730 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



M.uicii 26, 1903. 



the river a bit, after haviu' a few words 

 with the boatmen because they wanted 

 to hitch up and start right off. 1 was 

 all alone, except for a bloomin' old peli- 

 can, about two sizes larger than an os- 

 trich, as had took to fcllerin' me about, 

 because I used to throw him a stray 

 fish now and then. The old beggar had 

 pretty near give up fishin ' o nhis own 

 account, which shows the demoralizin' ef- 

 fect o' the higher civilization. Well, 

 I sits down on a swingiu' vine as hangs 

 from a tree, after makin' sure as it was 

 a vine and not a boar constrietcr, and 

 puffs at my pipe, and thinks of my old 

 mother down at Penzance, and how there 

 wasn't a bottle o' Bass within 700 miles 

 till I begins to feel quite low in my 

 spirits. Just then the old pelican says 

 'quawk' in a bass voice, and gives a 

 wink with his one eye. I looks through the 

 trees behind me, and there I see a war 

 party o' cannibals strcllin' up on three 

 sides o' where I sat. The fourth side 

 was the river full o ' crockydiles about 

 the size o' tugboats. I hadn't a gun, nor 

 Bothink else except my baccy box. Says 

 I to myself: 'Jaggs, old man, you're 

 it.' Just then old Jonah, the pelican, 

 opens his mouth to say 'quawk' again, 

 and an inspiration — I can't call it noth- 

 ink else — come into my mind, i pressed 

 his big bill open, strokin' him kind o' 

 gently, and just afore the first o' the 

 cannibals come up I was tucked away 

 safe in the pelican's pouch! All them 

 disreputable niggers see was a one-eyed 

 pelican lookin ' like he was takin ' a 

 doze after an uncommon full meall" 



There was a momentary silence, 

 while the narrator refreshed himself 

 with another cup of oatmeal water. 



' ' I did wish once or twice as old 

 Jonah 'ud be a bit more paiiic 'lar in 

 brushiu' his teeth; uncommon fishy it 

 was in there. However, he got me out 

 of a tight scrape — I've had a likin' for 

 pelicans ever since. Hnillo, here's the 

 boss; I reckon school's out," and the 

 Iionesomehurst outfit proceeded to load 

 up their pipes, ready for another happy 

 gathering on the broiling roofs. 



BOSTON. 



There may be "sermons in stones, and 

 books in the running brooks." Surely 

 there are stones in the running brooks, and 

 formerly there were sermons in the good 

 bishop of that name, but there is not 

 much of an oration in the floral situa- 

 tion here, unless demonstrated by a more 

 eloquent pen. We are simply stitching 

 along in the same old seam, and doing 

 pretty good work for the date. There is 

 no surplus of first-class material of any 

 kind, nor of anything that can be used 

 in funeral work, except lilies, which are 

 coming too freely, as also are red roses of 

 a poor quality. Violet growers escape a 

 surplus in tlieir line by ])icking only as 

 many as they expect to dispose of. And 

 you must not say "jonquils'' to a man in 

 that business unless you are going to 

 favor him with an order. He doesn't 

 like to be reminded of them otherwise. 



There is a small chapter in Mr. E. X. 

 Peirce's visit to the Bermuda Islands. 

 Wholesale dealers in lily bulbs told him 

 so many fairy tales about that region 

 that he went to have a look at their 

 wares in their native haunts, and he now 

 knows a thing or two for himself, and 

 you can bet he knows how to use his 

 knowledge when selling agents approach 

 him. It seems that most of the bulbs are 

 produced in the valleys of one rather 



small island about eighteen miles long by 

 from two to three miles broad, and the 

 best ones are sure to go to England. 

 Three diseases are common and not much 

 guarded against, except in the case of 

 one of them, which results in non-pro- 

 duction of a bulb. All these diseases Mr. 

 Peirce attributes to depreciation in qual- 

 ity of seed, caused by marketing all the 

 better grades of bulbs and propagating 

 from poorer ones. 



Mr. Peirce cannot make any kind of a 

 trip, short or long, without combining 

 I)oth business and pleasure. I will warrant 

 some of the Bermuda Islanders will re- 

 member him in both roles. Incidentally, 

 he chose his grower and contracted for 

 his whole crop of bulbs for fall delivery, 

 and another season will demonstrate 

 concerning the business value of his trin. 



The co-operative market people expect 

 to occupy their new quarters on Colum- 

 bus avenue April G for the first time. 



J. S. M.WTER. 



PHILADELPHIA, 



Americai Rose Society. 



The annual exhiliition of the American 

 Rose Society opened in tliis city Tuesday 

 evening. The quality of the roses shown 

 was very fine, and the number of varie- 

 ties unusually large. 



John Burton won the Lord & Burnham 

 cup and the .$100 prize with fifty superb- 

 ly grown Beauties. B. F. Dorrance won 

 the .$100 prize for best exhibit of cut 

 loses, showing twelve varieties, twenty- 

 five blooms eacli, all splendidly grown. 

 The Liberties were a feature; A. Fahren- 

 wald was first and Dorrance second, with 

 fifty blooms that were simply magnifi- 

 cent. 



