The Weekly Florists' Review* 



acres and has a great variety of soils. 

 At present lie is growing a few farm 

 crops, including a large quantity of 

 seed potatoes. 



Mr. James D. Raynolds, of Riverside, 

 has given up all thought of again en- 



tering the business, and is offering all 

 his glass and other material for sale. 

 At one time Mr. Raynolds v/as one of 

 the most important growers of cut 

 flowers for this market. 



SOME FLUCTUATIONS IN REAL 

 ESTATE. 



"Talkin' of souvenirs, I never went 

 in for cbllectin' of 'em myself, " ob- 

 served Jaggs, as he skillfully arranged 

 a bunch of Cape flowers over a bald 

 spot in a floral pillow. The design 

 had been ordered by a bereaved wid- 

 ower, at reduced rates, with the sug- 

 gestion that, if the price agreed upon 

 did not allow for a sufficiency of 

 flowers, a large pink sash belonging to 

 the loved lost one might be draped 

 across the pillow, thus giving an air 

 of richness without undue expense. 

 This economical suggestion, however, 

 had not been very kindly received, and 

 the desired effect was being produced 

 by Cape flowers well veiled with 

 gi'een. "If I went in for coUectin' of 

 anythink 'ceptin' orchids it 'ud be gov- 

 ernment bonds, and they're too bloom- 

 in' common." 



"Why not collect real estate, old 

 man?" inquired the night fireman, 

 who was filling his lantern and im- 

 partially distributing kerosene over 

 the surrounding landscape. 



"I reckon as Jaggs thinks real es- 

 tate too fluctuatin' for him to invest 

 in," observed Tommy. 



"Fluctuatin'?" queried Jaggs. "You 

 chaps don't know what fluctuatin' real 

 estate is. Talk about riches havin' 

 wings — it ain't a marker to city lots 

 in an earthquake country." 



"I've often thought," nlisprviii the 

 horticultural graduate, "that Jaggs 

 could tell us a lot that people don't 

 know about earthquakes." 



"Right, as usual, Johnny." remarked 

 Jaggs, pleasantly. "When I was down 

 in Central America — that was afore I 

 went to Borneo to hunt for that there 

 giant Grammatophyllum as I promised 

 to tell you about — I see somethink 

 about earthquakes as was earth- 

 quakes. I was sent there from Kew 

 — the president o' one o' them little 

 tuppenny 'a-penny republics wanted 

 some chap as was up to all the dodges 

 about coffee plantations. First night 

 I get there I don't think much o' the 

 town — mostly dust, donkeys and little 

 toy soldiers as looked like they was 

 made in Germany. But it seemed to 

 me as it must be quite a factory town; 

 I couldn't seen no factories, but there 

 was such a grindin,' rattlin' and 

 poundin' goin' on all the time as it 

 sounded like a distant view of a boiler 

 factory. I hear that racket gdia' on 

 all night, and every once in a while, 

 bein' on the ground floor, I'd feel like 

 there was an innard convulsion un- 

 derneath as made the floor heave up 

 like the bloomin' old ocean. Next 

 mornin' at breakfast I sits next to a 

 chap from Chicago as said he was an 

 agent for the Universal Peace Society 

 — I hear afterwards as he was drum- 

 mer for a firm as sells Catling guns 

 and repeating rifles. We got quite 



chummy at breakfast, through me 

 askin' 'im what part o' the bill o' fare 

 I'd best tackle first. He tell me as I 

 can't make no mistake, becaus_e every- 

 think on the table as wasn't made out 

 o' cornmeal and red peppers was mad^ 

 out o' red peppers and cornmeal, 

 'ceptin' the coffee, as was made o' 

 burnt beans. Well, we was takin' a 

 cigar after breakfast, and I asks him 

 if San Jacinto wasn't quite a manu- 

 facturin' town, and he say yes, and I 

 asks him what they manufactures, as 

 a general thing. He says, 'Earth- 

 quakes and political revolutions.' He 

 says as they'll get up a revolution 

 while you wait, most any day. I say 

 as that don't account for the rumblin' 

 o' the machinery as I hear all night. 

 He tell me to stoop down and listen 

 close agen the ground. When I do that 

 blest if I couldn't hear a rumblin' and 

 tearin' down below as sounded like an 

 acre of stone crushers all workin' at 

 once! I didn't like it a little bit, but 

 the Chicago chap just laughed and 

 said as it wouldn't make a bit o' dif- 

 ference when I got used to it." 



"But what caused it?" inquired the 

 night fireman, who had become so ab- 

 sorbed by the narration that he had 

 overflowed a tidal wave of kerosene 

 over the potting-bench. 



"Why, the whole bloomin' country 

 had a reg'lar sub-cellar full o' volca- 

 noes; once in a while they'd get on 

 the rampage, and then they'd play 

 shuttle-cock and battledore with the 

 whole outfit. It was agen the law to 

 dig a well; the bottom was sure to 

 fall out, and there was no tellin' what 

 might go along of it. Why, they was 

 tellin' me as how a lot o' chaps in jail 

 make up their mind as they was goin' 

 to dig their way out. The cells hasn't 

 nothink but dirt floors, but the walls 

 is nigh thirteen feet thick. Well, 

 these chaps gets along fine, diggin' 

 away like a lot p' bloomin' old badg- 

 ers, when first thing they know the 

 bottom drops right out o' their hole! 

 Scared? Well, you know what super- 

 stitious chaps them Central Americans 

 is — they think as there's some hoodoo 

 in the crowd as must 'a' queered the 

 job, and come pretty near chuckin' one 

 o' the chaps into the hole, 'cause he 

 say when they start as they wasn't 

 goin' the right way about it. Well, o' 

 course the jailers got onto it, and blest 

 if it didn't take 'em near three months 

 to fill up that hole!" 



"Was it you as the bother chaps 

 think was the Jonah, old fellow?" in- 

 quired Tommy, sympathetically. 



"Me?" retorted Jaggs, with some as- 

 perity. "Do you think as I was stop- 

 pin' in a moldy old jail? I was visit- 

 in' the president o' the republic, as 

 was that fond o' me he'd do anythink 

 for me. He wanted to make me secre- 

 tary o' the treasury, only there wasn't 

 no treasury " 



"Afore you got 'old o' the job, or 

 after?" inquired Tommy, blandly. . 



Jaggs went on calmly without notic- 

 ing the interruption. "I reckon as the 



