Dbcsmbeb 24, 1008. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



.^wriT^ W.^'^^^ 



15 ■'■"■:•: 



J.V.ADAMS. 



To have lived four-score years, a half 

 century of which has been devoted to a 

 single business, is an achievement vrhich 

 it is given to few men to accomplish. 

 John W. Adams is active and alert, men- 

 tally and physically, and might easily 

 pass for a man twenty years younger. 

 For fifty years he has conducted the busi- 

 ness of a nurseryman, getting his. start 

 when a boy by reading some works on 

 horticulture. With the aid of his father 

 he developed a small nursery in his New 

 Hampshire home and the experience thus 

 obtained proved most valuable in the 

 years that followed, when he engaged in 

 the business for himself. Now he has 

 thirteen acres under cultivation at 

 Springfield, Mass., with large greenhouses 

 in connection. 



John William Adams was bom in 

 Stratham, N. H., June 20, 1828, being 

 the youngest of the six children of John 

 F. and Mary Lane Adams. Mr. Adams ' 

 father was for seventy years a Methodist 

 preacher. He lived to be 91 years old 

 and his later years were spent in fruit 

 growing. 



The boy John waxed enthusiastic over 

 the nursery business when he was still 

 at home with his parents. A small 

 nursery was planted on the home farm 

 and his father added several acres to 

 what the boy developed. To dispose of 

 the trees when grown, Mr. Adams bought 

 thirty acres of land in Portland. There 

 were no sizable nurseries in Maine and 

 the prices paid for trees were quite gen- 

 erous. Several acres were planted in 

 nursery rows to young trees and were 

 well cultivated and made good growth. 

 But the succeeding spring the larger pro- 

 portion of them were thrown out by 

 frost. Upon consultation it was deemed 

 advisable to abandon the clay loam field 

 and to begin again on sandy soil, nine 

 acres of which were bought nearer the 

 city. 



The climate proved to be ill-adapted to 

 the nursery business, and in 1866 Mr. 

 Adams bought a section of Marshall P. 

 Wilder 's nursery in Boston and made ar- 

 rangements to move there. His plans 

 were suddenly changed, however, by the 

 offer of a tempting salary as superin- 

 tendent of the Crown copper mine at 

 Lenoxville, P. Q. Mr. Adams made a 

 success of the mine. 



July 5, 1867, he moved to Springfield 

 and first occupied -a house on Water 

 street. He afterward bought seven acres 

 on North Main street and these same 

 acres are still in his possession and under 

 cultivation, together with some six more 

 which he leases. 



Mr. Adams has been successful in 

 other Lines, as well as in the business 

 which has constituted his life-work. At the 

 age of 21 he was chosen superintendent 

 of schools in his native town. Several 

 years later he was elected a member of 

 the school committee in what is now part 

 of the city of Portland, Me., and held 

 the office for five years. He began teach- 

 ing at the age of 19 in Amesbury, re- 

 ceiving $20 a month the first winter and 

 $25 the second. He also gave private 

 lessons in penmanship. Later he taught 

 in Watertown and Greenland, N. H. 



Mr. Adams was a member of the 

 Massachusetts house of representatives 

 in the years 1892 and 1893. Otherwise, 

 he says, he has "kept clear of political 

 affairs. ' ' 



Mr. Adams married Miss Sarah 

 Frances Waterhouse at Portland, Me., 

 September 5, 1865, and they had six 

 children, four sons and two daughters. 



J. V. Adams. 



Two of the sons died early in life. Walter 

 Adams and Charles Adams, the latter a 

 member of the (iommon council from 

 ward 1, are associated with their father 

 in the nursery and florists ' business. The 

 oldest daughter is the wife of Edgar J. 

 Oatman. The two daughters, Mrs. Oat- 

 man and Miss Nellie Adams, are also 

 members of the firm of J. W. Adams & 

 Co., and all the children, excepting Mrs. 

 Oatman, take an active interest in the 

 operations of the business. 



Mr. Adams is a member of Greenleaf 

 chapter of Masons of Portland, Me., of 

 the Society of Cincinnati, Trinity Metho- 

 dist church, the Hampden Harvest Club, 

 and of several local and national horti- 

 cultural societies. 



NEVYORK. 



The Market. 



The week opened with glorious Christ- 

 mas weather. There was not much stock 

 arriving at the first of the week, but all 

 of it that was good sold at about holi- 

 day prices. Some pickling was in evi- 

 dence, as usual; it is second nature with 

 some men. 



Roses made encouraging progress last 

 week and start the present week with a 

 good demand and gradually rising prices. 

 Some of the veterans, whose predictions 

 may reasonably be accepted, say Maid 

 and Bride will probably range, for the 

 best, between 20 cents and 25 cents be- 

 fore the Christmas demand is satisfied; 

 that Killamey, Eichmond and the new 

 ones may go to 40 cents, and Beauties 

 should hold up to $1. These figures are 

 for the top grade and selected stock. 

 They prophesy, too, 10 cents for the 

 carnation novelties and $1 per hundred 



for violets, with a possibility of $1.25 

 for the highest grade. 



Orchids are abundant and prices rea- 

 sonable. James McManus says the out- 

 of-town demand is excellent. The best 

 gardenias have risen to unusually high 

 rates. The few chrysanthemums that 

 are left can demand any price they ask 

 and get it. Lilies held at top quota- 

 tions early this week. The few White 

 Killarney sent to the Cut Flower Co., by 

 the F. R. Pierson Co., sold at 50 cents 

 at the beginning of the week. 



The plantsmen were hustling, as the 

 week opened, vnth cheerful faces. Noth- 

 ing left, seems to be the general re- 

 port. Enormous quantities of flowering 

 plants of medium sizes and of every 

 popular variety fill the retail stores. I 

 have never seen such general and thor- 

 ough preparation for the Christmas de- 

 mand. Business conditions are far bet- 

 ter than a year ago. Public confidence 

 is growing and the Christmas spirit 

 of liberality and good fellowship finds 

 no more delightful expression than in 

 the sending of the natural and manufac- 

 tured concoctions of the florists' trade. 

 Fancy boxes, baskets, hampers and 

 jardinieres are much in evidence. Rib- 

 bon embellishments were never so va- 

 ried and profuse. 



Tarrytown and Scarboro. 



Up at Tarrytown, the headquarters oT 

 the F. R. Pierson Co., there is a fern 

 factory, the like of which probably can 

 be found nowhere else in the world. 

 Starting with old Boston, here are Scot- 

 tii, Piersoni, Elegantissima, Superbissima 

 and several new discoveries of 1908 that 

 have not yet been named or classified. 

 There is a big stock of specimen plants, 

 for which Mr. Pierson says the retaU 



