466 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



SEPTEMBER 29, 1S98. 



for he is gorgeous when lie comes, 

 even if he does receive the abuse of the 

 rose specialist. 



After several broken promises we 

 found ourselves yesterday morning at 

 the beautiful and interesting home of 

 Mr. George Urban, at Pine Ridge, Erie 

 county. Nearly a score of the best 

 known florists of the country will re- 

 member this comfortable and home- 

 like place. They will recall the little. 

 pond on which Dan Farson and W. 

 A. Manda tried to steer a heavyweight 

 canoe, and the rustic summer house 

 where many an illustrious man has re- 

 ceived the advice of his friends. I 

 can't remember all the boys who 

 heard the inimitable stories of Mr. 

 Urban on that August evening in '8i>, 

 but I know the heavyweights like 

 Michael Norton and Edwin Lonsdale 

 were represented; that it sadly upset 

 the usually efficient capabilities of one 

 member from officiating as a baseball 

 umpire we have received countless 

 reminders. Mr. Urban is nothin;;- 

 short of a wonderful man. Besides 

 being the proprietor of a vast mill 

 where the staff of life is ground out 

 and helping along every great enter- 

 prise in town, he can talk so thor- 

 oughly and entertainingly of fruits, 

 vegetables, herbs, flowers, trees— 

 from the majestic oak to the spicy 

 tarragon — that you wonder how he 

 ever found time to notice it all, and 

 then vou have only begun to skirmish 

 around the frills of his knowledge; 

 steam and hot water heating, electric- 

 ity, hydraulics, politics, pomology, 

 tomatoes and theology are all equally 

 grasped and mastered by his broad 

 mind. 



By his good nature we enjoyed a 

 ride" behind a team that goes faster 

 than we care to ride except when 

 drawn by a locomotive, and the first 

 fall was "at the new establishment of 

 Baumer Bros., also on the Ridge road. 

 Geo. Baumer was over 20 years gar- 

 dener for Mr. Urban, but is still a 

 young man. They have just com- 

 pleted two more houses, making a 

 well built, well heated and well ar- 

 ranged establishment of five houses, 

 all now filled with carnations and one 

 house of roses, but I could see they 

 expect to do a heavy plant trade in 

 the spring. A stall in the market is 

 the outlet. With their own ten acres 

 of good land, their good start and 

 great industry, nothing but success 

 awaits them. 



Then the high strung team of bays 

 pulled us at a 2:1.> gait within a few 

 yards of the big arena where Corbelt 

 and McCoy will fight (?). There on 

 the Lancaster road. Chautauqua, is 

 the thrifty establishment of Messrs. 

 Schwert & Berner. They are very 

 prosperous men ard the produce of 

 their establishment cuts a big figure 

 in our flower market. Several house-; 

 of carnations looked well and other 

 houses were filled with flowering be- 

 gonias, primroses, cyclamens, pot 

 clirysanthemums and other crops 

 which will be cleaned out in time for 



their large stock of bedding plants to 

 develop. As they turn out 20,OiK> ge- 

 raniums in 4-inch pots they need 

 room; three or four acres of good land 

 devoted to summer flowers keeps them 

 out of mischief. One more word about 

 these boys. They have several cast 

 iron boilers standinii under a shed. 

 There was no sign "For Sale," but in 

 their various shapes and rustiness 

 looked awfully forlorn. In iheir place 

 they have put a tubular marine holier 

 which does the whole business, and 

 we really think they will by the 

 change save several hundred dollars 

 in fuel and many dollars in overtima 

 labor. W. S. 



CHICAGO. 



The Market. 



There seems no material change 

 from last week except that the lower 

 grades of stock are a trifle easier in 

 price, good stock holding up well to 

 last week's figures as a general rule. 

 There is a good supply in the market, 

 but demand is holding up fairly well 

 on the average, though there are occa- 

 sional weak spots. Good carnations 

 have been scarce at times, though 

 there is generally an abundance of 

 lower grade stuff. Good Maids have 

 been a little short at times, while 

 there has at no time been enough 

 first-class Beauties. The dealers gen- 

 erally take an encouraging view of the 

 situation, though prices are not up 

 to the level they ought to be. 



Club Meeting. 



