18 



The Florists' Review 



Maucu 15, 1917. 



;: M^|ti^|iU'liyBUJJkU'JM lM!iU'!'Olg^^ 



THE BIG BLOW AT NEWCASTLE 



W^IjMt?^ififfW^I?^7^?^1]fr^-fI^^ 



BENTHEY RANGE DESTROYED. 



Lynch Place Damaged. 



l.ato ill tlio at't. 'I 11(11111 111' Sniiiliiy. 

 .M;iii-li II. ;i liJiii;iil(i stiihlv llii' i-\\\ k\ 

 Newcastle, liiiL. wiilfly Kiiiiwn i:i tlir 

 trade as the iimiie m' niiiiieinu- l;ir;^c 

 ;:ri'\vei's. aiul the iiKiniiiig papers of 

 -Maich ll' t hr(Hi;ih(in! the I'nitnl Stiitev 

 ca riieil stui ie-> nl iii;i li \ ' h'a t h s ;i Ihl wide 

 s[ireail dest I'lictimi. A paia^iapli nt' the 

 jiress repurt said: 



■•\e\\ca>tle is known ;i^ llie < i t v iil' 



lioses liei-ause nl' its product ii I' tlie 



beaut il'lll A Uiei ir;i II l;e;ility riisis. 'Idu^ 

 town li;is l)ii;i>ted ot' its acri's i>\' hid 

 houses. AFany oi' tliese weri ilinTlh- iis 

 tiie path of the storm and tlic trail con 

 struct iciii 111' the ylasscoveied Imililin^s 

 f(dl easy pii'\' to the ^\■ind. 'rhniisainU 

 of dollars' d;wii;iiie was dioic tn urewiiii.: 

 lluwevs and other ]ilants.'' 



Two Places Hit. 



The fact is tli.at only tuo placs woir 

 hit. The (^staldishllietlt of I'ledelick .F. 

 lleiithey, cdiisist iiiii nl' :iliii|it Ilo.niMi 

 sipl.are feet of glass, w:is directly in tlie 

 path of the stni'tn. It was ci-ushi-d Hat. 

 as coToplete a wrecl\. ])i'olial)ly. as e\'er 

 was made nt' a larue ^reeiiliniise ranue 

 a II \ u here in 1 h is country. 



The I'. .). I.yiich pl;i'-e. cnn-istin^ el 

 aliiillt ."ojinn I'd't iif ulass, riiiiducteij 

 under the ii;iiiic iif llellei l!riis. ( u.. w .'i -: 

 sii ha id hit that nearly ever\' ])ane of 

 i^la>s wa'- lirnkeii .'iiid niiich nf thi' striic 

 t ui.'i I ma 1 1' I i.'il turn ;i^m ndei . 



Nmie lit' the iither Lireenhiiiisc estali 

 lishinent^ suffered serious loss, d'he 

 raiiL:"' nf the Suutli I'ark Floral <"i>.. 

 Myer llidler, prc^ideni, le-t only alunit 

 $.10(1 in liroken L;lass, altliniinh it is niilx 

 a short disfanie irnni the l,\iicli place. 

 1'. .(. njiiiMor. whd h.a- Hio.imiii r,.rt n! 

 iZl.a^-. i'~ iilT at the ntlier sidi n f the cit; 

 ;illd did lint Inse e\e|i nlie liyht nl ;^1:in^. 

 The I'. dm- \\ciland iihon. witli .aimtlle- 



larcje area of glass, is lioyond the Lynch 

 and Ihdler i;nig(>s and in line from 

 Bentlicy's, hut the storm veered and 

 jiasscd Weil.ind without damage". Wm. 

 Dittmaii is only a block from the T^yncdi 

 and Heller places, but, like lleller, es- 

 caped with the loss of a few panes of 

 ulass in liis Iult l?eauty houses. 



The Benthey Loss. 



The I'enthe.x' place consisted ol' ti'n 

 :]nO foot houses in roses and two shorter 

 proptigating houses. All that stands is 

 the service building. The wre(dv of the 

 greenhouses is eomjilete. The storm was 

 nf a character to crush the houses rath 

 ei' than to lift them. While ther(> were 

 cyclniiic storms in the ii(dL;lil)orhno(l that 

 da\', the 'dow whidi fell on Newcastle 

 was a tnrnado, desciitied by the weather 

 liureau as the spur o|' a cyclone. It flat- 

 ttiKMl the greenhouses, breaking down 

 all tw(d\e ill the Ueiithev range, destroy- 

 ing glass and striKdural material. I'^ive 

 i<\' the ]ioiise< wei'e I.", years old, two 

 1 1' yeai-s idd, three 10 years old and the 

 prop.agating houses wer(> modern. The- 

 jihace is estimat(>d to have Ix^en worth 

 .fln.noO. The loss niav be $:*.."), 00(1. A 

 part of the loss is co\ered by storm in- 

 surance, but it is thought .tl.1,000 of the 

 in^t nt' rebuilding the houses will fall 



nil tl wie^r. ill addition to the loss 



nt' -tnrk aiid ^.ale-. \ |iiirtinii of the 



NnllllL; ^|nid\ was ^;i\ed \iv reUloN'al to 



the liittniaii laiiue and im dnrdit there 

 will lie possibilities nl' s:il\;|._i,. ill the 

 bench pl.aiits. whiidi arc nl' the best 

 \arieties. It is iiiideistnod the iau<xr> 

 will be rebuilt at nnce. 



