274 



The Weekly Florists t Review. 



AUGUST IT, 1899. 



with applause. An open house for all 

 was promised. 



The discussion of the report of the 

 Committee of Purchase was started 

 and soon drifted into a criticism of 

 trusts of all kinds. Mr. E. G. Hill 

 thought the florists might find relief 

 from the glass situation by starting 

 a co-operative glass factory of their 

 own. He condemned the tariff of 140 

 per cent, on glass, which made it pos- 

 sible for the American glass factories 

 to disregard the possibility of foreign 

 competition. 



Mr. J. L». Dillon thought the pottery 

 combination should also receive 1 atten- 

 tion and stated that they had parceled 

 out the country into sections, requir- 

 ing buyers to purchase of the factory 

 in their territory only. 



The pipe trust, other trusts and the 

 protective tariff were all touched up 

 by various speakers, and one member 

 raised a storm of applause by assert- 

 ing that while he was down on "trusts" 

 he thought the florists should them- 

 selves form a "combination" and put 

 up the prices of their products. In re- 

 sponse to laughing inquiries as to the 

 difference between a trust and a com- 

 bination he held his ground firmly that 

 there was an important difference. 



In this discussion the statement that 

 florists could safely have increased the 

 price of bedding plants 50 per cent, the 

 past spring seemed to carry convic- 

 tion to those present, all agreeing that 

 their stocks sold out too quickly at 

 prevailing rates and that all could 

 have been easily sold at increased fig- 

 ures. 



The nomination of officers was pro- 

 ceeded with and foreshadowed the 

 election of E. M. Wood, Natick, Mass., 

 as president; F. R. Pierson, New 

 York, as vice-president; W. J. Stew- 

 art and H. B. Beatty for re-election as 

 secretary and treasurer, respectively. 



The Oriental. 



The Oriental hotel caught a good 

 share of the crowd at Detroit. A 

 strong drawing card is a big swimming 

 pool free to guests of the hotel. In 

 each room was a comfortable bath 

 robe in which one might array himself 

 and proceed to the swimming pool at 

 any time. 



There were several great sessions in 

 the pool, and it was better than any 

 howling farce to see the boys chase 

 each other around the pool with the 

 hose. A certificate is hereby issued 

 that Ed. Winterson was positively 

 clean on Tuesday night, or there is no 

 virtue in water well laid on. And 

 Charley McKellar's cake walk, partly 

 out and partly in the water, was a 

 side-splitter. J. V. Merrion, arrayed in 

 a towel, is a picture to remember, and 

 J. Austin Shaw wrote a poem under 

 water that would have lived forever 

 had it not disappeared down the es- 

 cape pipe. J. Austin makes almost as 

 pretty a picture in trunks and a smile 

 as he does when he dons his bright 

 red tie. 



Imagine fifteen or twenty demure 

 little fellows like the above and C. C. 

 Pollworth, John Degnan, Chas. Dick- 



inson, J. S. Wilson, Harry Papworth, 

 N. Zweifel, J. G. Es-ler, W. A. Kennedy, 

 F. L. Atkins, James Hartshorne, A. 

 Klokner, C. S. Loder and H. V. Hunkel 

 all turned loose at once in a swimming 

 pool. 



Walter Kreitling wept copiously 

 when he heard of the fun he had 

 missed. 



STATE VICE-PRESIDENTS' 

 REPORTS. 



Illinois. 



I think I make no mistake in telling 

 you that in my city, and the state at 

 large, there has been an appreciably 

 better feeling and improved business 

 conditions since we last met, and this 

 among all classes and conditions of 

 the trade. 



In spite of increased glass area, 

 mainly for rose and carnation growing 

 alone, prices of these great factors, in 

 the florist's trade have kept more 

 steady all the winter than for several 

 years past, the gluts nearly always be- 

 ing among inferior grades that are al- 

 ways with us. 



The chrysanthemum as yet show's no 

 indication of losing its place as a fall 

 flower, although as the general run of 

 stock improves in grade, I fear the 

 higher grades fall back some in prices 

 obtained, and it is a question whether 

 this also does not take place in roses 

 and carnations, possibly in everything. 

 Lilies, both Harrisii and Longiflorum. 

 at times were hard to move and prices 

 low. 



