98 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



JUNE 29, 1899. 



W. C. Winter; 2d, W. N. Craig. For 

 display of eighteen vases, 1st, Mrs. 

 John L. Gardner; 2d, W. N. Craig. 

 For best vase of flowers artistically 

 arranged, 1st, Mrs. E. M. Gill; 2d, W. 

 C. Winter. On grapes, E. S. Converse 

 was awarded 1st for Black Hamburg; 

 2d, for White Chasselas. Gratuities 

 were awarded to T. C. Thurlow for a 

 collection of paeonies; the John Jer- 

 ries estate for foxgloves; Rea Bros, 

 for a collection of perennials; W. E. 

 Coburn and Jas. Comley for displays 

 of seasonable bloom; Kenneth Finlay- 

 son for gloxinias, and J. S. Bailey for 

 a. fine specimen of Acalypha Sanderii. 

 Jackson Dawson was awarded a silver 

 medal for a show of bloom, a hybrid 

 between Wichuriana and Indica Car- 

 meo; also a first-class certificate for a 

 vase of the new rose, Wm. Egan. 



The News. 



At the annual rose and strawberry 

 show of the Highland Horticultural 

 Society, Hingham, Mass., Geo. Hollis, 

 South Weymouth, made an exhibit of 

 some very promising seedling paeonies, 

 receiving a gratuity; Mr. Fred B. Mil- 

 ler took first honors with his roses, 

 winning the silver cup for the second 

 time. 



The daily papers report severe hail 

 storms in the western part of the 

 state. At Athol the greenhouses of 

 James Sutherland, Jr., were complete- 

 ly riddled. P. 



BUFFALO. 



Commencement Week. 



Last week was what is paradoxical- 

 ly called commencement week, which 

 is really closing of the schools of 

 every kind. I suppose for the grad- 

 uates it is commencement of earnest 

 life. Even business colleges now have 

 their flowery and oratorial exercises, 

 where the young man or woman is 

 launched into the world that is pict- 

 ured by the speaker of the evening as 

 a rose garden, with kid gloves, ice 

 cream, private secretaries, stenograph- 

 ers, typewriters (I mean the machines) 

 and automobiles — in fact, everything 

 rosy and pleasant except the fatiguing 

 job of looking for a situation at $4.00 

 per week. What a pity to mislead 

 confiding youth. Better tell them that 

 they are now to face stern reality, that 

 a dreary time of hard work and self- 

 sacrifice is before them and that their 

 future success in life will largely de- 

 pend on their faithful application to 

 their calling for the next ten years. 

 Too bad it is so, but until we get Bel- 

 lamy's ideal world it will be so. 



Flowers of all kinds were well clean- 

 ed up and that's a healthy state of 

 affairs. The outside sweet peas are 

 coming in very fine; there are some 

 great varieties, and out of the im- 

 mense variety there is at least a dozen 

 well worthy of cultivation. 



The Heptosophs. 



Close on the heels of the Shriners 



came a lot of "Heptosophs." Few of 



your readers know what they are. 



They are a nationality like the Maoris 



of New Zealand; they are like the 

 sociable Mormons of Utah, of all na- 

 tionalities. They are not banded to- 

 gether with the avowed purpose of in- 

 creasing the population or affording 

 ample facility for so doing. Their ob- 

 ject is to pay to your widow a certain 

 sum at your death. Like all young 

 fraternal insurance orders, they are 

 very enthusiastic and noisy, and, be- 

 ing very new, it is cheap. Fraternal 

 insurance is something like buying an 

 accident insurance ticket when going 

 to New York. You are not sorry if 

 you land safe and there your insur- 

 ance ends. With the fraternal order 

 it ends when the order "busts." It is 

 expecting something for which you 

 have never paid. These few introduc- 

 tory remarks are made to inform you 



^3P ^P^ 



Charles D. Ball. 



that Geo. Fancourt, Geo. Carr and 

 Mr. Handrick, of Scranton, are Hepto- 

 sophs, and I snowed them one morning 

 our parks and residence streets and 

 they had nothing but praise and ad- 

 miration for them. 



