OCTOBEB 30. 1902. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



751 



A House of La France at Wietor Bros., Chicago. Planted June J6. 

 Photographed Oct. 20. 



Beauties, and looking as bright, strons 

 and well preserved as the year thev were 

 built. 



But the new house, the first of its 

 kind erer erected, will pav any grower 

 to visit. This house is 3.50 feet long. 

 55 feet wide, and 22 feet high. Figure 

 it out how manv square feet it contains. 

 Its total cost will come very near S15,- 

 000, no more than an ordinary green- 

 house of the same size, but a wonderful 

 improvement in every way. It will be 

 the first house ever built entirely of gal- 

 vanized iron, will have no gutters, no 

 rafters, no painting. Its sides are of 

 Portland cement, its sashbars of gal- 

 vanized iron in U shape, with the groove 

 filled with cypress so treated that de- 

 cay would seem impossible. The ce- 

 ment blocks for the sUls are from two 

 to three feet in height and of course 

 indestructible. The lightness of con- 

 struction, and yet remarkable strength, 

 are very perceptible, even to the novice. 



By the way. Mr. Pierson has the gold 

 medal that the S. A. F. awarded his 

 fern at Asheville — and a big medal it 

 is — of which he is very proud. 



A trip to William Rockefeller's and 

 Helen Gould"s completed the courtesies 

 of the day. and Washington Irving's 

 tomb, Sleepy Hollow, Andre's monument 

 and the bridge where Icabod Crane saw 

 the headless horseman were amongst the 

 matters of interest that made the trip a 

 happy memory. 



A shake hands with the autocrat of 

 the Gould conservatories, Ferdinand 5lan- 

 gold. young at seventy-four, was a pleas- 

 ant incident of the day. 



A Visit to Ernst Asmus. 



Last Wednesday by invitation of Ernst 

 Asmus, his new rose house at Closter. 

 K. J., was visited bv L. M. Xoe. Madi- 

 son, X. J.; S. C. Xash. Clifton. X. .J.: 

 Benjamin Dorrance, Dorraneeion. Pa.: 

 F. L. Moore and Ralph Moore. Chatham. 

 K. J.; Henry Hentz, Jr., "Madison. X. .1.: 

 Frank McMahcn. Seabright, X. J.: Eu- 

 gene Dailledouze. Flatbush, X. T.: J. 

 HUlman. secretary of the Xew York Cut 

 Flower Co., and the representatives of 

 the Exchange and of the Review. The 

 day was a perfect one and the "outing" 



c-orresfionded in every way. ilr. Asmus 

 is a model host, and he cannot have too 

 many inspections to suit his visitors if 

 this is a sample of his method. 



The house is one of many to be 

 ! erected and contains 31.000 square feet. 

 [ A greenhouse 400 feet long. 55 feet wide 

 and 23 feet high, filled with S.OOO Beau- 

 ties, 900 Queen of Edgely. 1,'500 Maids 

 and 1.000 Brides, is a great sight, and 

 you can calculate the daily output of 

 such an enterprise. The first crop of 

 the Maids was 11,000. the first plant- 

 ing, August 1. The glass is 24x30. The 

 c-apaeity of the one house is one-fourth 

 of the entire original plant at West Ho- 

 boken, where Mr. Asmus has sixty-five 

 houses. Hitchings i Co. were the build- 

 ers of the greenhouse, and it is a monu- 

 ment of their skill that will stand for 

 generations. 



When Mr. Asmns was asked what he 

 was going to do with his eighty-five acres 

 of splendid land here, he said: "MU 

 •'em up with 'greenhouses."- Better rose 

 soil is not obtainable anywhere. From 

 this source the houses at West Hoboken 

 are supplied. Mr. E. R. Asmus is in 

 charge, and seven men assist in carina 

 for this great esUblishment. The boif 

 ers are of 40 horse-power. A running 

 brook on the property insures an ua- 

 failing wiater supply, the capacity of the 

 elevated tank being 30.000 "gallons. 

 Twenty-five feet of space will be allowed 

 between the houses as new ones are erect- 

 ed. There is room enough for a hun- 

 dred of them. Everything" has been done 

 with a view to extension. Shed, office, 

 ice boxes, electric plant for lighting and 

 pumping, all have abimdant^ capacity. 

