Bauman, one of the 

 most prominent landscape gardeners in 

 the east. His idea was to learn land 

 scape work, but Mr. Bauman, who had 

 now settled at Kahway, N. J., found that 

 Mr. "Vvintzer was such a skilful propa- 

 gator that he gave him full charge of 

 the one greenhouse that he then owned. 

 He allowed Mr. Wiatzer to experiment 

 with different methods of propagation 

 and it was here that Mr. Wintzer reached 

 settled conclusions, in certain lines, es- 

 pecially the propagation of hardy shrub- 

 bery, and he still feels that his experi- 

 ence with Mr. Bauman has been a most 

 valuable asset in his life work. At Rah- 

 way Mr. "Wintzer contracted malaria, and 

 left his position with Mr. Bauman to 

 recuperate at his father's home in 

 Flushing. 



After regaining his health Mr. Wint- 

 zer felt afraid to go back to Eahway, 

 so he engaged with Mahlon Moon, at 

 Morrisville, Pa., as propagator of ever- 

 greens, roses, etc., but his stay here was 

 a short one, he being again threatened 

 with an attack of malaria. 



From Morrisville he went to Sewick- 

 ley, Pa., and engaged with James War- 

 drope, but here again his stay was as 

 brief, as he again contracted malaria and 

 left for home, but Mr. Wintzer has most 

 delightful recollections of his short so- 

 journ at Wardrope's. 



This brings us to a new chapter in his 

 life, for, after again recovering his 

 health, he went to West Grove, Pa., to 

 accept a position with the Dingee & 

 Conard Co. He arrived at West Grove 

 July 31, 1866, the anniversary of his 

 wife's birth, so he says he cannot forget 

 the date. On August 1 he commenced 

 work for the Dingee & Conard Co. as 

 propagator. They had two small green- 

 houses, 10x80 feet each, at this time. 



This company at that time was doing 

 a general nursery business, having over 

 300 acres devoted to the growing of 



fruit and ornamental trees, shrubbery, 

 roses, etc., which were sold almost en- 

 tirely through agents. This business 

 proved to be unprofitable and it was Mr. 

 Wintzer's ability as a propagator of 

 roses that saved the company from being 

 totally wrecked financially, for it was 

 perceived that there was an increasing 

 demand for roses grown on their own 

 roots, and Mr. Wintzer was very suc- 

 cessful in growing the roses, by a process 

 which he claims was his own invention. 



At this time the roses were sold almost 

 entirely as one-year plants and shipped 

 by mail to the purchaser. By advertis- 

 ing in a very few papers, enough custom- 

 ers were found to take all the roses they 



years and the number he could grow waa 

 only limited by the space at his com- 

 mand to grow them in. 



Unfortunately, in 1892, differences 

 arose in the management of the Dingee 

 & Conard Co. and the late Alfred F. 

 Conard, who had always been president 

 of the company, withdrew. A year later, 

 in 1893, Mr. Wintzer withdrew, leaving 

 to others the splendid business that had 

 been reared upon his life work as a 

 skilful, untiring and devoted grower of 

 the queen of flowers. 



Mr. Wintzer had purchased a small 

 farm about one mile from West Grove 

 and had built thereon a commodious 

 modern residence and in the fall of 1893 

 he erected two greenhouses. His busi- 

 ness was continued with varying success 

 and connections till 1897. He was anx- 

 ious to enlarge the business and the late 

 Alfred F. Conard, who had been asso- 

 ciated with him for so many years pre- 

 vious to 1892, and S. Morris Jones, a 

 business man of West Grove, knowing 

 Mr. Wintzer's great ability as a propa- 

 gator, furnished capital to organize the 

 Conard & Jones Co. The new company 



Antoine Wintzer. 



could grow in the few greenhouses that 

 then comprised the plant. But other 

 greenhouses were built and a catalogue 

 published to help make sales, so the 

 business grew and prospered and almost 

 every year new glass was added to the 

 plant. This continued till the year 1892, 

 when the greenhouses numbered seventy. 

 Mr. Wintzer's ability as a propagator 

 was now fully established; he had pro- 

 duced fine, healthy rose plants all these 



purchased from Mr. Wintzer thirty-five 

 acres of ground and his plant, which had 

 grown to seven greenhouses. 



That year the company erected seven 

 more greenhouses, an up-to-date packing- 

 house, a large boiler-room, and coal bins, 

 and a frost-proof house for storing dor- 

 mant plants. The new company has been 

 very successful, so that the plant has 

 now been largely increased in size. They 

 issue a large catalogue, roses having first 