Testout was sliowii in fine form. .Tohn 

 X. May showed General McArtliur, a new 

 rose. Peter Crowe was first on well 

 grown Gates, Maids and Brides. The ab- 

 sence of Xew York Beauties was noticed 

 with regret. They felt it was no use 

 coming. One grower said Philadelphia 

 did well. Her roses stand higher than 

 ever. 



On Wednesday Breitmeyer's seedlinu, 

 a cross between Bridesmaid and Testout, 

 wa.- awarded a silver medal. 



The Market. 



The cut flourr iii ii ki-t iv very quiet, 

 hardly justifying any special comment. 

 The mild weather (on many nights, it 

 has been over 60 degrees) has brought in 

 great quantities of rather soft flowers, 

 entirely too many to be disposed of ad- 

 vantageously. Southern single daffodils 

 have been arriving in immense quanti- 

 ties, one dealer alone, S. .S. Pennock, re- 

 ceived over 12,'j,000 in one week. All 

 were .sold. but. as can be readily imag- 

 ined, they brought extremely low prices. 



Indications point to an improvement 

 next week with cooler weather. It is 

 not improbable that really fine roses and 

 carnations will be in but moderate sup- 

 ply, while it is feared that violets will 

 be quite scarce. There will certainly be 

 great quantities of Faster lilies and other 

 liullious flowers. Indications point 'to a 

 heavy demand. 



Florists' Supplies. 



The supply men. for which this city is 

 noted, are extremely busy now. Just as 

 activity in the stock market usually indi- 

 cates an improvement in general busi- 

 ness, so the rush of business that comes 

 to florists is always foreshadowed by the 

 rush in the supply houses. The two lead- 



ing firms in this city, and it may be 

 fairly said in this country, H, Bayers- 

 dorfer & Co. and M. Rice & Co., are now 

 experiencing a tremendous demand, 

 which requires all their efforts to meet. 



M. Rice & Co. have an assortment of 

 beautiful baskets in so called Easter 

 sliailes of yellow, pink and white, most 

 delicate and pleasing to the eye. A 

 broad basket of deep green with tin pan 

 to fit suitable for bulbous flowers is at- 

 tractive and inexpensive. They have 

 many other pretty things besides all the 

 standard Easter necessaries. 



H. Bayersdorfer & Co. received two 

 immense shipments by steamer last week, 

 which are being rapidly distributed all 

 over the country. Tliey have a grand 

 lot of cycas leaves and wreaths, a silken 

 cord to give the finishing touch to bas- 

 kets and plant hampers, and a great 

 warehouse full of everything the heart 

 of the retailer can desire. 



Easter Plants. 



There is every reascm to believe that 

 the demand for blooming plants will be 

 greater than ever this season. Robert 

 Craig & Son have an immense stock, 

 larger even than usual, of superbly 

 grown plants. They have five large 

 houses filled with lilies. Tlie finest are 

 planted three in an 8-inch azalea pot: 

 these azalea pots are (i inches deep, half 

 way between a pot and pan. Then there 

 are a couple of houses of plants in Cinch 

 pots with from 4 to 8 buds apiece. An- 

 other size, intended chiefly for cutting, 

 have less than 4 buds on each stem. 

 All are well hardened, clothed right 

 down to the pot with rich green foliage. 

 One (if iiur brightest retailers gave mere- 

 ly a glance at this stock and placed his 

 advance order for a couple of hundred 

 pots. 



Two large houses were filled with as 

 line a lot of azaleas as one could wish 

 to see. Quite a iiumber of carefully 

 trained plants were placed on pedestals 

 to shape nicely, but the bulk of the stock 

 is grown in the flat compact form so 

 popular with our Belgian friends. A 

 iKivelly was large mal-shaped pans, 

 ciriginally used for Txirraine begonias 

 tilled with nearly a dozen of the smaller 

 sized azaleas planted in a compact mass. 

 The varieties grown are chiefly the old 

 standard white, rose red and pink and 

 white. 



I'here are two houses of well grown 

 Ramblers, one filled with large the other 

 with medium-sized plants, not perhaps 

 so tall as in previous years, but excep- 

 tiiiiially well flowered, every plant cov- 

 ered with clusters of buds. ,\nother 

 house contained a long bench of Magna 

 Cliarta roses in (i-inch pots, looking the 

 picture of health, nearly every shoot 

 topped with a bud. 



The new .spirea Gladstone, in several 

 sizes of pots and pans, presented a fine 

 appearance, with nuinenms and heavy 

 flower spikes. Rhododendrons, genistas, 

 hydrangeas and a variety of bulbous 

 stock completed this large and varied 

 assortment of flowering piants. 



Notes. 



Leo Xiessen is handling thousands of 

 bunches of pansies right along. 



D. D. L. Farson is now with the Edi- 

 son Electric Light Co. 



Robert Craig & Son flowered a lot of 

 dwarf .Tapanese cherries for the rose 

 show. Tlicy were very prett.y. 



Whetstone & Co. make a specialty of 

 wrought iron pipe. 



