492 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



March G, 1002. 



or free entertainment of any kind would 

 bring out a larger attendance, for the 

 majority of members are well able to 

 buy that for themseKes. It's merely in 

 my opinion a selfish indifi'erence, a lazy 

 stay-at-home inclination, a want of loy- 

 alty to the calling they are engaged in. 



if we could all have such a splendid 

 m;eetiug as that held in Pittsburg re- 

 cently, where the evening was spent in 

 learning the views of all the expert hor- 

 ticultural liuilders of the country, how 

 proud we should be, and that was only 

 ' one of many there. 



There has been a great turn over in 

 our park commissioners of late. The 

 board of fifteen, a truly unwieldly num- 

 ber, who formed themselves into small 

 political cliques, has been legislated out 

 and a new board of five members ap- 

 pointed by the mayor. Five, if of the 

 right kind, is surely enough, and it is 

 now up to the five new gentlemen. My 

 opinion of such a board is that one 

 might be a high class civil engineer, one 

 an architect, one an all round horticul- 

 turist, one a prominent lawyer, and the 

 fifth a first-class business man. 



In the retiring board and among our 

 leading citizens a movement has begun 

 to raise funds to erect a monument to 

 our late park superintendent, William 

 McMillan. Buffalo is honoring herself 

 when she does this and the responses 

 are already most gratifying. Many men 

 who failed to see his great qualities 

 while with us are now the reailiest to 

 do his memory honor. Xotliing I can 

 say of his ability, his absolutely pui;e 

 and rugged honesty and entire devotion 

 to his life's work, which is a monument 

 to him, can enhance his good work, for 

 they are now known by all thinking peo- 

 ple. Pity 'tis that he could not have 

 realized tliis while on earth. 



Buffalo was represented at Indianapo- 

 lis by a small delegation. There should 

 have been at least two more. And the 

 anxiety as to fuel supply was, I believe, 

 the only cause of W. J. P. stopping be- 

 hind. I suppose those that didn't go 

 will be very willing to learn all there 

 was to be gained by the show. Ijct them 

 go and see for themselves and pay for 

 it. It was a glorious convention, Ixjth 

 professionally and socially. Xo such 

 ideal quarters for the convention are 

 likely to bo met with till we go there 

 again. And the men of Indiana are of 

 a rare brand. The delay of trains get- 

 ting the members and exhibits there was 

 the only regrettable feature. 



Gurney Hill is getting to be a face- 

 tious old joker and ought to be on the 

 stall' of Puck. And that Mr. Haugh. 

 whose witticisms bristled out in several 

 places, is very hot stuff. 1 would like 

 to know him better. And what's the 

 matter with that level-headed man from 

 Fort Wayne and his talented wife. Judge 

 Vesey, that little luncheon and its en- 

 vironments will not soon be forgotten. 

 If Carmody gives us much more of the 

 Infernal regions and his Satanic Majesty 

 we shall begin to think (being somewhat 

 of a Tlieosophist ourselves | that we have 

 the real okl Nick sojourning with us in 

 a mild and attenuated form and that 

 when he descends below (distant may 

 the day be) that there will be volcanic 

 eruptions and violent quakes in the re- 

 gion of Evansviile. 



It was good, sparkling, hospitable and 

 jolly all around and worth thirteen 

 times the price of the journey. For such 

 gatherings we live, and all too soon we 

 shall be unable to meet the congenial 

 spirits we like and in whose company 



the brightest hours of our lives are 

 spent. I would like to give every one 

 of you a rub, but space forbids. The 

 only other sad occurrence was that the 

 glass of "sparkling" never reached as 

 high up the table as ilr. Kennedy, of 

 Eocky Kiver, Ohio. W." S. 



PHILADELPHIA. 



The Market. 



The market has fallen otT a little. Last 

 week finished badly, Saturday being a 

 great day for the fakirs, who had a pic- 

 nic with some stuff that was storm 

 stayed in the commission houses. Still 

 there was lots of good business done. 

 This week the weather is better; March 

 comes in quietly as a lamb after stormy 

 February and at time of writing there 

 was reason to expect a gradual improve- 

 ment in volume of business until after 

 Easter. Prices are falling and will fur- 

 tlier decline with warm, sunny weather. 

 Special Beauties are more plentiful at 

 from $0 to $7 per dozen; Brides and 

 Maids, .$10 to $12 per 100; carnations, 

 choice, $3 to $4; good single violets, 30 

 to 50 cents per 100; good doubles, 50 to 

 75 cents per 100; Eastor lilies, $10 to 

 $15 per 100; valley. $3 to .$4; sweet 

 peas, 50 cents to $1 per 100. 



These prices will give a general idea 

 of what the best stuff brings. Now, if 

 you want to see the bear side here is a 

 glimpse: Double dalVs one day, so much 

 for the lot; if measured out in small 

 quantities, 50 cents to $1 per 100 — nice 

 ones, too. Another day, pretty fair ones 

 were hawked on the street at less than 

 half alxive wholesale quotations. Again, 

 1.000 or more tulips l,a Reine, Rose 

 (!ris-deLin and Belle Alliance (of. il 

 must be confessed, passe appearance) 

 failed to tempt even a fakir. But let us 

 draw the curtain: such things must be 

 and it is only good to get a glimpse of 

 them occasionally. 



