September 10, 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



629 



MMMltS 



Impressions of 



Western Growing Methods. 



BY JOSEPH HEACOCK, WYNCOTE, PA. 



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One of the pleasantest features of the 

 convention of the S. A. F. is the" oppor- 

 tunity it gives of meeting our brethren 

 of distant parts of our great country, 

 and when time permits to see their places; 

 to actually shake hands and talk with 

 the man who has the largest greenhouse 

 establishment in the world, to compare 

 notes and then to feel how far these men 

 of Chicago have passed us of the east. 



A party of twenty-five were, on the 

 Saturday after the convention, piloted 

 from the center of Chicago to Peter 

 Reinberg's. A pleasant ride of nearly 

 an hour by trolley, and it was announced 

 "we get out here." One of the party 

 on a rear seat, upon arising and catching 

 his first view of the houses, the ends of 

 which, abutting on the street, reached 

 nearly half a mile along the highway, 

 raised his hands towards" heaven and ex- 

 claimed, "Oh! my God!" 



I shall never forget the first view, for 

 it seemed to me that there was nothing 

 to be seen but glass. Nor shall I forget 

 the last view, for there stood those ten 

 immense brick stacks (besides several 

 belonging to Geo. Beinberg) some sev- 

 enty-five feet high, standing like sentinels, 

 as it were, over all that glass. 



No time was lost, and we were con- 

 ducted through house after house of car- 

 nations and roses, all in fine condition, 

 until we met and were introduced to 

 the proprietor. We of the east have 

 been under the impression that these im- 

 mense places in and around Chicago have 

 been developed from the sale of land 

 that had become immensely valuable as 

 the city had grown up around them. One 

 has but to go through them to see that 

 this is a mistake, and when I told Mr. 

 Eeinberg of the impression we had, his 

 answer was characteristic of the man in 

 frankness. ' ' Twenty years ago I owned 

 this ground and was in debt $5,000. 

 Seventeen years ago I built my first 

 greenhouse with borrowed money and 

 grew lettuce in it. I have recently 

 bought forty-five acres two miles from 

 here so as to get soil in the future." We 

 were told by another that that crop of 

 lettuce paid so well that in a few months 

 Mr. Eeinberg took the money back to his 

 good friend that had loaned it to build 

 his first house. 



They have over 1,000,000 feet of glass 

 (nearly as much as all the glass around 

 Philadelphia) and use over 10,000 tons of 

 coal per annum under thirty-four steam 

 boilers. A new block of houses has just 

 been finished nearly 300 feet square, built 

 on the ridge and furrow plan, using the 

 Garland gutter, it being supported on 

 iron posts about eight feet from the 

 ground. They have been planted and 

 everything is promising well. It is a 

 beautiful house, not a partition of any 

 kind in it. 



We were introduced to Mr. Collins, the 

 foreman on the place, who has been witli 

 Mr. Eeinberg since he commenced grow- 

 ing roses. One of the latter 's strong 

 points, it is easily to be seen, is to know 

 a good man and then to keep him. 



In the atternoon we went out to West- 

 ern Springs, where we were served with 

 a very substantial lunch and were then 

 treated to a straw ride to Bassett & 

 Washburn's place at Hinsdale, where 

 wo saw roses and carnations in such fine 

 condition that it made at least one east- 

 ern grower envious. What a magnificent 

 growth they had! And what quantities 

 of manure they used! They have a 

 good soil and brains to use it. But with 

 all these brains, soil and i 

 Chicago places owe theii 

 growth to the railroad facilities that cen- 

 ter at that place. Their product is 

 known from Pittsburg on the east to 



eled 1,400 miles into the enemy's coun- 

 try to prove that the best roses were 

 grown around Philadelphia. He came 

 home feeling that he was right. If he 

 ever goes again he will expect to be 

 licked. Joseph Heacock. 



PRESIDENT BREITMEYER. 

 We note that William Scott was 

 pleased with the portrait of President 

 Philip Breitmeyer, of Detroit, which ap- 

 peared in our Convention Number; not 

 so the president himself. Not only did 

 thai portrait show the new executive as 

 he was in the days which, if they were 

 nut of the long ago. were certainly seme 

 years back, but he was there arrayed in 

 full dress, apparel which should never 

 be seen before the dinner hour, and Mr. 

 Breitmeyer observed that so great was 

 the interest in the Convention Number 

 and its fresh, clean contents, that not 

 one subscriber left the wrapper on nis 

 paper until after dinner; but, quite the 

 contrary, lost no time in letting the *sun 

 of morning in upon that portrait of our 

 president in his evening suit. As we 

 were partly responsible for this breach 



Philip Breitmeyer, President-Elect of the S. A. F., from a new Photograph. 



the Eocky Mountains on the west; from 

 Canada on the north to the Gulf on the 

 south. 



We returned to Chicago much pleased 

 with our day's outing and regretting 

 that we had not more days to spend in 

 the same way, promising ourselves to 

 take a few days off from our labor and 

 go again to see more of the great places 

 around Chicago. The writer once trav- 



of the proprieties, in that we did not 

 give Mr. Breitmeyer 's portrait time to 

 change its clothes before parading it be- 

 fore the admiring people that morning 

 after the convention, we take pleasure in 

 presenting here a picture which does its 

 subject better justice. 



Momence, III. — J. Sandstrom has just 

 completed two new houses 50x150 each. 



