JUNE 2, 1S9S. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



View in the wholesale store of the Rogers Park Floral Co., Chicago. 



abundance for everybody. I never saw 

 the houses less cut and slashed after a 

 Decoration Day. Valley was in its 

 prime, lilac rather gone; "pinies" not 

 in any quantity, but there were 

 Spiraea japonica, lilies, carnations, 

 roses in abundance, and there are al- 

 ways a few thousand geraniums to be 

 picked off without leaving your plants 

 bare. 



Our cemeteries must have a curious 

 appearance this morning, for there 

 were thousands of 4-inch i;eraniums 

 placed on the graves, not an artistic 

 decoration by any means, but it is the 

 fact of remembering those gone before 

 and not an artistic display t)iat is the 

 motive. Poor little geraniums will 

 soon shrivel up and be carted, pots 

 and all, to the nearest ravine to fill up 

 and later years this spot will he a new 

 section to receive the remains 'of all 

 that is mortal;" truly we are rll grass. 



Condition of Trade. 



Business at the stores must be pro- 

 nounced decidedly slow. There is a 

 great dearth of events that call for 

 any considerable use of flowers, and 

 now you will see a great tumble in the 

 price of roses and carnations. 



There are weddings and rumors of 

 weddings, but they must be mostly 

 elopements, for I don't hear of the 

 usual festivities and floral decorations. 

 June will perhaps bring us our hearts' 

 desire — the decoration, not the wed- 

 ding. 



A Thrifty Place, 

 A few days ago I visited the growing 

 establishment of Messrs. Schwert & 

 Berner, whose houses are in the town 



of Chicktonanga, just outside the city 

 limits. These young men began busi- 

 ness some ten years ago and began 

 small, not unusual in our or any other 

 business. By strict attention to grow- 

 ing and seeking nothing but a whole- 

 sale market, they have had phenom- 

 enal success. A dozen houses were 

 filled with first-class market stuff of 

 the more popular kinds, no attempt at 

 growing everything, but large quanti- 

 ties of the inexpensive plants which 

 the multitude ask for. 



I have drawn attention to this place 

 because it is an example of what could 

 be done in many cities and even here 

 more largely. It is division of labor 

 which is the highest state of civiliza- 

 tion. I have seen so many young men 

 go into business, but they all wanted 

 to be close to a city lamp post, grow 

 everything and handle all there was in 

 the business. Growing is a science. 

 Retailing the produce is entirely re- 

 moved from it, and is better left to an- 

 other class. The wholesaler is invari- 

 ably the largest winner, but of course 

 he that grows the best must be on top. 



Just one word about the many kind 

 sentiments spoken of me, which have 

 emanated from that large city chiefly 

 famous for the handling of the pro- 

 duce of northwestern states, also 

 watermelons and oysters, the city built 

 on thirty-nine hills. I don't like so 

 much adulation. If they put it on any 

 thicker I shall think it is not sincere. 

 I will return as soon as possible, and 

 as I intend to see Mr. Dreer's water 

 garden end of July that will be about 

 the time. I object to any fuss .'iny more 

 than any other illustrious (?) citizen 

 would receive. I shall discountenance 



all the elaborate preparations, except 

 perhaps the triumphal arches, the 

 streets being so narrow that little ex- 

 pense would be incurred on that ac- 

 count. If Mr. Doppel Kemmel can be 

 sent as far as Wilmington to meet me 

 on the train and escort me through the 

 labyrinths of the Monumental City, I 

 shall consider it a favor. W. S. 



CHICAGO. 



Trade Conditions. 



Decoration Day trade seems to have 

 been a disappointment to nearly every 

 one. It is true that an enormous 

 amount of stock was disposed of, but 

 the bulk of it went at very low figures 

 and even then a large quantity, espe- 

 cially poor grade and outdoor grown 

 stock, failed to find a market. There 

 was a large lot of longiflorum lilies on 

 the market and the sales were surpris- 

 ingly small and at very low prices. 

 Cape Jasmine suffered severely. So 

 did narcissus and other outdoor stock. 

 Most of the dealers' sales averaged up 

 about equal to those of last year, but 

 they handled nearly twice the amount 

 of stock to do it. The only satisfactory 

 reports came from dealers who had 

 extra grade carnations and roses, the 

 carnations seemingly taking the lead. 

 Apparently a lot of stock found its 

 way into the hands of the fakirs, and 

 one retailer describes it as a "Fakirs' 

 Decoration Day." 



Tuesday the market braced up a 

 trifie, but was still far from satisfac- 

 tory. While the sales for Decoration 

 Day were below expectations in view 

 of the large supply, the prospects are 

 that the month of May will average 

 fully up to that of last year. 



Bowling. 



Following are the scores and aver- 

 ages made at the alleys last Friday 

 night: 



1st. 2(3. 3d. 4th. 5th. Av. 



G. L, Grant 177 ISO 165 156 170 16S 



E. Winterson . ...126 150 118 155 157 141 



P. Hauswirth . ...157 122 136 140 141 139 



G. Scott 144 128 132 134 



W. Kreitling 125 132 150 110 ... 129 



J. Degnan 156 133 105 114 ... 127 



G. StoUery 119 145 106 126 ... 124 



A. Kohlbrand . ...103 127 109 138 ... 119 



A. L. Vaugtian ...111 121 116 



C. MoKellar 107 12a 124 100 ... 113 



C. BallufE 113 82 89 113 142 108 



W.Kyle 103 109 106 



C. Stewart 91 81 106 91 ... 92 



P. StoUery S3 75 97 85 



O. Kreitling S4 SI 82 



Various Notes. 

 J. F. Kidwell intends to rebuild his 

 place on Wentworth avenue this sum- 

 mer, and next summer will build a 

 large range of houses for growing cut 

 flowers on his farm at Lafayette, Ind. 

 The city establishment will then be 

 used merely as a sales place, and will 

 continue in charge of his brother, who 

 has now a half interest in the busi- 

 ness. J. P. will take care of the La- 

 fayette establishment and will grow 

 palms, ferns and rubbers as well as 

 cut flowers. The farm contains 220 