The next meeting of the Florists' 

 Club will be held Friday evening, Oc- 

 tober 7. At this meeting Mr. E. Bu- 

 ettner will tell the members of the in- 

 teresting things he saw while on his 

 recent European trip. 



After the adjournment of the regu- 

 lar meeting those interested in bowl- 

 ing will have a meeting and take steps 

 to organize a regular bowling club, 

 with a full staff of officers, by-laws, 

 etc. 



Various Notes. 



The auction sale of plants from 

 Siebrecht & Son at 114 Wabash avenue 

 last Monday brought out a good crowd 

 of florists. John P. Cleary, the New 

 York plant auctioneer, was on hand 

 and kept the stock moving. But he 

 could stay only the one day and when 

 evening came only about half had 

 been sold. The remainder is being of- 

 fered at private sale and each after- 

 noon J. Austin Shaw and John Thorpe 

 are taking turns at auctioneering. The 

 sale will continue the remainder cf 

 this week. 



We deeply regret having to an- 

 nounce that the little daughter of Mr. 

 George Stollery passed away the night 

 of September 21. aged 2 years and 8 

 months. Inflammation of the bowels 

 was the cause of death. Mr. Stollery 

 has the sincere sympathy of many 

 friends in his sad bereavement. The 

 funeral was held last Friday and was 



attended by many of the trade. The 

 floral arrangements sent by friends 

 were numerous. 



F. W. Sowby, formerly in business 

 in Muscatine, la., and who was in the 

 city with the view of renting green- 

 houses here, was run into by a heavy 

 wagon while on the street last week 

 and as a result is now in the county 

 hospital. Several ribs are broken and 

 he is apt to be confined to the hos- 

 pital for some time. 



Bassett it Washburn are cutting 

 some fine fancy carnations from under 

 glass which sell as high as $2 and .'?3 

 per hundred, though common stuff 

 ranges from ."ill cents to $1. They are 

 now beginning to cut from their house 

 of mignonette. 



Mrs. F. Hills has resumed business 

 and is now at E. H. Hunt's. 



Recent visitors: J. G. Heinl, Terre 

 Haute, Ind.; W. H. Ellis, Milwaukee. 



E. H. Hunt has returned to the city 

 and is looking well and hearty. 



Bowling. 



Following are the scores and aver- 

 ages made at the alleys last Friday 

 evening: 



1st. 2d. Srd. Jth. 5th. Av. 



G. I>. Grant 1S9 131 IDl 172 ... 1S5 



Robt. Schenk 132 116 150 ; 142 



E. F. Winteison 139 115 148 IGO ... 140 



Jno. Degnan 151 151 123 127 ... 138 



J. S. Wilson 160 139 117 118 148 ]36 



C. S. .Stewart 136 140 101 12 > 



■T. Austin Shaw 82 121 144 115 



A. I>ange 113 90 121 108 



A. Henderson 99 99 126 IDS 



ST. LOUIS. 

 The Market. 



The dry spell has at last been brok- 

 en by a few days of rain. The warm 

 weather of the past week slackened 

 up trade somewhat and nothing can 

 be looked for in the way of good, 

 steady trade until cooler weather pre- 

 vails. The demand for a better qual- 

 ity of stock is now firmly on and 

 should cooler weather come this week 

 the retailer will be forced to carry a 

 much larger supply, something he has 

 not thought of doing for months past. 



There is hardly a scarcity of any 

 kind of flower just now; plenty of ro- 

 ses of all varieties and all of fair qual- 

 ity, with prices as follows: Beauty, 

 7'> cents to $2 per dozen; Meteors, 

 Brides and Maids, $2 to $4 per 100; 

 Perles and Woottons, .f2. All of these ■ 

 roses are plentiful except Meteors. 

 First-class Meteors sell clean every 

 day. with hardly enough to go around. 



Carnations are also looking better 

 each day and are in good demand. 

 Price on them remains $1. some extra 

 good ones going for $l.."i(>. Tuberose 

 spikes have gone up to .54 for Arm- 

 strong's ever blooming; the others 

 sell for $fi. Asters are about done 

 and only a few came in that sell at 

 40 and 50 cents per hundred. Smilax 

 sells at 10 to 1.5 cents per string. 

 Chrysanthemum blooms will soon be 

 in and then as usual the bottom will 

 drop out of the market in roses and 

 carnations. This is the cry of the' 

 growers at this time of the year. 



