Page:The Tales of a Traveller.djvu/103

Rh on the other hand, the growers would seem to vie with each other as regards the quantity they purchased. The idea of "let the other fellow try it" was foreign to them. If anything was worth trying at all, it was worth trying by the thousand, instead of the hundred, and trying the first year at its full price, rather than during the second at the half price. That spirit of "go-aheaditiveness" which characterized their Puritan ancestors evidently descended to them.

I do not mean to say that every florist in New England is a descendant of Puritan forefathers. There are indeed florists of all nationalities represented in that group. There are Irishmen, Danes, Scotch, a few Germans, and Russian Jews. But the spirit of the founders pervades the atmosphere, and the comparative newcomers become infused with it.

Nor do I mean to convey the idea that every florist in New England possesses pioneer spirit in the matter of new varieties, and that every Westerner is a hide-bound conservative. This would be entirely erroneous. I could give many instances of Westerners who are always ready to welcome new varieties, and of New Englanders whose cautiousness is adamant. I am speaking of the general trend of the attitude in the two respective sections.

This readiness to try out new varieties, let me say here, has a significance far deeper than a mere dollar-and-cents one. The wheels of progress, in our line as well as in others, are slow-moving. We cannot note the steps as they follow each other one by one, but every once in a while we suddenly awake to the fact that we have gone a good distance from the point that we last consciously observed. Thus, the evolution of the tiny old-fashioned "Pink" into the beautiful Carnation of today was not brought about in a moment. Little by little it expanded in size and increased in substance, becoming more beautiful, until the Carnation as this generation knows it resulted. Nor, in all probability, has the Carnation reached the limits of its potentialities.

And what is true of the Carnation is true also of the Rose, and of plants in general. The man, therefore, who is ready to give his encouragement to efforts in the direction of plant and flower improvment, is taking a real and active part in the great onward march of the world.

As recently as February, 1916, I had the pleasure of being present at a florists' meeting in Chicago where Mr. E. G. Hill read a paper on "The Roses in Commerce Today." In the course of the discussion that followed the reading of his very able paper, he said that the florist should realize his opportunities, and should work in the direction of flower improvement with the same skill and tenacity that characterize the enterprising silk manufacturer or designer in Europe. There are thousands upon thousands of dollars spent every year by them in their efforts to introduce a new design that would appeal to the feminine public. Why should the florist not follow in the same direction, and encourage the best that could possibly be grown in his own line? The public would be sure to appreciate such efforts, and would readily respond to the idea of new introductions.

Mr. Hill unquestionably knows whereof he speaks. Not only does his own experience confirm him in such ideas, but his extensive travels in this country and abroad, and his meeting with all sorts and conditions of men, have helped him to arrive at such rational conclusions.

I have no doubt that the progressive florist has already arrived at the same conclusion himself.

But to continue about my New England territory.

The city of Providence, R. I., among other towns in New England, was always attractive to me. I always liked its wide, clean streets, its business activity, its residential sections, and its old historic atmosphere. So also have I found the men I came into business contact with much to my liking.