January 2'J. 1903. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



367 



which is composed of Messrs. Fillmore, 

 Ellis and Beneke, and the omission will 

 be rectified. 



Mrs. Ellis, wife of Frank Ellis, who 

 has been ill for some time, is still under 

 the doctor's care, but is improving slow- 

 ly- 



The club meeting, which is to be held 



on Thursday, February 12, will be of 

 o-reat im])ortance to growers and retail- 

 ers alike. It will be our annual carna- 

 tion meeting, and from reports a fine 

 lot of new carnations will be on exhibi- 

 tion. The 1903 introductions will be of 

 great value to the local growers, and 

 they should set this day aside to spend 

 a pleasant afternoon with us. All are 

 invited. Mr. Winter's es.say on carna- 

 tions for this meeting will be just the 

 proper thing. Mr. A. Jablonsky and 

 Mr. R. F. Tesson each have an essay, 

 left over from last meeting, which no 

 doubt they will have ready for this big 

 meeting. Don't forget the date, Thurs- 

 day afternoon. Feb. 12, at 2 o'clock. 



Mr. Chas. T. Meyer, 19 Barclay St., 

 New York, was in town selling bulbs, 

 plants and nursery stock. Mr. Meyer 

 reports an excellent trade. 



Mr. George M. Kellogg, of Tleasant 

 Hill. Mo., spent Tuesday in town look- 

 ing for help for his large plant. Mr. 

 Kellogg's answer to the coal question 

 wa.s that he was well supplied. 



Mr. Daniel Parsons, Jr., of New York, 

 expert on parks, is in town and a guest 

 of Park Conuiiissioner Ridgley. He vis- 

 ited Forest park Monday and begins 

 work of fixing the amount of bond to 

 be required from the World's Fair Com- 

 pany to restore the park after the fair. 

 A bond of $100,000 has been given, which 

 the commissioner thinks is insufficient. 

 A commission of park exports, of which 

 Mr. Parsons is one, was employed to es- 

 timate the cost of restoration. 



Mr. Jacob Pflweger, formerly of J. M. 

 McCrillough's Sons and Critehell's, of 

 Cincinnati, Ohio, is" now a resident of 

 this city. Jake reports for the benefit of 

 his Cincinnati friends that he has an 

 eleven-pound boy at his home. .Jake is 

 a bowling expert and stands high in the 

 city league. This is a lucky find for us 

 to take the place of Arthur Ellison. 



J. J. B. 



BUFFALO. 



Express Rates. 



Our Florists' Club is by no means 

 dead, although it hibernates occasionally, 

 and contrary to the habits of most hiber- 

 nating plants and animals, it woke up 

 recently in midwinter and gave signs 

 of life and vigor. Last Tuesday there 

 was a fair meeting. Sorry President 

 Braik couldn't attend, and still more 

 sorry to learn that he was confined to 

 the house from the kick of one of his 

 driving horses. With the ordinarily con- 

 structed man this would mean a broken 

 leg or worse, but the rugged captain's 

 physique registered only a bad bruise. 

 May he soon be around again. 



Tlie chief business of our meeting was 

 to take some action on the increased ex- 

 press rates. A committee of three was 

 appointed to draw up a protest and a 

 prayer for the restoration of the old 

 rates, same to be forwarded to each com- 

 pany doing business here and a copy to 

 Mr, J. N. May. A kick and a remon- 

 strance from the length and breadth of 

 the land should do some good, but ac- 

 tion by our national society will doubt- 



less have the most effect, for a commit- 

 tee from the S. A. F. will go to the 

 fountain head and interview the mo- 

 guls who sit around the directors' table 

 and by a few words in the shape of a 

 resolution impose a tax of many thou- 

 sands of dollars on the florists of the 

 country, who already have their cup of 

 distress full to the brim. 



Buffalo has five express companies 

 doing business here, but they are all 

 united on this raise of 50 per cent. I 

 hope to send you, Mr. Editor, a copy of 

 our gentle remonstrance and petition, so 

 any words about it are superfluous. I 

 will merely say it has more honey and 

 less ginger about it than the Boston pro- 

 test, which is strong and vigorous. I 

 personally do not believe that this ex- 

 orbitant demand of the express com- 

 panies is based on either the excuse that 

 our boxes take up a large cubic space 

 for little weight, or that they have or 

 do give us special service. It bits the 

 grower worst, and next the retailer who 

 gets shipments from the commission 

 man, and many of the former do their 

 own carting. 



