FEBRUARY 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



443 



and is plentiful. Roses and carnations 

 are scarce. Violets can be olitained at 

 any price. I saw a letter yesterday to 

 a retailer from a grower who offered to 

 furnish him any quantity at his (re- 

 tailer's) price. 



A Pretty Decoration. 



There was a pretty decoration at the 

 German ambassaflor's the other even- 

 ing, the occasion being the emperor's 

 birthday. The table decoration, while 

 stia'. was pretty. The table was car- 

 peted w'ith Vervaeneana azaleas, vio- 

 lets and pink roses at opposite corners, 

 with royal crown in violets in center. 

 The ballroom was festooned with as- 

 paragus and smilax and several groups 

 of palms. 



Notes. 



Mr. W. R. Smith has a rival in town, 

 who is soliciting names to a petition 

 for his place. As yet he has not se- 

 cured a single florist's signature. 



Prices remain the same as l,iefore, 

 with the exception of violets, which 

 seem to have no value. The fakir is 

 very much in evidence with them on 

 the streets. W. H. K. 



ROCHESTER, N. Y. 



Genuine Winter Weather. 



Regular winter weather prevailed 

 •during the week past, not that the tem- 

 perature was extremely severe, but just 

 low enough to preserve a good covering 

 of snow on our streets and insure 

 steady, good sleighing, better, in fact, 

 than we have had for some years. Tran- 

 sient trade w-as materially increased 

 under these favorable conditions, for 

 Howers are worn even on sleigh ride 

 parties, and the young or old man who 

 takes out his best girl in a stylish rig 

 will also provide a bunch of roses, car- 

 nations or violets for her to wear while 

 she sits close to him in the sleigh, 

 snugly rolled up and surrounded by 

 furs. The demand all around was sat- 

 isfactory. The season for receptions 

 and other entertainments has now fair- 

 ly begun, and if not calling for exten- 

 sive and very elaborate decorations, 

 they invariably increase the daily con- 

 sumption in all lines, and no overstock 

 can be noticed in the flower market. 

 Prices continue the same as last week, 

 general quality of roses is somewhat 

 improved, but "selects" are still scarce. 

 Von Sions came in more plentiful for 

 the last few days, and sell readily at 

 $4 per 100. Carnations are abundant 

 and good, but hold their former price; 

 violets plentiful: Harrisii. and callas 

 scarce: all bulbous stock in good sup- 

 ply: none of it going to waste so far. 

 Throughout the month of .January the 

 ■demand has been steady, and plainly in 

 excess of last year. Often our florists 

 were bothered by a deficiency in the 

 daily supply, although not to such an 

 extent as to seriously hurt the business 

 in general, yet if flowers had been more 

 plentiful, it is very likely that the total 

 receipts for the month would have been 

 heavier under these favorable condi- 

 tions. 



Western N. Y. Horticultural Society. 



The Western New York Horticult- 

 ural Society had their annual session 

 here January 26 and 27. The assem- 

 bly was an unusually large one: 800 or 

 more prominent men from all parts of 

 the Union had gathered in the spa- 

 cious hall: on the second day the at- 

 tendance was estimated as being over 

 1,000. Mr. J. Hall, the untiring secre- 

 tary and treasurer of the flourishing 

 old society, deserves credit for his suc- 

 cessful efforts in arousing increased 

 interest in horticulture in so many dif- 

 ferent parts of the state and the coun- 

 try at large, devoting much of his time 

 and labor in correspondence and mak- 

 ing arrangements with railways and 

 hotels to secure special rates for the 

 visitors. Mr. W. C. Barry, the presi- 

 dent, was agreeably surprised when 

 seeing so large a congregation assem- 

 bled, and stated in a short speech that 

 never before in the history of the so- 

 ciety was an annual meeting so well 

 attended by its members from all sec- 

 tions. The great majority of the mem- 

 bers are engaged in the nursery busi- 

 ness, or in fruit growing, and the ad- 

 vancement of the latter is a principal 

 feature in their discussions, which are 

 annually published in full by the so- 

 ciety, every member receiving a copy 

 of the book. 



Essays. 



A lengthy paper was read by Prof. 

