OVER THE GARDEN GATE 
Away back in 1904 Cornelia R. Gates began a florist and 
ornamental nursery business in Anaheim, California. So | 
got my introduction to the nursery business there hoeing 
weeds amongst the flowers. Mrs. Gates was a lover of rare 
plants and accumulated what was considered a large col- 
lection of cactus for that period. The business though 
struggling for its existence at times, added substantially to 
the large budget necessary for a family of growing children. 
In the spring of 1919, | came home from the war and took 
over the business about six months before my mother passed 
on to her reward. 
During the next six years | conducted it as a retail florist 
and nursery business. Then until New Year's in 1930 | was 
on the Los Angeles Wholesale Flower market handling both 
flowers of my own production and those of bulb growers in 
northern San Diego County. Those were days of long hours 
and plenty of hard work as well as days of valuable experi- 
ence. 
After disposing of the wholesale business | have been con- 
tinuously in the cactus and succulent business. During the 
first few years | spent considerable time in collecting wild 
plants in our own Southwest and in Lower California, Mexico. 
The business was gradually changed over from collected 
plants to one composed entirely of growing and selling nur- 
sery grown plants. 
By 1940 the business had out grown the space available in 
Anaheim and | moved to the present fifteen acre location 
near Corona. Now the place is well equipped with various 
types of houses and stocked with several millions of plants. 
During the fall and winter hundreds of flats of seeds are 
sown. In the spring and summer hundreds of thousands of 
cuttings for rooting are taken from our fields. So there is 
a continuous succession of stock coming on in almost 
assembly line style. 
Of course after so many years of effort a fellow does not 
like to think of what might happen to the business when he is 
not able to carry on. To solve this problem and insure 
continuity of the business, incorporation was decided upon. 
Today incorporation is an accomplished fact and the busi- 
ness will be known as Gates Cactus, Inc. The business will 
remain under my management as long as | am able to 
manage it and so you may be assured of the same prornpt 
service as in the past and an ever increasing supply of the 
best plants. The moderate amount of new capital gained 
through incorporating will be used to improve our growing 
facilities. 
That's enough along that line, so what is ahead of us? We 
would all like to see into the future for the next five years as 
well as we can look back upon the past five. It looks as 
though it will be a hectic period. It appears that our war 
machine will be greatly built up even though we hope it 
never will be used. This will result in more people than ever 
being put to work with increasing amounts of money in 
circulation. Probably all of us will lose some of our best hel 
and have to replace it with other types. Increased deere 
should give us all a market for all we can supply. In the 
spring of 1942 we sensed a coming shortage so bought up 
all the stock we could stretch our credit to cover. It was 
not enough to meet the demand. 
Last spring the Union Products Inc., 511 Lancaster St., 
Leominster, Mass. sent us a batch of their new plastic pots. 
They are paper thin, brightly colored in I!/4 and 2" regular 
style pots and somewhat larger novelty s an They also 
make plastic racks to hold six of the one and a quarter inch 
pots. The pots are un-breakable and because of their thin- 
ness more can be grown on a bench or packed in a carton. 
We have given the pots a thorough work out ever since. We 
find they do not fade, crack, soften or stain. Furthermore 
plants grow in them as well or better than they do in clay 
pots. True they cost a little more than clay pots but their 
clean bright colors will make them sell much faster. 
In the years to come, we wish to be known as your friendly 
neighbors just over the garden gates. So drop in for a 
friendly chat. 
Howard E. Gates. 
A FEW CULTURAL POINTERS 
Our plants are shipped bare root. We dry them for at least a 
day to remove surplus moisture before packing and thus avoid danger 
of sweating or rotting enroute. 
_ _ When it is not convenient to plant immediately upon receipt, it 
is best to un-pack all plants, lay them out in flats and keep in a cool, 
slightly shaded place. Do not moisten plants before planting. 
Soil for cactus and succulent plants should be extremely porous. 
If water has a tendency to stand on the surface, the soil is too tight. 
Pee losses will be reduced by planting into steam sterilized 
soil. 
Cactus and succulents should be planted just deep enough to hold 
them up right. The fleshy bodied types are much more apt to rot 
when planted deeply. 
Watering should be very moderate until plants have re-rooted. In 
cold weather or when plants are dormant, they should not be given 
much water. In warm dry weather and when plants are established and 
growing, they will take much more water. Usually the best rule after 
plants are established, is to water well whenever the soil is dry. Mam- 
millarias bocasana and elongata, all Aloes, Pleiospilos and Stapelias are 
items that should be watered very sparingly when first planted.. Pleio- 
spilos, Faucarias and all other members of the Mesembryanthemum 
family are fall and winter growers. Many of them are dormant in the 
summer. 
None of our plants should be planted in the full sun without 
hardening them to it gradually. Many items will burn easily when 
moved from shade to sun. In the greenhouse the plants should be 
shaded just enough to prevent burning. Heavy shading will cause an 
elongated and worthless growth. 
Most items respond readily to fertilizer. Do not over do it and 
cause a weedy growth. We find the Delta Fertilizer Dispenser very 
useful in applying liquid fertilizer while watering. 
The most common pests are mealy bugs, scale and thrip. We sug- 
gest using whatever you have generally found most useful for their 
control. A short two per cent oil spray with DDT added is effective on 
the scales. Oil or nicotine sprays will make white haired plants dirty. 
Oil sprays will take the "bloom" off of powdery coated plants. Parathion 
is deadly to plants of the Crassula family. 
It is usually more profitable for you to sell our plants in dish 
gardens rather than as singly potted plants. It is similar to selling a 
bunch of flowers as they come from the flower market instead of making 
them up into corsages or center pieces. 
We are sticking our neck away out. If you have had troubles in 
growing cactus and succulents, write us about them. We will do our 
best but cannot promise perfection in solving the difficulty. We have 
been growing cactus and succulents for over twenty years and are 
still learning some thing new all the time. 
Come and see us while you are enjoying a trip to California. We 
will both enjoy the call. We think our nursery is different from anything 
else in the whole country. 
UNROOTED CUTTINGS 
Unrooted cuttings are not being listed at the present time as we 
expect to use all of the current crop for our own propagating. 
