The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-01-10

> y
Rochester N. Y. The snuff box came
by pony express across the continent,
and the express charges on the little
package was $25. The seeds were duly
sown and propagated by Messrs ELL
wanger & Barry, as appears from
letter in which they said:
I'VE have already one box of the
seed sowed in our rose house under
glass, a nice temperature of about go
or 80 dec ees. If it will do well any
where it must do there. We shall SOW
all in boxes under glass, as the plants
will be less liable to damp and wither
off. We have agreed to grow the
plants on shares as proposed. but if
you prefer to sell it you might name
your price for it,
More seeds We're afterwards gather
ed and sent and propagated, with re-
suits shown in a second letter:
I'VE did all in our power with them:
some of the seeds never vegetated and
some came slowly. They have been
coming through the ground all sum-
mer. We have succeeded in obtain
ing about 1000 plants, all of which are
out of danger, we think: they are all
in pots, and as there is no demand
yet for them in this country we have
shipped 400 to England to be sold and
shall send more as needed. We intend
to advertise them here this spring at
50 per plant"
So much for the finding of these
seeds. Their subsequent growth and
development. and their dispersion from
Rochester over all of Europe, make
another chapter in their story. If it
seems a far cry from these little pot
ted pigmies to the giants of the for
est, it is necessary only to turn to
Messrs. Ellwanger & .Barry's cata-
logue of 1857 for encouragement as TO
their possibilities. In that catalogue
these plants were thus offered for sale:
''Washingtonia Gigantea, the Celebrat-
ed Big Tree of California; Wellingto-
mia of the English. and Sequoia of the
French; one of the most majestic trees
in the world. Specimens have been
measured upward of 300 feet in height
and SO feet in diameter three feet from
the ground. We think it will prove
hardy here, as several specimens stood
out unprotected last winter. Mr.. Reid
of New Jersey has also found it hardy
with him. One dollar to two dollars
But either this advertisement was
too modest or the communication too
conservative, for the plants found few
buyers here. Even in 1856, the grow
ers had to look to foreign markets for
the sale of the greatest native Amerl-
can industry, if a big tree of Califor-
MIA, 800 feet high, may be so character
lied. William Skirving, nurseryman
of Liverpool, England, bought the first
hundred of the plants in that year.
Later he bought $50 more, then again.
500 and 500 and 500 and 500 making in
all 1850. So the squirrel seeds began
to take root and grow and spread in
English soil And Mr.. Skirving's pur-
chase proved profitable to him in more
| ways than one. For he has told that
when the first invoice of plants arrlv-
ed he was quite i'll and confined to mis-
| bed. His head gardener was SO i'm
pressed with the beauty of the plants
| that he brought a box of them for ad-
miratfon to Mr.. Skirvng's bedside.
The very sight of them Mr.. Skirving
declared, made him a well man again.
| This was his own story to Mr.. ELL
wanger when the latter visited him.
| and the circumstances may go 10
prove that there is more healing bal
sam and resinous health in the ever
greens of California than Bret Harte
has ever dared to sing. Mr.. Skirving
went on to say that shortly afterward
a certain duke whose estates We're in
Wales happened to call upon him. The
| duke had a fondness for conifers, as
is chara cterstic of wealthy and eX-
allied personages. it being well under
stood that far beyond roses and lilies
and orchids and all the shrubs and
trees that ever grew, taste for conf
fers is the supreme refinement. 1t is
the top note in the gamut of all songs
of beauty and nature, whether people
must love books or trees or pictures
or porcelains or whatsoever it may be.
But. he that as it may, in the course
of conversation. the duke boosted to
Mr.. Skirving that he had recently
made a find of a few plants of the
Wellingtonia, for which he had paid
two guineas apiece. These he bought
at Veitch's, he Of the Ampelopsis, to
describe him Familiarity. for surely the
Ampelopsis Veitchii is a household
word. Mr. Skirving promptly offered
to sell the duke any number at one
guinea and the duke as quickly bought
a hundred, which he planted in an ave-
nue. If they have grown and thrived,
as is said, they must make an i'm
posing sight by this time.
OF the plants which Messrs. Eilwang-
err & Barry propagated, several hun
bred We're also sent to a well known
English nurseryman, Thomas Rivers.
Of the dispersion of these there is no
trace. Other dukes and potentates
may have purchased them. The fol-
lowing record, however, is interesting.
1t is quoted from the memoirs of Ten
nyson, recently published. In the first
chapter of volume IL the poets son
| writes That the great event OF 1864 was
Garibaldis visit to the Tennysons.
My mother wrote in April he says
"a. and I went out to fix spot il
our garden where the Wellingtona
should be planted by him (given to A
by the Duchess of Sutherland and rails
, ed by her from cone that had beer
/ shot from a tree high in California; y
Some of the circumstances are ther
told connected with the planting o
thes tree and the ceremonies attend
ing it, as graced by Garibaldis pres
ence and favor. Many strangers Wer,
there, and when the tree was plant
!. ed they gave a shout" 1t is to b.
hoped that the shout was in homo
) of the tree itself, as well as for it
sponsor or foster-father or either o
its worthy nameSakes
So, from Mr.. WoOdruff's snuff DO:
have come almost all important spec1
2 mems of the Gigantea in Europe an
in the United States east of the Rock
J mountains. You can find them in tn
botanical gardens in Bordeaux, a
Kew, in Madrid in Switzerland an
| oil There are or two i