The Weekly Florists' Review, 



253 



Gunnera Manicata. 



Membership and Permanent Fund— Member- 

 ship costs 52 per year; remittance to be made 

 to the secretary. Contributions toward the 

 permanent fund are always open, particulars 

 of which can be obtained from the secretary. 



CHICAGO TO BUFFALO. 



The Chicago Florists' Club transporta- 

 tion committee has arranged with the 

 Wabash railway for a special train to 

 Buffalo for the convention of the Society 

 of American Florists, August 6 to 10. 



The train will leave Monday, August 

 5, at 4 p. ni. and will reach Buffalo at 

 7:30 Tuesday morning. The committee 

 is assured of an unusually well appoint- 

 ed special train. The rate will be $13 

 for the round trip, and less should there 

 be any cut in rates by the railroads for 

 that week. The sleeping car fare will 

 be $3 a berth each way. An excellent 

 dining car service is assured. 



Florists in the west and northwest are 

 cordially invited to travel with the Chi- 

 cago party. 



Berths may be reserved by addressing 

 any member of the committee as below: 

 G. L. Grant, 

 334 Dearborn street. 

 P. J. Hauswirth, 

 223 Michigan avenue. 



E. F. WlNTERSON, 



45 Wabash avenue. 



GUNNERAS. 



In outdoor planting there are certain 

 locations in which a single specimen of 

 some bold foliaged plant is the most ef- 

 fective to use and in such a place one 

 of the gunneras may provide just the 

 effect needed. 



These plants are among the largest 

 of perennial heros, producing a crown 

 of gigantic leaves that bear some re- 

 semblance to those of the rhubarb. 



The inflorescence of gunnera is not 

 specially striking, the small flowers be- 

 ing crowded together in a cone-like mass 

 that is thrown up on a stout stem to 

 a licight of three or four feet and except 

 it be for the purpose of seed-bearing it 



IS pro 



bablv bettc 



slnii-. Iiciiur the flowers are open and 

 llin- 1 I \\w'\\ the strength of the plant 



i;ich. luui.sL soil is that best adapted 

 for growing gunneras, and out of the 

 ten or more species that are known to 

 botanists there are two that are spe- 

 cially suited for lawn ornamentation, 

 namely, G. manicata and G. scabra. ut 

 tnese "the first named is the larger and 

 better species, and under favorable con- 

 ditions throws up massive leaves that 

 are frequently five or six feet in diam- 

 eter, and are said to occasionally reach 

 the tremendous dimensions of ten (HI) 

 feet ^.anieter. 



Such leaves cannot fail to attract at- 

 tention and the noble appearance of a 

 specimen of this species is well shown 

 in our illustration which is reproduced 

 from the London "Garden." This pic- 

 ture also gives us a hint in regard to 

 location, for although the gunneras 

 should have full exposure to sunshine, 

 yet it is best for them to have such a 

 shelter from violent winds as would be 

 provided by the background of trees, 

 as otherwise the large leaves of the gun- 

 nera may be torn or broken. 



Tlie second species to which we have 

 referred, G. scabra (or G. ehilense), re- 

 sembles the first in general character, 

 but is a smaller grower and less prick- 

 ly in the leaf stalks than G. mancata, 

 the flowers also being of a different color. 

 These two species are hardy at least 

 as far north as Boston and possibly 

 somewhat beyond that point, but the 

 crowns of the plants should be protected 

 by a good covering of leaves, this cov- 

 ering being put in place about Dec. 1, 

 or at the beginning of severe weather. 

 W. H. Taplin. 



Rochester, N. Y.— Charles W. White, 

 formerly a prominent florist, and who 

 retired from business about eight years 

 ago, died July 17, aged 73 years. 



Our Convention Number will be issued 

 next week and will contain a report of 

 the Buffalo convention. 



Come to the Convention. 



There has been nothing going on of any 

 special moment for the past week and a 

 few of the florists now have time to visit 

 the races across the river. Too bad that 

 we are too busy to join them. It is a 

 strange thing that florists seem to have 

 a fair share of the sporting element in 

 their make-up and Buffalo men are not 

 the only ones that we have known who 

 have rather a taste for the race track. 



We are all hustling now in prepara- 

 tion for the great week which starts in 

 on Tuesday next, and I trust nothing 

 will be left undone. I hope they all 

 have taken advantage of what we have 

 done by endeavoring to look out com- 

 fortable quarters for every one. There 

 are, as I have before said, any amount of 

 beautiful homes ready to receive you at 

 a moderate price, if you will only avail 

 yourself of the opportunity. But too 

 many have neglected to do this and are 

 liable to find themselves in undesirable 

 quarters. Trust to the florists, even if 

 you have made no arrangements up to 

 date, and we will find you good homes, 

 Tlie firm of Neubeck & Myers have 

 dissolved, Mr. Myers retiring and Louis 

 H. Neubeck carrying on the business. 



As you will see by the list of prizes 

 published in the trade papers last week, 

 there is a good lot to compete for and 

 several more prizes have been added. 1 

 would say to the shooters, or all who in- 

 tend to participate in the shooting, 

 bring your guns. In jny opinion no one 

 should shoot unless they can shoot. You 

 can do very little harm on the bowling 

 alley and you can trundle down a ball 

 in some sort of shape, but it is entirely 

 different to shoot, and unless a man 

 knows how to handle a gun he should 

 forego any attempt to shoot, for it is 

 dangerous sport. 



There has been a request from some 

 cities tlint the day of the bowling should 

 be altered, but this it is now impossible 

 to do. It was not the wish of the local 



