1922 - Pansy Seed Worth More Than Gold!

"Men have fought, have suffered, have betrayed friends, have undergone untold hardship, have perished in the pursuit of gold worth but $20 an ounce and all unawares have made a football of fortune that lay  close to their homes. It seems a far cry from gold to pansies, but pansy seed is worth from $30 to $50 an ounce, more valuable than gold. Why not dare all to gather pansy seed?

How many acres of placer ground will yield $5000 net a year, year in and year out? Not many, possibly, even in the best of ground, for gold is exhaustible. Yet within Portland's city limits is a pansy farm that pays its owner $5000 and more a year net, and he farms six .acres. His seed cleanup on each acre averages about 16 pounds each year, and this 16 pounds of seed sells for $3000. "

From the article at the end of this post.

GROWING PANSY SEED

In the September issue I published a brief account of the pansy seed enterprise of E. J. Steele, Portland, Ore.    

AMERICAN SEEDSMAN has been fortunate in securing several pictures of this form and its products and these are reproduced on this page.

The three small views show workers harvesting seed in one of the gardens, beds covered with canvas to hold moisture for germination, method of curing seed. The largest picture shows a basket display of Mr. Steele’s choicest blooms, and the other a close-up of the plants in bloom.

Mr. Steele's finest pansy is the “Irene", a henna-hued bloom. He has also perfected a ruflled pansy, the “Masterpiece”, and hopes soon to present a bloom rose-pink in color.

"Concentrate your efforts on the extra fancy stock", advises Mr. Steelc. "Anybody can grow pansies, but not everyone can create something newer, finer, diflerent. In the creative field lies the greatest profit in the growing of pansies.”

Mr. Steele has in his file the names of a large number of “live" customers for his seed. The demands for seed have become so great that he is unable to fill orders for certain varieties.

He has been in this business for nearly 30 years and is conceded to have the largest pansy farm in the world. There are about two million plants set out at one time. The seed is picked by hand  with one acre yielding about 16 pounds of seed.

Here is the link to the full, large PDF of the Sunday Oregonian article below.

The Unitarian Register, Volume 101,  had this news that mentions Steele.  

I just found this 1918 ad.  Seed prices certainly fall once they are no longer "new"!!!!!

 Links:

• Article in the Florist's Exchange
• 
  

Now, this trade card is for Broom's Soap...but it is a Pansy Girl!! 

 Might as well stick it here for you to  enjoy.

The New Pansies of 1835

I have begun to poke around looking for pansy art and gossip and I found this wonderful series of publications with these to-die-for tinted engravings.  You should go to the Biodiversity Heritage Lab to view the 19 volumes of  The Floricultural Cabinet and Florist's Magazine.  I noticed while dipping into many of them that the calceolaria was a very popular flower in the 1830s.  Are calceolaria at garden centers now?  You know how you don't see what you aren't looking for often?...maybe I just haven't noticed them.  They are fascinating in engravings!

That carnation below is something, too!!  I have only seen wimpier streaked carnations in real life.  Why do I only see blah carnations in stores? Perhaps I do not go to the sort of stores that have them.

I like the white ones that are everywhere and adore the smell, but I could fall in love with flowers like this boldly marked Princess Clementine!! Who was she?

Later:

I believe this is she.

Pansy Time

This is pansy season in New England.    I am very fond of them.  It seems they are one of the most beloved flowers, advertised by everyone for as long as you can find catalogs if you count the original Viola tricolor!  

Here is a small sample of pansy items.  An active day at school has left me ready for bed!

The following is from Wikipedia, it gives a lot of starter points to sift through!

In the early years of the 19th century, Lady Mary Elizabeth Bennet (1785–1861), daughter of the Lord of Tankerville, collected and cultivated every sort of Viola tricolor (commonly, heartsease) she could procure in her father's garden at Walton-upon-Thames, Surrey. Under the supervision of her gardener, William Richardson, a large variety of plants was produced via cross-breeding. In 1812, she introduced her pansies to the horticultural world, and, in 1813, Mr. Lee, a well-known florist and nurseryman, further cultivated the flower. Other nurserymen followed Lee's example, and the pansy became a favorite among the public.

About the same time that Lady Bennett was busy cultivating heartsease, James, Lord Gambier was doing the same in his garden at Iver under the advice and guidance of his gardener Thomson. A yellow viola, Viola lutea, and a wide-petalled pale yellow species of Russian origin, Viola altaica were among the crosses that laid the foundation for the new hybrids classed asViola × wittrockiana, named for the Swedish botanist Veit Brecher Wittrock (1839-1914). A round flower of overlapping petals was the aim of early trials; in the late 1830s a chance sport that no longer had narrow nectar guides of dark color on the petals but a broad dark blotch on the petals (which came to be called the "face"), was found. It was developed in Gambier's garden and released to the public in 1839 with the name "Medora".

By 1833, there were 400 named pansies available to gardeners who once considered its progenitor, heartsease, a weed. Specific guidelines were formulated for show pansies but amateur gardeners preferred the less demanding fancy pansies. About this time, James Grieve developed the viola and Dr. Charles Stuart developed the violetta, both smaller, more compact plants than the pansy.

Below...a trade card.