The cause of this tax on us is. I be- 

 lieve, first, that our goods are most per- 

 ishable, which is true, and next, and 

 here is the secret, that there is a lot of 

 men in our business too ready to make 

 a claim on a vei-y slight excuse, and 

 they have made claims and bothered the 

 express companies and collected from 

 them until now the companies retaliate 

 and the poor fellows that have been will- 

 ing to bear a loss occasionally will have 

 to bear the burden that is the fault of 

 a wolfish, small, short-sighted policy. I 

 have no one individual in mind, but well 

 do I realize that there are a thousand 

 florists in the country that would just 

 snicker to bleed the express companies, 

 and now we are all going to be bled. 



Almost all of you know that when a 

 claim is paid by an express company 

 (unless it be in the case of a collision or 

 fire) the amount of the claim does not 

 come out of the treasury of the com- 

 pany. Oh no, the negligence is traced 

 down to the messenger, driver, or some 

 other employe and he has to pay it out 

 of his hard earnings. I have never made 

 but one claim to an express company in 

 twenty-seven years, although meeting 

 with many a trivial loss, and that was 

 six or seven years ago. Some bundles 

 of laurel wreathing coming from New 

 Jersey had been thrown against the 

 steam pipes in the car and about $12 

 worth was just black. The messenger 

 had to pay it. and learning that we 

 would not accept the amount. 



We heard the other day on the very 

 best authority that one of our most re- 

 spected florists within a year or so had 

 a just claim for complaint, whether frost 

 or heat or avoidable delay I don't know, 

 but the company granted him the claim 

 and paid the money — something over 

 $G0. In a few days a poor fellow walked 

 into the store and told ilr. P. that he 

 had worked more than a month for 

 nothing to pay his claim against the 

 company. Mr. P. immediately walked 

 back and gave the man a check for the 

 full amount. I just fancy how gladly 

 the man walked home to his family, and 

 I will guarantee that friend P. felt just 

 as good as the man. Don't think for a 

 moment that we are any better a com- 

 munity of florists than elsewhere — far 

 from it — but I do repeat that in liiy 

 humble opinion the express companies 



have been annoyed and pestered by 

 claims that should never have been 

 made. 



The ••Mild Winter." 



The only feature of the business for 

 the past week was the great scarcity of 

 flowers during the whole time, winding 

 up Saturday night with every scrap 

 used up. A good demand will partly 

 account for this, and arctic weather will 

 account for the rest. Tlie typical 

 Y'ankee farmer of the old school, who 

 has drunk whisky temperately, but 

 steadily all his life, and consequently 

 has all his faculties left to bless him, 

 noticed that the squirrels and chip- 

 munks were not laying up much winter 

 fodder in the way of nuts this past fall, 

 hence we should have a mild winter. 

 Oh dear ! So much for signs ! If the 

 old observer had watched the florists 

 putting in their winter coal in August 

 and September he would also have said 

 "We shall have a mild winter," but all 

 these old signs are not infallible. Per- 

 haps the only true foreboding of this 

 kind was when Mr. and Mrs. Noah 

 and their family walked the gang plank 

 leading into the ark. He felt in his 

 bones, as you may say, that we were 

 going to have a very wet season. 



W. S. 



CHICAGO. 



The Market. 



Rain and fog have been served us in 

 liberal amounts with so little sunshine 

 that we have almost forgotten what it 

 is like. In view of these conditions it 

 is not surprising that the cut is small 

 and that a scarcity exists even with the 

 present light demand. Were the demand 

 normal it could not possibly be met with 

 the available supplies. The scarcity now 

 extends {o practically everything except 

 violets. Naturally prices ai'e well sus- 

 tained all through the list. 



In roses quality averages poor for 

 the season and really first-class stock 

 is hard to get. Carnations run better 

 as to quality, but they also show the ef- 

 fects of the unfavorable weather. Con- 

 ditions are certainly not very cheering 

 at this season, when demand ought to be 

 brisk and supplies increasing. 



Tulips are now arriving in quantity. 

 Some La Reines, noted at Kennicott 

 Bros. Co., were very fine. They are used 

 by many in place of white carnations 

 and white roses, the color not being very 

 pronounced as yet. 



Various Items. 



The smell of smoke still lingers in the 

 building at the corner of Wabash avenue 

 and Randolph street. John Muno's place 

 is in a great state of upheaval, a new 

 floor having to be put in. 



Mr. and Mrs. 0. P. Bassett are in 

 Pas.adena. Cal. 



^[r. C. JI. Dickinson has returned from 

 his trip and is again attending to busi- 

 ness. 



P. S. Peterson, the well-known nirrsery- 

 man, died Jan. 19, aged 75 years. He 

 came to Chicago in 1853. 



The regular meeting of the Florists' 

 Club was held Wednesday evening. 



A FRUIT of the ponderosa lemon weigh- 

 ing 21 oz.. has been sent us by Mrs. 

 May Bradley, the florist, Elwood, Ind. 

 Accompanying same was a ni.otograph of 

 the plant, which is seven years old and 

 bore eleven lemons this year. 