 W. B. Alwood, of the Virginia Experi- 

 mental Station, on the "San Jose 

 Scale." Prof. M. V. Slingerland, ento- 

 mologist at Cornell University, gave a 

 report on the insect enemies of fruit 

 trees, and also delivered an illustrated 

 humorous lecture on "Bugs from a 

 Bug's Standpoint." Geo. T. Powell, of 

 Ghent. N. Y., prepared a paper on the 

 "Relation of Our Public Schools to 

 Horticulture." Another interesting pa- 

 per was by Dr. L. L. van Slyke, chem- 

 ist at the state experimental station 

 in Geneva, N. Y., on "Plant Food." W. 

 T. Mann, of Barkers, N. Y., spoke on 

 "Experiments in Fertilizing Fruit 

 Trees. ' Prof. W. H. Jordan, director of 

 the experimental station at Geneva, 

 gave his views on "Food Values of 

 Fruit." and I. P. Roberts, director of 

 the Agricultural College at Ithaca, N. 

 Y., had for his theme the "Questioning 

 of the Soil." "Reports of Committees 

 on Plant Diseases" came next, by W. 

 Paddock, of Geneva Station: another 

 on "Vegetables," by F. Frank, Ironde- 

 quoit. N. Y., and a most interesting 

 speech on "Ornamental Trees and 

 Shrubs." by our able Mr. Jno. Dunbar, 

 of the Rochester parks. A most in- 

 structive talk on "Old Orchards," by 

 Mr. van Deman, from Virginia, fol- 

 i lowed: then Mr. Paddock reported on 

 "New Diseases of Fruit Trees." 



Animated discussions were indulged 

 in after each report, in which many 

 members gave their individual experi- 

 ences and views, and all were satisfied 

 before they went home that they had 

 learned a great many things within the 

 last two days. 



In an adjoining room Messrs. Bll- 



wanger & Barry had a very large col- 

 lection of fine fruit on exhibition: 

 grapes, pears and apples, each in 3.5 to 

 40 varieties, and in excellent condition. 

 These were greatly admired by the 

 many visitors. K. 



TORONTO. 



A Golden Opportunily. 



Business appears to lie steady now — 

 that is, about normal. There is no un- 

 due excitement. People are dying, mar- 

 rying and giving birth at about the us- 

 ual rate, and occasionally give social 

 entertainments, and the supply of flow- 

 ers to celebrate the various events is 

 fully equal to the demand made up- 

 on it. t 



Most people one meets are afflicted 

 with the Klondike gold fever just now, 

 but I have not yet heard of a florist 

 going up from these parts, althougli 

 one would imagine that an expert fu- 

 neral design builder would have a good 

 oportunity of soon making a fortune 

 up there. 



The Horticultural Society. 



The Horticultural Society will listen 

 to and discuss two essays tonight, one 

 from Mr. E. Wley. on "Seasonable Seed 

 Sowing," and one from Mr. G. Mills on 

 "Cyclamen." Other important ques- 

 tions will also be brought up. 



Various Items. 



Mr. Fred Brown, manager of Mr. J. 

 H. Dunlop's King St. store, will start 

 in business on his own account in the 

 West end some time in February. No- 

 body has any doubt but that- he will 

 make a success of it, and he has the 

 best wishes of all. 



The Gardeners' and Florists' Asso- 

 ciation is to be allowed the ineffable 

 satisfaction of sending two delegates to 

 the Industrial Exhibition Association 

 this year. Everything comes to those 

 who know how to wait. We have been 

 waiting for this piece of justice for a 

 long time. 



Mr. J. H. Dunlop left this country 

 about two weeks ago, and though the 

 reports from the various large centers 

 in the United States have been careful- 

 ly scanned, no account of his move- 

 ments has yet been observed. They 

 have heard from him regularly at 

 home, though, and he will probably re- 

 turn some time this week, and no doubt 

 a lot of good things will follow in his 

 wake. 



Plenty of snow, now: 10 degrees be- 

 low zero on the 30th ult. E. 



NIAGARA FALLS, ONT. 



A horticultural society has lately 

 been organized here under the supervis- 

 ion and support of the government. The 

 moving spirit in this has been Mr. Rod- 

 erick Cameron, head gardener of the 

 great Canadian Free Park. What was 

 some seven years ago a wilderness has 

 been transformed by him into a beau- 

 tiful park. 



Formerly we had but one greenhouse 

 here, but now we have several. The 

 bulk of our sales are to our American 