Route to Detroit. 



I see our friend Billy Kasting has 

 announced a cheap rate from Buffalo 

 and return via Wabash to Detroit. It 

 is almost an air line between this city 

 and the City of the Straits. The water 

 route would be pleasant, but out of 

 the question. There is no daily boat 

 between here and Detroit, and if there 

 was a boat leaving on the Monday 

 evening it would not reach Detroit 

 till 2 p. m. the following day. Any 

 train from the east on the Monday 

 from Philadelphia, New York or Bos- 

 ton will do, as the Wabash train leaves 

 here at midnight and reaches Detroit 

 at 7:00 a. m. 



Flower Beggars. 

 We have never noticed in former 

 years such an immense amount of beg- 

 ging. It is not once a day, but seldom 

 a day escapes with less than three or 

 four committees of young women who 

 call in for a contribution of flowers. 

 This is a nuisance growing apace and 



must be stopped. You of course have 

 all noticed that the beggars have us- 

 ually the same story. "We called, Mr. 

 S. (or P., or R., or W., or any old flor- 

 ist is good enough then), to ask if you 

 would not be so good as to donate a 

 few flowers to our bazaar. The pro- 

 ceeds of the bazaar will go to alleviate 

 " suffering among homeless cats." Or 

 may be it is a society to furnish the 

 naked children of Porto Rico with rub- 

 ber boots and mackintoshes, or, more 

 laudable still, a society called Chris- 

 tian Cleansers, whose missionaries in- 

 sist that our Italian population wash 

 themselves at least once a year, and 

 then the little story is always finished 

 with the remark, "You know we al- 

 ways get our flowers here," while you 

 know that you have not seen them 

 since the last begging tour and won't 

 again till the next bazaar or entertain- 

 ment. And this chestnut goes all along 

 the line. It is notorious that the best 

 flower buyers ask the fewest favors, 

 and vice versa. Do other business 

 men get treated in this way? We don't 

 believe they do. Mr. S. A. Anderson 

 has a scheme on foot to help us poor 

 florists and rid us of this tax and an- 

 noyance. I am not yet at liberty to 

 give details, but you shall have the 

 full benefit of it when perfected. The- 

 principle is that all donations be sent 

 to the commission house, who will fill 

 them and charge them to us. And the 

 commission man will know then that 

 Mr. W. A. Adams has donated $5.00 

 of flowers to the "Ladies of the Holy 

 Bloomers," and if Messrs. A., B. and C. 

 send similar orders the quantity will 

 be cut and the charge divided. It is 

 some such scheme. I know it will 

 work. It's a sort of "Florists Fooling 

 Charities Association." There is noth- 

 ing of the modern trust about it, as 

 the only trust connected with it will 

 be the trust that Kasting gives us. 



Another part of our business that 

 must be eliminated before we are on a 

 respectable basis is the continual do- 

 nating of "a few" palms for eveTy 

 frivolous occasion. Now and again 

 there are occasions and circumstances 

 where to lend a little of your services 

 and good to charity is a real pleasure, 

 but the many and oft times you are 

 asked to loan a few palms is a great 

 expense. You get little credit for it 

 and I believe it hurts the business, for 

 it makes that style of decoration too 

 cheap, not in price but in style. Mr. 

 Geo. Hale has recently told me of a 

 lady who talked at the rate of 400 

 words to the minute and this volume 

 of wind when articulated conveyed the 

 modest request for four dozen nice 

 palms for sweet charity's sake. He 

 had the moral courage to refuse. We 

 will also have to pool our interests on 

 the palm business, this we could call 

 the "Florists' Protective Palm Asso- 

 ciation, Limited." 



To refuse any of these requests 

 means offense, however unreasonable 

 they may be, and light as I have treat- 

 ed the subject, they are growing se- 

 rious to our business, and as we all 

 have and properly should have a cer- 



