Flowdy Fellow Camellia and Azalea 
Enthustasts and Those who wll be 
va igs I 
Since we meet and know most of our customers only through correspondence, and 
we rarely meet each other personally, we felt you would like to see what the fellow you 
are dealing with looks like and know something about his background. Cliff Harris 1s 
a watchmaker, engraver, jeweler, diamond setter and photographer. He has operated his 
own retail jewelry and camera store in Mobile, Ala. for more than a quarter of a century. 
Some of his civic services and activities are: He was one of the 23 members of the Mobile 
Junior Chamber of Commerce whose signature appears on the original charter of incor- 
poration of the world famous Mobile Azalea Trail, Inc. His horticultural interest began 
shortly prior to that time. He 1s past president of the Mobile Kiwanis Club, twice past 
Potentate of Abba Temple Shrine, past President of the Mobile Civic Round Table, 
Charter member of Mobile Men’s Camellia Club, Charter member of Mobiles Men’s 
Garden Club, member of Men’s Garden Club of America, a fellow of the Royal Horti- 
cultural Society of England, a life member of the American Camellia Society and other 
affiliations. 
Strange Mysteries Revealed... 
URROUNDING Cliff Harris’ Longview 
Nursery, Mobile, Alabama, U.S.A. The 
strange policies and actions of the founder, 
Robert O. Rubel, which people could not 
understand had good reason and founda- 
tion. For nearly 40 years Mr. Rubel has 
spent his entire time experimenting with 
the development of new varieties of camel- 
lias through cross-pollination and treating 
the seed with X-rays more than 25 years 
ago to challenge the chromosones. etc. He 
has planted literally millions of seeds, 
some imported from Europe, China, Japan 
and many other places along with seed 
especially treated from Longview Nurser- 
ies plants. 
He instituted a policy of not welcoming 
nor allowing Alabama people to visit his 
nursery and not selling in the state. All 
these years he collected through standing 
orders with book dealers all over the 
world, and other sources, any publications 
that had as much as one sentence or para- 
graph on camellias. He is reputed to have 
the most complete library on camellias in 
existence today. 
Recognizing the many advantages of 
container-grown camellias, Mr. Rubel de- 
veloped a successful method of growing 
them in containers from rooted cuttings 
and has sold container-grown camellias ex- 
clusively. 
He studied topographical maps of the 
U. S. A. and foreign countries to deter- 
mine areas where the soil, water and other 
conditions were or were not favorable to 
the growing of camellias and would not 
sell his camellias in areas not favorable 
except in a few instances where the cus- 
tomer would make special preparations to 
give them the extra attention and care 
needed in those places. 
He has an alarm system all around his 
place and built his home far enough back 
SPECIAL!!! 
WHILE THEY LAST ... 
SPECIMEN BUDDED CAMELLIAS .. . 
from the road so when the alarm rang he 
would have time to come to the front of 
the house to meet anyone when they 
reached the house. 
Occupants of cars with Alabama license 
plates were informed in a usually pleasant 
manner, he did not welcome or sell to Ala- 
bama people. 
Out-of-state people would be welcomed 
and given a real entertaining visit. 
Mr. Rubel was a charter member of the 
Mobile Kiwanis Club in 1919. Cliff Harris 
joined Kiwanis in 1939, the same year the 
Mobile Men’s Camellia Club was organized 
in which Harris was a charter member, 
knowing very little about camellias. 
Harris understood that Rubel knew 
camellias so he sought his friendship. He 
visited Rubel the third time before he was 
allowed or asked to get out of his car. 
After that Rubel welcomed Harris’ visits 
and allowed him to display camellias from 
Longview at the annual Men’s Camellia 
Club show with the understanding that he 
would not let anyone know where the 
blooms came from, but before he allowed 
him to do so he required Harris to pur- 
chase a minor interest in the business so 
he would be telling the truth when he ex- 
hibited them under his name. 
Many years ago Rubel developed a cul- 
ture which makes it possible to ship bare 
root camellias so treated with great suc- 
cess. He has shipped bare root camellias to 
China and Hilo, Hawaii which were in 
transit for more than a month without the 
loss of a plant. 
The Longview story is tremendous but 
for lack of space we will sum up the logic 
behind the part we have told you. 
The several reasons for Mr. Rubel not 
selling or allowing Alabama people to visit 
Longview Nursery was as simple as this: 
3 to 4 FEET 
$e 
Chiff Harris wearing 
his hat to keep his 
Halo from Showing 
First, camellias are so easy to grow in the 
field in this area he could not compete in 
price with his container-grown camellias 
here, but in the north and areas where 
field-grown camellias take several years to 
become established after digging, if they 
live at all, he was able to sell at good 
prices, all container-grown camellias he 
could produce. 
If a scion or cutting of a new camellia 
gets out and someone else propagates it be- 
fore patents are applied for then it is not 
patentable. So, Mr. Rubel protected his 
new varieties and had more time to de- 
velop them by not having local people take 
up his time. 
By having these protected patentable 
new varieties when Mr. Rubel reached the 
age he did not feel able to continue the 
responsibility of operating his business, he 
received much more for it on account of 
the patentable new varieties. Mr. Rubel is 
still associated with us and the plants he 
loves at Longview as consultant. 
It was Cliff Harris’ faith in his and Mr. 
Rubel’s judgment that these new varieties 
had great possibilities which is being borne 
out by the local, national and international 
interest and acceptance of the new varie- 
ties we have shown. 
Many of our new varieties not released 
or shown first bloomed years ago. 
The “Walter D. Bellingrath”’ and ‘Her 
Majesty Queen Elizabeth II” seed were 
planted in 1932. The Walter D. Bellingrath 
first bloomed in 1948 and the Her Majesty 
Queen Elizabeth II in 1943 which has given 
more than ample time to determine if they 
are meritorious. 
We have discarded many beautiful new’ 
camellias because the growing habits were 
not the most desirable. 
NEW POLICIES SEE PAGE ONE. 
REGULAR $15 TO $20 VALUE 
MUST MOVE FROM 
RENTED FIELD THIS SEASON 
6 FINE VARIETIES: BLOOD OF CHINA — DEBIANA — CHEERFUL — GLORIA DE NANTES — PROF. SARGENT — SARAH FROST 
SPECIAL | | | Indica Azaleas ...... 18 to 30 inches Specimen $ EA. 
95 
VARIETIES: FORMOSA — MOSS POINT ROSE — PHOENICIA 
