JUI.Y IT 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



223 



The Aster Family Take the Field. 



out, but that he knew it was cheaper. At 

 the ' ' mum ' ' show in November I again 

 asked the question. He still didn't 

 know, and I don't suppose he knows at 

 this day, but he went into bankruptcy 

 some time since. I don 't know that the 

 fuel question bankrupted him, but T feel 

 (■onfident that hLs uubusiness-like meth- 

 ods and his failure fn keep track of ex- 

 penses finally led to his assignment. 



Systkm. 

 [To be contimied.] 



WE SOMETIMES WORK. 



Phiiitiug asters, in Hay is a nice little 

 job. and those planted about the loth 

 of May have done so well this year. 

 Water is the great factor towards suc- 

 cess with these popular annuals and of 

 that we have had altogether too mvich. 

 Wien we were planting one afternoon, 

 a reall.v nice behaved boy (a rarity in a 

 country village) came along with tripod 

 and camera. (I think he was taking shots 

 of the hops of frogs to see if the.y could 

 be used in a brewery) and on the query, 

 "How much for a picture of this 

 bunch ! ' ' replied a quarter. ' ' Let her 

 slide," says I, and soon the performance 

 was over. Not a quarter of the time or 

 fuss that a $3 shot would take, and about 

 as good. 



The swarthy face ou the right has just 

 returned from nineteen months in the 

 Philij^pines ; the next with the rake is 

 an old tramp gardener past hard work, 

 but good at grading, and works for his 

 board and nominal Jjay; the next is an 

 expert with the axe and out of place at 

 gardening; he plays the fiddle evenings 

 and believes the whole aim in life is to 

 have one continuous chronic state of 

 good times; the next is a steady fellow 

 who wouldn't even neglect his work to 

 look up when he got the word ; the next 

 on. the left is what George III. called 

 a spade, and the next is the end and 

 north side of a carnation house, and you 

 will say, ' ' How is it if it is fine enough 

 to plant asters that the ventilators are 

 not up?"' Those ventilators are merely 

 used in summer from about May 20 to 



October 1, when we put them up and 

 fasten them up for the summer. 



The proprietor was seated on the plat- 

 form of the windmill fifty feet above 

 the ground, but unfortunately the cam- 

 era was not of sufficient exjianse to 

 take him in. There is nothing of great 

 horticultural value in this picture. It is 

 merely to illustrate the proper distance 

 to plant asters. They may appear wide 

 apart, yet if you will observe the feet of 

 the man with the rake (size No. 13), the 

 asters are ten inches between plants and 

 fifteen between rows. Corfu. 



PHILADELPHIA. 



The Market. 



The cut flower market is in pretty fair 

 shape for this season of the year. There 

 is very little local demand, but quite a 

 lot of shipping orders to go out of town 

 daily. White flowers are at a premium, 

 the colored blooms being as a rule harder 

 to sell. Beauties are becoming scarce and 

 are rather light in color; the buds have 

 good substance and the foliage is clean. 

 Sweet peas are no longer selling well and 

 at present prices hardly pay to cut or 

 handle. 



Marketing Cut Flowers. Joseph Heacock's 

 Views. 



I have always been in favor of a mar- 

 ket for the sale of our flowers. You 

 may remember some years ago I called 

 a meeting at Horticultural Hall in regard 

 to it, but it seemed that the time was 

 not ripe for it. I believe it is now. In 

 conversation with what few growers I 

 have met I find that there is a strong 

 desire for such a market. As Horace 

 Greeley said in regard to resuming specie 

 payments after the civil war. • ' The way 

 to resume is to resume. ' ' So the way 

 to start a market is to start it, and al- 

 most before we are aware of it the mar- 

 ket will be an established fact, and those 

 growers who do not go in at first would 

 soon see the benefit of having a central 

 place where they could take tlieir flowers 

 at an early hour (say 7:30 to S a. m. in 

 winter) where the buyers from all over 



the city would know where to look for 

 and find \vhat flowers they wanted in- 

 stead of each grower carrying his roses 

 and other flowers around from store to 

 store like a peddler, unpacking at each 

 store and jiacking up the rejected flowers, 

 and then starting out in quest of another 

 store to go through the same experience, 

 bruising the flowers at each packing and 

 unpacking. 



Our business has certainly outgrown 

 this antiquated method. The growers 

 have too much capital invested to con- 

 tinue in this cumbersome and extravagant 

 method of disposing of the product of 

 our greenhouses. I understand that there 

 is no large city but Philadelphia but has 

 a flower market. Philadelphia is pro- 

 verbially slow, but she generally gets 

 there at last. I am ready to join with 

 others in starting a market and if others 

 will not join with me I am seriously 

 considering the question of starting- 

 alone. 



Notes. 



Eugene Bernheimer will remove liis 

 wholesale commission house about the 

 first of next month to 11 South 16th 

 street, a stone's throw from his present 

 place at 1604 Ludlow street. The new- 

 place is larger and better adapted for 

 handling Qut flowers than the old; it has 

 floor space 16x44 feet, with additional 

 space back 12V2xl6% feet, making a to- 

 tal depth of over 60 feet. 



George Samtman is a very popular 

 man these days; many friends meet his 

 train at the Reading Terminal, each one 

 has a few whispered words with the 

 Chestnut Hill grower and departs. It 

 is estimated that his nods are worth from 

 one to four dozen Beauties apiece. 



A successful manufacturer of gas met- 

 ers writing to a local paper over the nom 

 de plume of "A Friend ' ' states that in 

 firing all boilers except locomotive, much 

 coal maj be saved by spreading 'fresh 

 coal in front only, and not over the entire 

 surface. The live coal should be pusheil 

 liack each time coal is needed and the 

 fresh coal put in its place. This is to 

 secure perfect combustion and to avoid 

 the waste so apparent when the surface 

 is evenly covered. 



Bowling. 



The fourth and last of the series of 

 games to decide the makeup of our team 

 at Asheville took place ou the alleys of 

 the Belmont Cricket Club in West Phila- 

 delphia. Sides were chosen by G. C. Wat- 

 son and W. Eobertson, and a spirited 

 struggle ensued. W. K. Harris showed 

 the stuft' he is made of by winning a 

 point on the evening's play with a good 

 score. Fourteen players competed. Star- 

 key, who is sure to get a place, and Falck, 

 w!io is sure not to get a place, did not 

 come. Following are the seores: 



Geo. Anderson 510 .*^. Adelberger 447 



Geo. M. Moss 502 Frank PoUtes 43» 



Geo. Craig 501 W. R. Gibson 430 



The Georges are right in it! 



Robert Kift 496 D. T. Connor 435 



W. Robertson 474 Piliii Westcott 402 



W. K. Harris 471 S. Dnnlar 38<3 



J. P. Haberraehl. . .447 G C. Watson 3.55 



The scores by points follow: Geo. M. 

 Moss, 4; B. Starkey, George Anderson, 

 Robert Kift and William Eobertson, 3 

 each ; George Craig and G. C. Watson, 2 

 each. These seven players compose the 

 team, the last two having to roll off the 

 tie in points to decide which one shall 

 be a regular and which a substitute 

 player. 



