December 9, 189'?. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



83 



that bird know, 'Jaggs,' says he, 'If I 'ad 

 vour talent I'd be something more than 

 just a bloomin' Rajah." 



Jagg.s broke off to fill his old pipe with 

 very rank tobacco, while the others coiled 

 up a long garland of laurel wreathing. 

 Then he continued: 



"One da\- that there bird disappeared. 

 The Rajah was all broke up about it, and 

 we all turns out to hunt him up. 

 Seemed as though he'd got out in 

 the jungle, and the natives all .say 

 as the wild birds will kill him. I knows 

 belter than that, but I feel a bit uneasy 

 myself. Well, we don't see nothink o' 

 the bird for two or three da\s, and we 

 give it up. Well, a few days later — 

 maybe a week — I has to go to a village 

 where the\' had some orchids for us, and 

 I was just joggin' along through the 

 jungle road, when I come to a clearin' 

 with a big banyan tree in the middle. 

 There I see a sight as pretty near took 

 my breath away. There was my mina, 

 on the top branch o' the banyan tree, 

 lookin' as pleased as Punch to see me, 

 and there, on the lower branches, was a 

 whole flock o' wild minas — I guess there 

 was a hundred of 'em. And what do you 

 suppose my bird was doin'?" 



There was a breathless pause, onh- 

 varied by a hoarse crow from Marma- 

 duke, who had been endeavoring to drop 

 a lump of coal down the back of "Tomtny's 

 neck. Jaggs affectionately shied a lump 

 of peat at the parrot, and continued — 



"That there bird sat up there with 

 them wild birds ranged around like a 

 class o' Sunday school kids, and blessed 

 if he wasn't a trying to teach them to 

 sing 'God save the Queen!' " 



There was another pause, while the 

 • stunned auditors tried to recover their 

 breath, and then Jaggs continued: 



"I might 'a' made ni}' fortune out o' 

 that bird; there was a chap as run a 

 sing-song place down in Meerut as would 

 give any money for him, but I give him 

 to the Rajah'sbutler when I left. I used to 

 feel pretty homesick when I think about 

 that bird after I get to Australia." 



"How did you get to Australia? Did 

 you walk ?" derisively inquired the young 

 man who had graduated from a horticul- 

 tural college. 



"I s'pose that's your usual way o' 

 travelin'," ob.serv-ed jaggs, calmly. "That 

 is, when you ain't able to get a lift on a 

 freight train. But when I go as botanist 

 to an explorin' expedition, there ain't 

 nothink too good for me. Ever been in 

 Australia, any o' you chaps?" 



"I was there, afore I chucked the 

 hanny," observed Tommy Atkins, 

 briefly. 



"I never see such a blessed lot o' 

 freaks as I run across there. You should 

 'ear the carpet snakes of an evenin', 

 cooin' away like a whole dovecote — " 



"That's enough," observed the horti- 

 cultural graduate with deep scorn. 

 "Maybe the fellows can swallow that 

 yarn about the bird that sang 'God save 

 the Queen,' but I like to draw the line 

 somewheres, and I draw it at cooin' 

 snakes." 



"You know, Johnny," observed Jaggs, 

 in a tone of friendly sympathy, "us fel- 

 lows is always willin' to make allowances 

 for a poor chap as took a course in 'orti- 



culture, 'stead o' servin' prentice in 

 a real garden. Just you listen to us, 

 and yer faculties will be reg'Iarly drawed 

 out. Well, as I was sayin'. just wander 

 outside at twilight, anywheres in West 

 Australia, and you'll hear the snakes 

 cooin' away till a pigeon-show wasn't in 

 it—" 



"I s'pose they was trj-in' to combine 

 the wisdom o' the serpent with the helo- 

 quence o' the dove," observed Tommy 

 cheerfully. 



"They wasn't much like doves, except 

 in their voices," observed Jaggs, "for 

 rattlesnakes is innocent infants along 

 side o' them. Just let one o' them cooin' 

 chaps bite you and you was a subject for 

 a gates ajar inside of an hour. But the 

 land crabs was what struck me most ; big 

 chaps the size of a wash-basin, with claws 

 like ice-tongs. Say, when one o' them 

 chaps came dancin' over near me, his 

 eyes stickin' out like props, and his claws 

 rattlin' like a Salvation .\rmy tambour- 

 ine, I wished there was a telegraph pole 

 to climb. Not but what them crabs was 

 harmless enough." 



"I s'pose tliey was the pet of all the 

 children," remarked the night fireman, 

 who was modestly rubbing a brass oil-can 

 in the rear. 



