March 27. M02. 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



633 



day morning, secured, by Mann Bros. 

 TMs took away the surplus, and that 

 kind lias been scarce ever since. The 

 red rose situation is getting slightly in- 

 flamed, caused by the increase of Jacks 

 and the influx of quite a few Ulricli 

 Brunners, as well as the gradual rise 

 of a crop of Beauties, Meteors and Lib- 

 erties. With good weather during tue 

 coming week all kinds of material will 

 stand a heavy drain for Easter. 



There is not a grower of any size in 

 the business who uses steam trains in his 

 sen'ice but can tell an interesting .story 

 about the history of his shipping boxi^s. 

 Among us the question is no longer 

 "What becomes of the pins?" but "What 

 becomes of the boxes?" No matter how 

 closely they are "followed up, they are 

 prone to go astray, and either disap- 

 pear entirely or return looking like the 

 man who takes second money at a prize- 

 tight. And when they do return, no man 

 can tell where they have been nor how 

 they got back. An average life of one 

 year is conceded to a good, strong box, 

 and I can point to you a man who 

 boasts of boxes two years old, and as 

 they are of seven-eighths material 

 bound all around with mail-plate 

 welded together, one would think them 

 good enough for ten years at least. And 

 they look ten years old now. 



I think the whole trouble lies with 

 the "baggage smasher" on the train. 

 The kind of boxes florists have bjen 

 using mostly just suits him, and his soul 

 delighteth in their destruction. He 

 learns to throw out a nest of them so as 

 to break their backs over a railroad iron 

 with great neatness and dispatch. His 

 broadest smile is caused by the recol- 

 lection of the times when he threw boxes 

 out at the wrong station and saw the 

 wrong man go otf with them (?). Once 

 in a great, great while, too, some one 

 borrows a box, and once in a greater, 

 greater while he returns it. 



There are two vastly different metn- 

 ods in vogue to olfset all this. One is 

 to use such cheap boxes and have so 

 many of them that the loss of a few 

 makes no difference, since they are tied 

 up with a cheap rope. The other is to 

 use nice, well-painted boxes, strapped 

 together with a dollar's worth of 

 leather or webbing, and when they are 

 lost to go to the highest official of tne 

 road that carries them. It is of no use 

 to approach the rank and file. Keep 

 away from the man who works for 

 wages. He does not know how to use 

 you decently and does not seem to want 

 to. Strike for his boss, who draws a 

 salary, and the higher the salary he 

 gets the more gentlemanly he can afford 

 to use you. State your case properly 

 and you will be heard. 



J. S. Manter. 



OBITUARY. 



James Pentland. 



James Pentland, the veteran florist of 

 Baltimore, Md., died at his home in that 

 ■city March 19. aged SO years. 



He was born in Grey Abbey, County 

 Downe, in the north of Ireland. When 

 a. youth his parents moved to Kendall, 

 England, and in 183:2 he came to the 

 United States and settled in Philadel- 

 phia. Jlr. Pentland, after several years' 

 apprenticeship in Philadelphia, came to 

 Baltimore in 1S44, and was employed in 

 Oreenniount Cemetery as a gardener. 



In 1849 he bought the property opposite 

 the cemetery gate, where he still car- 

 ried on the business at the time of his 

 death. 



As common to the gardeners of that 

 day, he grew bedding stuff, roses, nur- 

 sery stock, exotic grapes and cut flow- 

 ers, going to market to dispose of his 

 products, taking contracts to plant 

 country estates, and keeping city gar- 

 dens trim, etc. He soon began to pay 

 particular attention to the production 

 of roses — the garden sorts — and en- 

 larged his operations in this direction 

 until, at the time of the civil war, his 

 annual output was about 100,000 roses, 

 from pots, he having in his houses 750 

 sorts from which stock was propagated. 

 He engaged in hybridizing varieties and 

 produced several which were well re- 

 ceived by the trade, notably George Pea- 

 body and Beauty of Greenmount (Bour- 





The Late James Pentland. 



bons). Woodland Margaret (Noisette), 

 and Doctor Kane (hybrid tea). Mr. 

 Pentland for many years cultivated ex- 

 tensively the camellia, and raised some 

 tine seedlings of his own, of which Gen. 