Other Losses. 



Till- Insses on 1-esideuce p|-npelty alniie 

 the jialh I)]' tlie -tnini wioe l.ar^e. Nfye:' 

 lleller, will! is a l;ir:;e prn|iert\ owner in 

 Newcastle, 111 sides beilii^ liead nt' a de 

 p.aitmelit stnle. e>t iiii.ate- that it will 

 take $L'0.(iiiii tn re|iaii' the dani.aue hi- 

 reiitiiin liuildinn..; sii^taiiied. 



South of the Ruins of the F. J. Benthey Range. 



How It Looked to a Grower. 



1 was picking sweet peas in the green 

 liouses when 1 saw a storm coming. I 

 thought it time to close the ventilators 

 and ran to the house. No sooner had 1 

 reached it than a roaring sound resem- 

 bling that of a freight train came and 

 lasted a little more than two minutes. 

 Wiien it subsided i looked out at the 

 greenhouses and cmild see iiotliing 

 wrong with the except iioi of about a 

 do/.en liidbed sasht's. 



At tiie l.yuch place, a distance of 

 about l.iiOii y.ards fmiii where 1 am 

 located, which was in the jiath of the 

 tornado, not more than lOl) to loO light- 

 of glass remain intact, (ilass was blow:, 

 ill all diiei'tions, liinwing down the 

 iiniler room and nearly killing one ol 

 the employees. The bars at these houses 

 nearly .all remain standing, except where 

 I hey were struck by some ll\ing ob- 

 ji it, such as jiart of the mot of the 

 near by rolling mill that was destroyed. 

 Mr. I,\iicli has $3,0(10 insnranee. but said 

 his loss will bo at least $1."),000 more. 



Dittman's greenhouses were also un- 

 harmed jiiid I understand Mr. Lynch 

 uTid th(> Pientlieys have rented it and 

 are moving most cd" their stock into it 

 as fast as they jiossibly can, although 

 last night was a bad night for it, as it 

 rainiNl heavily all night, the rain freez- 

 ing to the ground and trees as it fell. 

 To think- of having been so close to the 

 path of the tornado and to have eseafied 

 without damage! It certtiinly w.-is a 

 miracle. The only thing that is l)other- 

 ing us is the t(de}iiione being out of 

 Older. .\lso, a number of the men and 

 wnmen failed to come to work. 



i;. (;. Hill, of lJi<dimond, whom 1 

 I'oiind yesterday at the Tivnrdi ]ilace, 

 stated, ''This is the worst I over have 

 -eeii. I have seen a nnndier of green- 

 houses Idown down in my day, but none 

 so completely as the Heuthev houses." 

 Hero almost everything is flat to the 

 ground, (^xeept the benches, which re- 

 iiiain standing. The boiler-room and two 

 small houses luiilt in the last throe or 

 four years remain standing, although 

 the gables were blown in completely on 

 these houses, leaving the roof with 

 abniit one half the glass in it. 



( )t' the ten larg(^ houses wliich were 

 built lii-t little remains standing, not 

 e\iii the iron gutters, the outside gutter 

 at the south end bcdiig completely down. 

 with the posts either broken off or bent 

 n\er .iiid leaning .against the bench. 



r. .1. r.enthex-. whnm f found ;it his 

 pi.ace, tnid me he had oiilv .■f.'.OOO insur- 

 ance an.ainst wind. \\'ith the jiiice of 

 Lila-s ;it $."i to >:(! per box. this would not 

 e\-en pa\' one halt' the |irii'e ot the glass 

 a lone. 



Tlie\- were lius\' here renio\ing all the 

 xniin;^ stncK'. They were koe[dng a cnti 

 tiniinu- lire in the boilers, ;is tlm main 

 pipe- all leiiiaiiied iiitad. I Inly at one 



place dhl I discover .1 ie:ik. I liiiLlht 

 -t.ate tli.at the in-e jilauts in the beiiclies 

 e.ili all be leliinvid aud heided in and 

 used aLiaiii. ,altliouL:h I dn not know if 

 it i- their intention to do this. 



The South I';irk I'loral f'o. houses, of 

 which M\er lleller is proprietor, were 