 The large house is practically fire proof, 

 the sash bars and doors being the only 

 wood used. The curved glass "eliminate 

 the gutter problem. 



From "EJTistina" or "Asmusiana" or 

 "TVillowbrook"' the c-arriage drive to the 

 Closter hostelry was less than half a 

 mile, and here a banquet that lad:ed 

 nothing awaited the guests, the generous 

 entertainer being toasted in ehampasne. 

 The afternoon was devoted to a visit 

 at the home plant, which "XJberty" has 

 helped to make famous, and where ev- 

 erything was in srand condition. Sev- 



eral houses of gardenias and four new 

 lilac houses in process of building were 

 first inspected, and then house after 

 bouse of Liberty, Cusin, Watteville, Gold- 

 en Gate. Alic-e Roosevelt, Testout, Car- 

 not, valley and mums, with many "seed- 

 lings" of merit and the fine new yellow 

 rose "444," that gives promise of be- 

 i-oming a favorite, and to which several 

 iiouses are already devoted. Liberty is 

 in splendid condition, about a dozen 

 houses tilled with it, one, two and some 

 three years old. 



The closing festivities oc-cturred in the 

 -ismus mansion, where the inv^tigation 

 of the hunting trophies of many years 

 developed proofs of any moose stories 

 which Mr. Asmus could possibly origi- 

 nate, inelnding the head and bent anf^ 

 — = of the very giant whose struggles 

 - d the injury to Mr. Asmus" arm a 

 ; weeks since, notwithstanding that 

 the moose "bit the dust"' several years 

 3 go! However, the magnificent exhibit, 

 heads and horns covering the walls of 

 many rooms, evidence skill that must 

 have taken many moons to develop, and 

 altogether form the most interesting pri- 

 vate collection of actual "fruits of the 

 chase" I have ever seen. 



The day was a most delightful one in 

 everi: respect, and all who accepted the 

 hospitality of Mr. Asmus were more 

 than pleased with the generous outing 

 provided. 



Nobs. 



Tomorrow night wiU open at the Mad- 

 ison Square Garden what now promises 

 to be the greatest flower show and sculp- 

 ture exhibition ever given in this coun- 

 try. An enormous attendance is antici- 

 pated. All the metropolitan papers are 

 full of illustrations and favorable c-om- 

 meni c-onceming it, and with propitious 

 weather a great success is assured. In 

 your next a ftill report will be given. 

 The entries of exhibits are numerous and 

 satisfactory to the management. 



The c-oal agony is over. From S24 a 

 ton to §6.50 is a big "drop," but the 

 noise of the fall was about as sweet 

 music as the growers have heard in manv 

 a day. 



Henry W. Gibbons, the greenhouse 

 architect, will show at the garden this 

 week a very pretty design for a home 

 window garden, which can be attached to 

 any house, at a cost of §40. The size 

 is 5 feet by 2i feet, 6 inches. 



The Lotus Club saw a very handsome 

 decoration last week at the dinner riven 

 the Crown Prince of Siam. Autumn 

 foliage and A merican Beauties only were 

 used, but the general efi'ect was charm- 

 ing. 



The .Jones-Kip wedding at the Church 

 of The Incarnation, Saturday, was a 

 brilliant ailair. chrysanthemtims being 

 principally used in the decorations, 

 which were by Hodgson. 



Hie retail trade generally reflected 

 the dull c-ondition of the wholesale mar- 

 ket and the week was voted the most dis- 

 couraging of the year to date, not only 

 among the smaller stone but in all the 

 large ones. 



The Rapid Transit Commission is ar- 

 ranging to replace in the spring the 

 beautiful trees it has destroyed on many 

 of the city's finest avenues and boule- 

 vards. 



Mr. Miller, of Guttenberg, is sending 

 thousands of his fine yellow mum Cremo 

 to Ford Bros., shipments already aggre- 

 gating 1,000 flowers at a time. 



AU the wholesale stores are flooded 

 with chrysanthemtims. The supply se^ns 