 Robt. E. Lee, carmine, spotted white; 

 Stonewall Jackson, white, striped scar- 

 let : Anna, a beautiful pink, were con- 

 spicuously meritorious. 



Mr. Pentland's long association with 

 tiie flower trade of the country, the note- 

 worthy collection of roses so long main- 

 tained by him and attracting many vis- 

 itors, filled him with reminiscences both 

 curious and interesting, which were dear 

 to his memory. He recalled, after more 

 than sixty-five years, that at Jlr. Fet- 

 ters', in Philadelphia, he potted the first 

 plants coming to America of Souvenir 

 d'un Ami, Hermosa, Mme. Bosanquet, 

 La Eeine, and Mme. Laifay. 



Of the tough fiber which is the out- 

 growth of North Irish, or Scotch-Irish 

 blood, he carried his eighty years jaun- 

 tily, his head silvered, but his eye as 

 bright, his heart as light as a boy's, his 

 step unfaltering, his spirit undaunted. 

 For tno-thirds of a century he worked 

 with a trowel anu knife and spade, at 

 the bench, in the trench and in the nur- 

 sery row, and worked, too, just like ue 

 piayed — with all his. might. He was 



known for his frank speech, and friend 

 as well as foe was likely to get the rough 

 side of his keen tongue it he deserved 

 it. But, friend or foe, clerk or layman, 

 was sure of getting honest, fair treat- 

 ment ; and his word was ever his bond. 



Outside of his business, too, Mr. Pent- 

 land has led in many activities and been 

 much honored by his fellow men. One 

 term he represented this- city in the leg- 

 islature of Maryland. For many years 

 he was a prominent manager of the the 

 Maryland Institute, the local School of 

 Art and Design. For one year he was 

 ])resideut of the Gardeners' Club, presid- 

 ing with skill and vigor. He was one 

 of the oldest Masons in the State, es- 

 teemed by the whole craft, and with 

 many testimonials of their affection and 

 respect in shape of services of silver, 

 diplomas, jewels, etc. 



At the funeral the floral tributes 

 from his many friends in the trade were 

 numerous and elaborate. A wreath of 

 lilies, roses and carnations was sent by 

 the Gardeners' Club, and there were 

 others from individual members. 



He leaves a widow and three children, 

 the latter being James J. D. Pentland, 

 Wm. P. L. Pentland and Miss May Ha- 

 zel Pentland. 



ST. LOUIS. 



The Market. 



The market was very active last week; 

 there was no great scarcity of any one 

 thing, and the wholesale men were pret- 

 ty well cleaned up every night. De- 

 mand for first-class stock was good, par- 

 ticularly so of roses and carnations. 

 Violets are selling well, that is home 

 grown, which are disposed of in large 

 quantities, and often at low figures. In 

 bulb stock valley shows up finely, with 

 demand fair; tulips, except white, are 

 very slow ; same may be said of daffo- 

 dils; Dutch hyacinths have a good call, 

 but only the lighter shades; Harrisiis 

 and callas are naturally up in price; of 

 these the supply is going to be scarce for 

 Easter sales. 



The season of spring openings at sev- 

 eral of our large establishments kept 

 our greenhouse men quite busy the past 

 week with decorative work. This made 

 an extra demand for galax, both green 

 and bronze, the demand for which is im- 

 proving. Sniilax and other greens were 

 also freely used. 



There never was such a demand for 

 funeral designs as last week. Every flor- 

 ist in the city had nearly all he eould 

 handle, and all kinds of white flowers 

 were eagerly bought up, and our whole- 

 sale r. 'en say that white stock had the 

 greatest call last week of any week dur- 

 ing this season. 



The general opinion among the flor- 

 ists is that there will be a shortage of 

 cut stuff for Easter and especially of 

 lilies, and no doubt the prices will go 

 up as all the growers around here lost 

 all of their Harrisiis, and most of them 

 have only callas to sell. Some of the 

 Harrisiis seen in the stores and the mar- 

 ket are small and look sickly. In other 

 flowers the cut has been small for some 

 time past, but should the bright weather 

 continue the chances are that the cut 

 will be fairly good; but in any ease, 

 nothing will be over-plentiful unless it 

 may be bulb stuff. Shipping orders are 

 quite bri.sk at the wholesale houses and, 

 judging from this, growers at other 



