JULY 28. ISSS. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



209 



Geo. C. Thorbuni. Grant Tliorburn. Jas. M. Tliorbur 



Three Generations of Thorburns. 



great?" Mr. Hess is very enthusiastic 

 over the Trans-Mississippi Exposition 

 and the coming convention, and if ev- 

 erybody visits there whom he invited 

 there will he quite a delegation from 

 the east. Mr. Hess left Saturday, car- 

 rying many pleasant recollections (we 

 hope) of his visit. 



Other visitors were Mr. Robert 

 Craig, on his way to Boston, and E. 

 Koffman. Walden, N. Y.. who is get- 

 ting to be a regular visitor since he 

 opened his store. 



Cottage Gardens. 



A short trip to Queen's to visit Mr. 

 C. W. Ward revealed the fact that it 

 was somewhat too early to see^'the 

 collection of cannas, geraniums, etc., 

 and one could only make a note of the 

 quantities. Of the former there were 

 L'O.OOit, the bulk of them being newer 

 kinds; almost as many geraniums, 

 comprising the newest varieties; 1(),- 

 000 seedling carnations; 75,000 for 

 planting in the houses and selling in 

 the fall, besides a lot of miscellaneous 

 stock, including some Chrysanthe- 

 mums for propagation, Mr. Ward be- 

 lieving they make stronger and better 

 cuttings than the forced stock. 



In the houses I noted a nice lot of 

 palms and ferns, including the Neph- 

 rolepis Cordata and Bostoniensis. 

 There was also a large stock of As- 

 paragus Sprengerii. 



There are two large plant houses in 

 course of erection, lG<)x20, and an 

 even span propagating house, 110x12. 

 Mr. Ward is also building a large 

 boiler house, which will contain a 

 i'(iO-H. P. boiler. The chimney, which 

 will be of brick, will stand il-" feet 

 high. 



Mr. Ward reports a very satisfactory 

 spring; in fact, to use his words, "He 

 never sold out cleaner." He also has 



great confidence in the future and 

 thinks the little war on hand will be a 

 direct benefit to all. 



J. M. THORBURN & CO. 



The removal of this old and well 

 known New York seed firm from the 

 store at 15 John St., which has been 

 a landmark in the trade for over 60 

 years, is of more than passing inter- 

 est. The change will be to a more 

 commodious building on Cortlandt St. 



This firm was practically the pioneer 

 in the seed business in this country. 

 It was in 1802 that Grant Thorburn 

 established the nucleus of the present 

 business, which has been handed 

 down three generations. After Grant 

 Thorburn came his son Geo. C. Thor- 

 burn and then his grandson, J. M. 

 Thorburn, who is still a member of the 

 firm, though at present taking no ac- 

 tive part in the business. 



Grant Thorburn, the founder of the 

 business, was born in Scotland and a 

 very interesting history of his life was 

 written by himself under the title, 

 "Life of Laurie Todd." This name was 

 the "nom de plume" he used when 

 contributing to the "Home Journal," 

 the society paper of the time, for he 

 was a man of fine literary instincts as 

 well as being noted for his business 

 ability and integrity. 



Mr. P, W. Bruggerhof, who has very 

 largely contributed toward the suc- 

 cess of the firm, was first associated 

 with the business in 1849. He became 

 a partner in 1855 and when the firm 

 was incorporated in 1894 he became 

 president of the company, which posi- 

 tion he still occupies. During the busy 

 season he makes his home in New 

 York, but during the remainder of the 

 year he resides at Norton, Conn., and 



is well known throughout the slate, 

 both politically and socially. 



This firm introduced many ■novel- 

 ties" that are now standard varieties. 

 Conover's Colossal asparagus was in- 

 troduced by them in 1869. Potato 

 Beauty of Hebron was offered in 1878 

 at $9 a barrel. In 1879 this potato 

 came near being the cause of inter- 

 national complications. Messrs. Thor- 

 burn & Co. shipped 1,000 barrels to one 

 of their customers in London and as 

 it was at about the advent of the po- 

 tato bug scare the English government 

 seized the lot. They were sent to one 

 of the government stores and each po- 

 tato washed and cleaned, with the re- 

 sult that eleven dead beetles were 

 found. The potatoes were then sold 

 for culinary purposes only and none 

 were allowed to be planted. The po- 

 tatoes White Elephant, Rural Blush, 

 Rural New Yorker, Carman No. 1 and 

 Carman No. 2 were also introduced by 

 this house. 



Lester's Perfected Tomato, which or- 

 iginated in Italy, and was known there 

 under the name "Porno d'Oro," was 

 one of the first solid tomatoes intro- 

 duced. Trophy was selected from this 

 variety. Their introductions include 

 a host of other well known and stand- 

 ard vegetables. 



The early catalogues of this firm are 

 very interesting. Quite a common price 

 for seeds in packets in the early days 

 was 12% cents. 



We present herewith portraits of the 

 three generations of Thorburns and 

 of Mr. F. W. Bruggerhof, now the ac- 

 tive head of the company. 



BOSTON. 



Review of the Market. 



Dull is still the word, and if it were 

 not for the funeral work, and the 

 hustling of the army of street fakirs, 

 business would almost be at a stand- 

 still, 



Koses are still a leader, and are not 

 over plenty, although a few are now' 

 coming in from freshly planted stock. 

 Brides and Maids still run small: $4.0!» 

 per KH) is the asking figure. Kaiserins 

 are more plenty, and those of good 

 quality easily bring ^S.W per 1(K). 

 Beauties are in good demand. Welch 

 Bros, are handling some nice stock, 

 grading from Jl.CIO to $4.W per dozen. 

 They also are receiving elegant Me- 

 teors, which bring $0.00 per lOO. Perles 

 are fine in quality; held at .$6.(Xi. 



Carnations are not so plenty as last 

 week, the hot weather now having its 

 effect on the old plants, and out-of- 

 door flowers are not yet in crop; -50 

 cents per 100 is the ruling price, while 

 Bradts and Lawson bring as high as 

 !?2.(iOperlOO. 



Asters plenty; 50 to 75 cents per 

 ItH!. Sweet peas are in over-stock at 

 7."i cents per 1,000. There are still a 

 few longiflorum lilies, which are sell- 

 ing well and easily bring $l.(Xi per 

 dozen. Tuberoses have made their 

 appearance, and are picked up by ths 

 fakirs at 50 cents per dozen stalks. 



