About three years ago, a disaster descended upon the establishment. During the memorable floods that at that time devastated the States of Indiana and Ohio, Mr. Vesey rose one morning to find his place flooded and the stock completely ruined. But the son of Mrs. Vesey was not one to be easily daunted. When the flood subsided, he put an army of men to clear the ground, and soon a new range—a great improvement over the former one—rose upon the ruins.
At the last Carnation convention in St. Louis, Will Vesey invited the society to hold its meeting next season in Indianapolis. The invitation was accepted, and he was unanimously elected vice-president of the society.
In the rising generation of florists, Will Vesey bids fair to stand in the front rank.
The introduction and popularization of the Sweet Pea (I refer to the varieties that are of the Winter-blooming sorts) has marked a departure in floriculture. I shall not attempt to speak of the numerous Winter-blooming meritorious varieties in detail; I shall leave that part to Sweet Pea specialists who may at some time write a complete history of this splendid addition to intensive floriculture. The Sweet Pea has come to stay, not only because of its own merit as a cut flower, and the popular favor it has won among all classes, but also because it has of late largely replaced the dainty Lily of the Valley, owing to the scarcity of the latter resultant upon the present European conditions. It has indeed many advantages over the Lily of the Valley, in the matter of its variety of shades and colors. During my recent travels, I have heard it often expressed that the Sweet Pea, far from becoming common, will become more and more popular with the discriminating public, and will play a large part in the future as a flower suitable for bridal bouquets and all other work wherein the Lily of the Valley was formerly deemed indispensable. I shall not attempt to argue this point, or to disparage the usefulness of Lilies of the Valley, but I must concede that the Sweet Pea ranks with the Rose and the Carnation today, and the possibilities of its improvement are practically unlimited.
Famous Sweet Pea Growers
Among the men who have made the development of the Sweet Pea their life work not only from the standpoint of the matter-of-fact merchant, but from that of the aesthete and the scientist, the names of W. Atlee Burpee and Anton Zvolanek will always be remembered.
The late W. Atlee Burpee was indeed an enthusiast about Sweet Peas. Any meritorious variety that gave promise at all was sure of a trial by him. It is said he spent fortunes, and much time and labor, on varieties that often proved absolutely worthless. But Mr. Burpee was not the man to be easily discouraged. He tried again and again, and the results of his efforts are matters of common knowledge. His immense farm in California, and that in Doylestown, Pa., where Sweet Peas are being experimented upon, are known to every florist in the land. His untimely death, while still a man in his prime, is a great loss to the horticultural interests throughout the world.
The history of Anton Zvolanek's success is especially interesting. A number of years ago, while conducting his greenhouses at Bound Brook, N. J., he turned his attention to Sweet Peas, and experimented on a few varieties, such as Florence Denzer, Christmas Pink, and Mrs. Alexander Wallace, strictly Christmas blooming varieties. Having worked up a little stock of each, he offered them to the trade. The demand was stupendous from the start. Mr. Zvolanek grew more Sweet Peas, but the demand for his product kept on increasing out of all proportion to his facilities for meeting it. Leaving his Bound Brook place in the hands of his son, he departed for California, where he began to grow Sweet Peas on a large scale. The three varieties above mentioned were soon relegated to a back seat.
