FEBRUARi" 24. 1S!)S. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



547 



inary list, which will be out by next 

 meeting . 



Mr. W. C. Young's committee on spe- 

 cial prizes consists of Messrs. Fred C. 

 Weber. Ed. Buechel, Robert Ayers and 

 Albert Bauer. 



If some of our St. Louis florists, who 

 are always absent from the sodal 

 gatherings or meetings of the club, 

 will read in last week's issue of The 

 Review the Notes of "E," of Toronto, 

 and if the cap fits, as he says, we 

 would like to see them mend their 

 ways in the future and take his advice. 



Visitors in town last week were Mr. 

 George M. Kellogg, of Pleasant Hill, 

 Mo.; Mr. L. Eaiiman, with Frank 

 Netchert. of Chicago, III., and B. Kup- 

 pers. representing Willain Hage- 

 mann, Philadelphia. Pa. 



Mr. Dykes is in town, representing 

 Ed. .lansen, of New York. 



Bowrling Items. 



The Bowling Ciub had a good at- 

 tendance Monday night, and some very 

 good scores were made. Mr. Kuppers, 

 of Philadelphia, was a visitor at the 

 alleys and rolled with the boys. The 

 best three games were rolled by 

 Beneke. with BIT, highest single score 

 222; E. Schray. second, with 563. high 

 single score 223; John W. Kunz, third, 

 with .510. high single score 20O. 



I see by the Omaha notes that the 

 members of the Nebraska Florists' So- 

 ciety have the bowling fever and meet 

 every Monday night. Keep it up. boys; 

 we will be with you next August. 



J. J. B. 



PHILADELPHIA. 



Business Brisk. 



Business continues brisk, with prices 

 about the same as a week ago, Roses 

 were quite scarce toward the end of the 

 week just closed, the Second Assembly 

 ball and the dinners which preceded 

 causing a brisk demand oa Friday, 

 Daffodils were also freely used on thiS 

 occasion. Carnations are barely hold- 

 ing their own, due partly to the qual- 

 ity of the stock, which has fallen oft 

 a little. Tulips are good and selling 

 freely. Double daffodils were over- 

 done in the early part of the week. 

 Ferns in 3-inch pots are scarce. 



Germantown Hort. Society. 



The February meeting of the Ger- 

 mantown Horticultural Society, held 

 on Monday evening of last week, was a 

 most successful affair. The display, 

 chiefly of orchids, was more than us- 

 ually brilliant. The exhibitors in this 

 c'ass were two vice-presidents, Albert 

 ■Woltemate and Roberts Le BouLiliier, 

 and both deserved great credit for 

 their displays. The junior vice-presi- 

 dent, Mr, Le Boutillier, showed a 12- 

 inch pan of Coelogyne cristata, with 

 fifty perfect blooms. This piece con- 

 tained six cuttings of five years ago, 

 Mr I.e Boutillier feels such confidence 

 in this variety that he offered to put up 

 a quantity of glass for its cultivation if 



any retailer would agree to take all the 

 first-class blooms at ten cents each. 

 Among the other varieties shown were 

 Cyrabidium Lowianum. unusual; Onci- 

 diiim Cavendishii, Dendrob.um nobile, 

 Wardianum and densiflorum, Lycaste 

 Skinnerii and Brassavola g.auca. Be- 

 sides orchids, water lilies were dis- 

 cussed, the members being reinforced 

 by a stranger from Kew. wlio spoke 

 right out in meeting and was cordial- 

 ly welcomed. 



Pcnn. Hort. Society. 



The following night (Tuesday) the 

 Pennsylvania Horticultural Society 

 met. and again orchids were the center 

 of attraction, H. T. Clinkaberry, gard- 

 ener to C, E. Roebling, of Trenton, N, 

 J., and Alphonse Pericat. gardener to 

 Mrs, George B, Wilson, of West Phiia- 

 delphia, being the exhibitors. 



The members of the society invited 

 the City Parks Association and the 

 Civic Club to join them in listening to 

 an illustrated lecture by Jacob A. Riis, 

 of New York, on "The Children of tue 

 Poor and the Need of Play Grounds 

 and Open Spaces for Recreation." Mr. 

