Mat 15, 1902. 



1 'he Weekly Florists' Review. 



877 



Asparagus Comorensis. 



If in Boston in the evening take a 

 look at the new mammoth electrical sign 

 on the top of a store on that street. It 

 can just shout any short sentence in any 

 language. 



A Wellesley tiorist ordered .$ooO worth 

 of lumber. A clerk misplaced the letter 

 and the goods were not ready when ex- 

 pected. This shows how frisky "Capers" 

 sometimes become "Steam" questions. 



L. E. Small has just one white carna- 

 tion plant with marked peculiarity in 

 method of bloom. The calyx cannot be 

 said to "split," but it gracefully opens 

 wide and lets out a blossom like a chrys- 

 arthemum, and about as large. The ef- 

 fect is not bad at all. 



There is always "somethin' doin' " out 

 at Peiree's. Just now they are watching 

 the development of 50,000 tine spirea 

 plants with an average of ten spikes per 

 plant. I am told that more than one or- 

 der of 20,000 each is already booked for 

 the end of the month. They cut it with 

 a sickle and give generous count per 

 bunch. 



Mr. Mitchell, of Waterville, Me., has 

 been Bostoning for a week or so just to 

 keep up with the times. Like all state-o'- 

 Maine men he is a fine fellow and a ris- 

 ing florist of the Pine Tree State's Uni- 

 versity city. 



It is hard to make some folks see any 

 good in a street florist, especially his 

 competitor under a roof. However, a 

 new use has been discovered for them. 

 They are a class of biped that does not 

 plan to be run over, any way, so when a 

 thief tried to do so with a tray of dia- 

 monds he had snatched the other day Mr. 

 Fakir stopped him. Good! 



But those yellow callas with spotted 

 leaves that J. J. McFarlane is bringing 

 in are a curious novelty. 



Did you note Mr. Walsh's new enam- 

 eled leather boots? J. S. Manter. 



ILION, N. Y. — Hakes & Son are build- 

 ing a new house, 15x100. 



ASPARAGUS COMORENSIS. 



We present herewith an engraving 

 from a photograph of this asparagus 

 furnished us by Mr. C. Eisele, Phila- 

 delphia, who tinds this species even more 

 useful than the well-known A. plumosus, 

 as it grows much faster and makes a 

 string in far less time. As will be 

 seen by the picture, the habit closely 

 resembles that of plumosus. 



Mr. Eisele says : "It was introduced 

 into European gardens about twelve 

 years ago from the Samoan Islands, but 

 I obtained the seed from Southern Cali- 

 fornia. It looks very much like plumo- 

 sus, but is even more graceful than that 

 variety, and grows more vigorously, mak- 

 ing very long strings in a shorter time." 



ST. LOUIS. 



Qub Meeting. 



The dull MH'ctiug opened with only 

 se\en members present, the growers be- 

 ing all bus.v with spring planting. Pres- 

 ident Meinhardt and Vice-President Ellis 

 were again absent, and again ex-Presi- 

 dent Fillmore occupied the chair, and 

 conducted the meeting in his usual pleas- 

 ant style. All committees are expected 

 to make a full report at the June meet- 

 ing. It was also decided to dispose of 

 the World's Fair matter for good, and 

 so if any one feels interested in this 

 matter let him attend this meeting or 

 forever hold his peace. Mr. Fred L. 

 Plant, of the Plant Seed Co., made appli- 

 cation for membership, which will be 

 acted upon at the next meeting. 



Messrs. Koenig and Tesson were each 

 to have read an essay, but as neither of 

 these gentlemen were present they will 

 be asked by the trustees to have their 

 papers ready for the June meeting. 



The trustees were instructed to make 

 arrangements for the annual picnic to 

 take place some time in July. The next 



meeting of the club will be held at Belle- 

 ville in the Commercial Club rooms and 

 will be held a week later (the third 

 Thursday in the month), which will be 

 .Tune 19, at 2 o'clock. This kind invi- 

 tation was extended us through Dr. A. 

 S. Halstedt. At this meeting we will 

 also hold our annual smoker and a few 

 songs and stories will make it worth 

 your while to make the trip. Every 

 florist is welcome to join us at this meet- 

 ing. The meeting was voted a week 

 later, as by that time all the work will 

 be done and all will find time to have a 

 good time. After a few discussions on 

 questions taken from the box the meet- 

 ing adjourned. 



The Market. 



The market was in worse condition 

 than ever last week, and each day the 

 wholesalers were stumped to know what 

 they would do with the next day's ship- 

 ments, as every box was full from the 

 day before. Never was stock disposed of 

 any cheaper than last week. It is said 

 that 10,000 roses, assorted colors, were 

 sold at $10. Just think of it! $1 per 

 1,000. Carnations, too, were slaughtered, 

 the fakirs selling the original bunches 

 at 15 cents or two for 25 cents. What 

 is going to become of our business if this 

 state of affairs keeps up? The legitimate 

 florist buys his supplies early in the 

 morning and pays from $1 to $1.50 per 

 100 for carnations, and from $3 to $6 for 

 roses. Perhaps two or three hundred 

 of each and a few sweet peas will be 

 about all he will need just now. After 

 this the street fakir or store fakir (one 

 is as bad as the other) comes along and 

 buys his stock — 1,000 carnations at $5 

 and 1,000 roses at the same price. The 

 same stock is given to each buyer. I 

 think it would be a good thing if the 

 growers would only send in their first- 

 grade when stock is so plentiful and gel 

 a good price for it, and dump the other 

 stock themselves. By doing this the 

 cheap stuff would be kept off the streets 

 and it would soon put the market in » 

 healthy condition. 



It is of no use to quote prices this 

 week. I have said too much already and 

 I hope to speak more favorably of the 

 market in my next report. No doubt 

 the grower, when he gets his report from 

 his consignor, will take a little of my 

 advice in regard to shipping only the 

 best of his stock to this market and he 

 will find reports will be better after that. 



The retailers are complaining that last 

 week was a dull one, and even funeral 

 work, which was quite plentiful, was 

 lost sight of. The sudden hot weather 

 put an end to all social events and the 

 theaters have all closed, and from now 

 on things in this line will be over; the 

 only thing we have to fall back on is 

 the school closings next month, as Dec- 

 oration Day in St. Louis is of no bene- 

 fit to the florists, and not much is ex- 

 pected of the school closings, as the in- 

 vitations will still read, "No flowers, 

 please," and so the only thing that is 

 really looked for from now on is funeral 

 work. 



Park Planting. 



The planting season will open this 

 week at the city parks. Everything 

 throughout the parks is looking fine, es- 

 pecially the shrubs and trees. The 

 planting will be under the supervision 

 of Supt. Pape. The severe wind and 

 hail storm of Sunday week ago did 

 quite a lot of damage to trees in the 



