Copyright, 1898, bv 

 rbORISTS' PLIBUIStlirSG CO., 520-535 Caxton Building, CHICAGO. 



Vol. n. 



CHICAGO AND NEW YORK, AUGUST 25, 1898. 



No. 39. 



ECHOES OF THE CONVENTION. 



Those returning from Omaha are 

 unanimous in reporting a satisfactory 

 meeting and a splendid entertainment 

 iiy the Omaha florists. 



Visit to Council Bluffs. 



The entertainment provided by Mr. 

 J. F. Wilcox, of Council Bluils, at his 

 own expense, Thursday afternoon, was 



a cut through one of the bluffs and at 

 the end of the cut Fairmount Park was 

 discovered. The cut through which 

 the cars passed must have been 30 to 

 40 feet deep and the walls were al- 

 most perpendicular but there was not 

 the slightest evidence of the soil hav- 

 ing washed down a particle. The soil 

 of these bluffs seems peculiarly tena- 

 cious and is as permanent as rock. In 



After a short stay here the party 

 again took the cars and were con^ 

 veyed to the greenhouses and residence 

 of IMr. Wilcox. Part of the houses are 

 on level ground but the rear ones 

 reach well up on the bluff at the back. 

 And up beyond the greenhouses is a 

 large vineyard. Mostly cut flowers are 

 grown in this establishment, and 

 though this is itself a large sheet of 



Partial view of the party seated at the tables on the lawn of Mr. J. F. Wilcox, Council Bluffs, la., Aug. 18. 



one of the most enjoyable of the con- 

 vention. No less than 265 people par- 

 ticipated, the party being provided 

 with special trolley cars for the trip to 

 Council Bluffs, five miles from Omaha. 

 After a pleasant ride over the long 

 bridge that spans the Missouri river 

 and through the fields of sunflowers 

 that fill the valley on the other side 

 Council Bluffs was reached and the 

 cars crept up a steep incline past 

 handsome residences and beautiful 

 lawns till a sudden turn was made into 



places houses were perched at the 

 edge of a cut in a way that seemed 

 exceedingly dangerous to people fami- 

 liar with the way soil caves off from 

 such cuts in their own states. 



In the park roads wind around 

 among the hills, and foot paths in- 

 vite to more difficult ascents, some of 

 which seem almost impossible to the 

 residents of less hilly sections. Mr. 

 Wilcox had provided conveyances for 

 the ladies and the gentlemen did some 

 Alpine clinjbing. 



glass, this is only one of the places 

 conducted by Mr. Wilcox. He has an- 

 other large establishment farther out 

 that is devoted wholly to vegetables, 

 and still another that is devoted to 

 fruit. 



On the lawn at one side of the house 

 was a large bed of plants in which 

 crotons were prominent. If crotons 

 did as well everywhere as they do here 

 there would be no question as to the 

 value of the croton for bedding. A 

 field of geraniums up the slope of the 