Some very fine white snapdragons 

 were on a counter at S. S. Pennock's: 

 splendid Mowers for altar vases. 



Blooming plants arc becoming more 

 plentiful, giving a prctaste of Easter, as 

 it were. The store windows are gay with 

 rhododendrons. spir:ieas. genistas, prim- 

 ulas, tulips and daffodils in pans, and 

 nuiny others in pans. 



A Commission House. 



Edward Beid gave xmie interesting 

 ideas on the development of his business 

 a few days ago. His aim with carna- 

 tions, his specialty, is to keep them under 

 natural conditions. The flowers are put 

 in a well ventilated room immediately 

 on their arrival in jars of water. Under 

 this tieatment they last well. Mr. Reid 

 believes a check in development is large- 

 ly responsible for sleepiness. Among the 

 flowers seen in this room were some fine 

 Marquis, which now bring 6 cents. Re- 

 garding his customers. Mr. Reid said 

 that he always treated an order en- 

 trusted to him exactly the same as if the 

 buyer were piesent. Stock was selected 

 for out-of-town buyers without extra 

 charge, it being considered fairer to 

 give these distant customers full benefit 

 of the changes in the local market. Re 

 garding the growers, no effort has been 

 spared to encourage^ the production of 

 fine stock, such stoct always being held 

 for full piice. When a grower persist 

 entl.v sends poor flowers he is dropped. 



School Lane. 



Horticulturally speaking, the most.iu- 



teresting of the private places on School 

 Lane is that of William \yeightman, pr3- 

 sided over by John MeCleary. There 

 are five narrow houses devoted to vege- 

 tables and four larger ones, including the 

 conservatory, for plants and flowers. 

 The winter vegetables are famous. Po- 

 tatoes are grown botli in pots and on the 

 bench. The tops are kept trimmed and 

 the -potatoes carefully removed as the.v 

 develop, enabling the smaller tubers also 

 to reach perfection. Tomatoes are grown 

 in pots and trained into an arbor. Three 

 crops are secured for each batch of 

 vines. Difficulty is sometimes experi- 

 enced in inducing the fruit to set in mid- 

 winter. String beans are grown in the 

 bench, supported b.v an original contriv- 

 ance of adjustable wire on stakes. Cauli- 

 flower, lettuce, squash, cucumber, aspar- 

 agus and melons are also successfull.v 

 grown. Two beds of mushrooms under 

 benches bore evidence of heavy yield. 



Carnations are grown in variety. Of 

 roses. Beauty, Bride and Maid.' witli 

 some boxes of grafted Brunners in bud. 

 A great variety of foliage and flowering 

 plants is here, all bearing evidence of 

 intelligent culture. The yellow Primula 

 llnribunda was very pretty, covered with 

 its small bright blossoms. 



Samuel S. Pennock delivered a case of 

 ribbon at the Twenty-third and Race 

 street freight station last week. The 

 railroad company allowed the case to 

 remain on the platform over night, where 

 it was submerged, spoiling much of the 

 contents. There seems good cause for 

 recovery on the ground of negligence on 

 the part of the compan.v. 



Mrs. W. G. Fre.y, of Roxborough. is 

 dead. 



The meeting of the cluli on Tuesda.v 

 evening was devoted to a discussion on 

 the best method of bringing out a new 

 rose. 



Bowling. 



The Florists won two out of three 

 games from the Alexis team in a Bowl- 

 ers' League contest last week. The scores 

 of the Florists follow: 



Moss 112 105 1% 



Mooney 175 138 127 



Miiore 166 104 135 



Dunham 147 172 149 



Johnson 176 158 193 



Team total.s 765 682 740 



The .Mexis team totals were 767. 756 and 684. 



Phil. 



HEATING AND PIPING. 



Our four houses are each 10x76, with 

 no partition walls. The outside walls 

 are 4 ft. in height and a potting shed 

 runs across the west end of the houses. 

 There is glass and a door in the east 

 end of each house. 



Our piping at present is not satis- 

 factory. \\'e know there is not sufficient 

 pipe for this climate and expect to put 

 in more «hen we remodel this summer 

 and wish to do so to the best advantage. 



At present we have two 2A-inch flows 

 from boiler, rising about 6 ft., turning 

 into a 25-inch main, one at the boiler 

 and one running about half wa.v down 

 the shed, and then turning into main, 

 from whicli arc five 2-inch flows which 

 connect with the flows (2-inch) in each 

 house. Would it be better to have 4- 

 inch risers from boiler, and would one 

 4-inch be suflicient instead of the two 

 2Jinch ■/ Then our returns are 2-in., 

 H, IJ and one 4-inch return, most of 

 them running into a 2i-inch return on 

 one side of the boiler. Would it be bet- 

 ter to have 4-inch returns, at least near 

 the boiler? In repiping these houses we 