 Riis' lecture was well attended and 

 proved most interesting. He showed 

 the poor little chaps of New York, liv- 

 ing in dirt and filth, and iraced their 

 development into the criminals of the 

 slum districts, by means of siidos. His 

 idea being that crime can be lessened 

 by surrounding tlie crowded tenement 

 districts with open squares and play 

 grounds, where the children can have 

 their amusements and plenty of fresh 

 air. 



Friday evening witnessed the meet- 

 ing of the Botanical Club at the Uni- 

 versity, which Dr. McFarland has 

 brought into flourishing condition 

 with a membership of 125, and also the 

 second assembly, a most brilliant af- 

 fair, which brings sadness to the heart 

 of the florist, for it means Lent is near. 



The Lily Disease. 



And now I want to speak of the lily 

 disease, which has assumed such 

 a. arming proportions heie, Tne F.or- 

 ists' Club has wisely set apart a meet- 

 ing in April for the discussion of this 

 vital subject. Briefly, the case stands 

 thus: The florist buys his lily bulbs 

 from the seedsman, wjio agrees to fur- 

 nish sound bulbs of a certain size. 

 These conditions are fulfilled as far as 

 outward appearances go. but when 

 started, very many of these bulbs de- 

 velop unmistakable signs of disease; 

 some fail to develop at all. I know of 

 one grower who lost three quarters of 

 his L. Harrisii; another one lost three- 

 quarters of his L, longiflorum. 



The florist goes to the seedsman, 

 who expresses deep regret, says the 

 trouble was probably aggravated by 

 the effort made to get the bulbs into 

 this country before the tariff bill went 

 into operation, July 24, 1897, and if 

 the case be a very bad one, delicately 

 hints that Mr, So-and-So has had pret- 

 ty good luck with the bulbs sent him, 



thus making the florist feel he isn't 

 much of a grower. When the question 

 of payment is broached, the seedsman 

 becomes inexorable. The Bermuda 

 growers allow no rebate and he can 

 allow none. In vain the florist urges 

 his loss of bulbs, to say nothing of 

 time and space He is morally right 

 but legally wrong, and must yield. 



Mr. Buettner proposes a government 

 inspector, to prevent all diseased stock 

 from entering this country. I doubt 

 whether this plan would solve the 

 problem so far as lilies are concerned. 

 Would not a better plan in this par- 

 ticular case be for each florist to in- 

 sist wheu ordering his lilies, be they 

 Harrisii or longiflorum, on a written 

 guarantee, that they be free from dis- 

 ease? This plan, generally adopted, 

 would send the seedsmen to the Ber- 

 muda growers with a similar contract, 

 which the latter must submit to or 

 keep their bulbs. The result would be 

 either that the disease would be kept 

 within bounds or that lily growing 

 would be abandoned in Bermuda. In 

 either case the present unsatisfactory 

 conditions would cease. This emer- 

 gency demands resolute action. Any 

 florist who orders his bulb.-j in the old 

 way. without a positive written guar- 

 antee that the stock supplied be free 

 from disease, will be guilty of extreme 

 folly. 



Notes. 



Ladies' night at the Florists' Club on 

 the evening of Washington's birthday 

 was a great success. 



William P. Craig has been elected 

 vice-president of the American Carna- 

 tion Society. 



Our bowlers won fresh laurels by de- 

 feating the strong Irving team by 50 

 pins in a league match. J. W. Y. 



CINCINNATI. 



Review of Market. 



The commission men have been 

 kept busy for several days hustling for 

 flowers to fill their many orders. They 

 all report a good out-of-town trade, or, 

 rather, demand, as many of the orders 

 could not be fllled at any price. The 

 market opened up Monday in the same 

 manner, and I am safe in saying thl» 

 will be a repetition of last week. There 

 is nothing much going on in the way 

 of society events, but trade among the 

 retail men is fair and steady, which 

 beats one good day and four or five 

 bad ones. 



Wholesale Prices. 



Brides and Maids are hard to get, 

 and find a ready sale at $8 per 100; 

 Perles are held at ?5; Meteors, fS to 

 $10, Beauties cannot be quoted, as 

 there are no first-class ones in the 

 market, and buyers have long since 

 ceased to ask for them. Carnations 

 have either stopped blooming with 

 some of our growers or else are being 

 sent to some other market — I will take 

 a trip around and let you know which 