"I don't know as I'd call 'em improvin' 

 societ}- for the kids," said Jaggs, "but 

 there was a chap I knew, on a sheep 

 farm, as tamed a pair o' them, so as 

 they'd do for watchdogs. Just let a 

 stranger come into the yard, and them 

 crabs would rush out, snappin' their 

 claws, and wouldn't let him come inside 

 the door till the boss came around. Punch 

 and Judy was their names, and they'<l 

 come runnin' as fast as their six legs 'ud 

 carry 'em, whenever he whistled to them. 

 They — Say, Johnny," suddenly break- 

 ing off, "do you happen to have any idear 

 what you're tryin' to do. I s'pose that's 

 somethink )'OU learned at that bloomin' 

 college!" 



All eves were turned upon the unfor- 

 tunate collegian, who was always called 

 Johnny because his given name was 

 Mortimer. He was discovered in the act 

 of putting a backing of dagger ferns upon 

 a star frame which was to be covered 

 with holly, and became so uneasy under 

 the enthusiasm displayed by his compan- 

 ions that he subsided without a single 

 question on the subject of land crabs. 

 Tommyand the Scotch propagator began 

 to gather up the wreathing, and by the 

 time the "old man" dropped in to make 

 his final inspection, the slied was vacant 

 except for the night fireman, who, with 

 Jaggs's talking mina in mind, was try 

 ing to teach Marmaduke to sing "Rosy 

 O'Grady," with very indifferent success. 



NEW YORK. 



Chrysanthemum Committee- 

 There were no seedling chrj'santhe- 

 mums presented at the N. Y. Cut Flower 

 Co.'s rooms to be judged by the National 

 Chrysanthemum Committee last Satur- 

 day' Evidently Mr. Grove P. Rawson's 

 W. H. Chad wick was the last for this 



season, but the committee was on hand 

 for emergencies. 



Mr. Eugene Dailledouze was of the 

 opinion that there had not been the quan- 

 tity of former jears (this was, perhaps, 

 accountable to the fact that two of the 

 former largest exhibitors of seedlings. 

 Pitcher S: Manda and Thos. H. Spaulding, 

 liaving retired from the business), though 

 the quality was quite up to the average, 

 and considered the three best exhibited 

 to be Frank Hardy, white; Pennsylvania, 

 yellow; and Autumn Glorv, pink. 



A vote of thanks should l>e tendered to 

 the committee, Mr. Ernst Asmus and Mr. 

 Eugene Dailledouze, who have expended 

 considerable of their valuable time in 

 judging these novelties dining llie season. 



Signs of Xmas. 



Christmas trees are already to be seen 

 on the docks, and .something like 200 

 cars will arrive during the season, prices 

 ranging from 25 cents up to as high as 

 1 1 0.00. Most of these come from Maine, 

 and are well formed and shapely trees. 



The Market Project. 



The idea of forming a market patterned 

 somewhat after the famous Coyent Gar- 

 den, took tangible form last Wednesday, 

 the first of December, when a meeting of 

 plant growers, called to meet at Lynch's 

 restaurant, organized themselves into the 

 "New York Market Florists' Associa- 

 tion." 



When the meeting was called to order 

 about thirty growers were present, twen- 

 ty-nine Jerseymen and one Long Islander. 

 Mr. W. F. Koenig and Mr. J. Withers 

 were respectively president and secretary 

 pro lem for the meeting. 



At a former meeting held Nov. 17th a 

 committee containing the following prom- 

 inent growers: Mr. J. Nichols, (chair- 

 man), Mr. H. C. Schaefer and Mr. G. 

 Dietz, was appointed to see the comp- 

 troller and Mr. O'Brien, superintendent 

 of Clinton market, and get information 

 with regard to space, stalls and prices for 

 s.anie to be rented individualh- or collect- 

 ivelv as an organization. 



Before the business of the evening was 

 discussed Mr. J. H. Rapp, repre.senting 

 the city, escorted the members present 

 through the market and disclosed the 

 fact that there were sixty-five stands or 

 stalls averaging each about 100 square 

 feet, thirty -two of which fronted on Canal 

 and West Streets. 



On returning Mr. Nichols as chairman 

 of the committee made his report, saying 

 he had been somewhat handicapped by 

 the fact that on Jan. i, a new administra- 

 tion would have control and that the 

 present one was seemingly unwilling to 

 make any contract. Mr. Rapp, however, 

 volunteered the information that the price 

 of stands would range from ;jti.oo to I1.25 

 and $1.30 per w-eek according to location. 

 In answer to a question he said he 

 could not give price of the whole of the 

 vacant stands; sidewalk privileges rent 

 with the outside stands and there was in 

 the neighborhood of about 8,000 square 

 feet in the combined space to let. 



After this there was an animated and 

 desultory conversation among the mem- 

 bers present, in which Mr. Nichol became 