An improved plant trade this spring, 

 especially in bedding plants, was very 

 notable. The sale of palms, orna- 

 mentals and ferns is greatly on the 

 increase. There is, however, much 

 room in Chicago for the grower of a 

 higher grade of pot plants, especially 

 for Christmas, Easter, and indeed 

 throughout the year. I look for this 

 department to be the best opening for 

 places of moderate size today. As the 

 monster establishments get more nu- 

 merous, smaller ones growing cut 

 flowers alone, without a home trade, 

 seem yet and will continue to find it 

 hard to make much headway; in other 

 words, growth seems to take place 

 mostly among a few firms, many old 

 ones making no progress at all. 



Although a very trying winter and 

 hard on the coal pile, and some dam- 

 age resulted from frozen plants under 

 glass, this was as nothing compared 

 to winter killing of out of door trees, 

 shrubs and herbaceous plants, which 

 was in many cases pitiful to all those 

 who want to see a better and choicer 

 variety of plants grown. Evergreens 

 suffered badly, as they are apt tu in 

 our prairie country, causing a disas- 

 trous backset again to their general 

 planting. 



The high price of glass, and indeed 

 of everything used in construction, as 

 well as so-called low prices for cut 

 flowers, has not stopped building. Al- 

 though imperfect as a whole, I have 

 notes of a list of nearly fifty firms 



(fourteen only of these outside of Chi- 

 cago) building 100 houses, containing 

 nearly 14,000 running feet, with some 

 half a million square feet of glass add- 

 ed to the supply of Illinois, and this 

 surely not all, by any means. Out of 

 this nearly one-half has been added by 

 half a dozen large firms, one alone 

 adding 163,275 square feet and using 

 200,000 square feet of glass, the same 

 firm claiming now the immense quan- 

 tity of 800,000 feet of glass, standing 

 on twenty-one acres of ground and this 

 in solid blocks, not a detached house 

 on the place. All this space is sub- 

 stantially for roses and carnations 

 alone. Is there anything equal to it in 

 the world? With five other firms add- 

 ed, the six have now one and three- 

 quarter millions square feet; veritable 

 rose and carnation farms under glass. 



Where are we at. or to what tend- 

 ing? What will the census tell us 

 next year? The census of 1890 gave 

 as the largest place in any state, 150,- 

 oi ii i square feet, and but one at that, in 

 Washington, D. C. This same census 

 gave my state 330 florist firms; there 

 are now in the city of Chicago alone 

 many more than this number. In a 

 radius of twenty miles, and mainly 

 tributary to Chicago's flower trade, 

 there are today 500 firms. 



The last census gave Illinois 3,236,- 

 750 square feet of glass area. It is safe 

 to estimate that Chicago now has near- 

 ly 5.000.000 square feet. In 1890 the 

 now big firms hardly were in exist- 

 ence, today they have well on to two- 

 fifths of the whole. The census gave 

 as the returns in flowers sold of the 

 330 firms of Illinois, $1,888,722.60. As 

 the year 1890, however, was still in 

 the boom times of the florist's busi- 

 ness, it is hardly likely the proportion 

 of sales will keep up with the increase 

 of firms and glass area, the tendency 

 being toward a lowering of prices ob- 

 tained when average price far all 

 flowers grown is taken into consider- 

 ation. 



The Horticultural Society of Chi- 

 cago's annual fall show is still a prom- 

 inent factor, but the society has yet to 

 learn how to make a flower show pay 

 all its expenses on its own merits. 

 This is partly owing to great expense 

 and poor halls to hold its shows in. 

 The coming fall an extraordinary de- 

 parture is mapped out, being no other 

 than the trial of holding a five days' 

 show in the Auditorium building, 

 which rents for $1,000 per day. There 

 is no other flower show in the whole 

 state of Illinois that I know of. 



The Chicago Florists' Club is still a 

 live institution, but can never be the 

 success it might be until the growers 

 take a greater interest in its well be- 

 ing. 



The American Association of Nur- 

 serymen held a. highly successful two 

 days' meeting in this city in June, at 

 the Chicago Beach hotel, six miles 

 from the center of the city. They ap- 

 pear to have settled down to a purely 

 business meeting for the time being, 

 waiving part of the original objects as 

 laid down — "Relaxation from business 

 cares and the cultivation of personal 



