34 



The Florists' Review 



March 29, 1917. 



Inc., Cromwell, Conn. F. B. Pierson Co. 

 was not an exhibitor, while the entries 

 of A. N. Pierson, Inc., were a principal 

 feature of the show. 



St. Louis Next? 



The executive committee fixes the 

 place and date of the annual meeting 

 and exhibition, but a vote was in favor 

 of St. Louis in 1918, when the exhibi- 

 tion and convention will be held in con- 

 junction with the National Flower 

 Show, 



Apologia. 



Now that the rush is over, two faces 

 rise before my imagination in scornful 

 reproach. They seem to ask, "Have 

 you forgotten us, that you say nothing 

 of our part in growing those beautiful 

 plants, the ones that were used in the 

 central rose garden?" One is the face 

 of Mark Patton Mills, of William K. 

 Harris; the other is the face of Ernest 

 F. Zieger, of Zieger & Son. Forgive 

 me, friends; forgive me. Phil. 



ii»Mi^i^i^i^iiiai«yi«iiiiS!yi«^:ii^!^i«^ 



ANOTHER WIND STORM 



8vir«viri«\ir«tiri«titrsvirr8\irr8vir)rsvirrsviri«\ih«rth^ 



HOOSIEB HOUSES HIT AGAIN. 



The Big Blow at New Albany. 



March, 1917, will be recorded by In- 

 diana florists as a month during which 

 the elements set a record for destruc- 

 tion of greenhouses and stock in their 

 state. The excitement over the big tor- 

 nado at Newcastle on the afternoon of 

 March 11 was abating when news came 

 that a tornado had visited New Albany 

 Friday, March 23, and, like the one at 

 Newcastle, had taken its heavy toll of 

 life and property. 



Shortly after 3 o'clock the tornado 

 swooped down on the town, leveling trees 

 and buildings. It came so rapidly and 

 so unexpectedly that no preparations 

 could be made. New Albany suffered 

 heavily. All of the florists there sus 

 tained losses to some extent, but un- 

 doubtedly the heaviest loser was Anders 

 Kasmussen. What was one of the larg- 

 est and most up-to-date ranges south of 

 Chicago is a twisted mass of pipe and 

 sashbars. The beds and benches are 

 littered with broken glass. Twenty-one 

 houses, each 300 feet long, went before 

 the storm. Easter stock that was in the 

 pink of condition is a crumpled mass 

 of vegetation. Thousands of lilies were 

 blackened; thousands of roses which 

 were coming into heavy crop arc now 

 standing outdoors. 



Basmussen Loss About $80,000. 



The two great steel stacks fell on 

 tlie houses, causing extra damage and 

 eliminating the possibilities of supply- 

 ing heat to the less damaged sections. 

 A young man cutting sweet peas in one 

 of the houses was seriously injured by 

 falling glass and lumber. It is estimated 

 that the loss is around seventy-five per 

 cent, equivalent to about $80,000. It is 

 understood that little insurance was 

 carried. 



Nick Pontrich was another heavy 

 loser. Both of his houses were carried 

 away, leaving nothing but the benches. 

 The F, Walker Co. sustained damages 

 to its service buildings and glass was 

 broken by flying lumber and hail. At 

 the greenhouses of Lewis G. Pleiss there 

 was a heavy breakage of glass and the 

 concrete boiler room was torn up. The 

 damage at the range of J. Guthrie was 

 considerable, but principally broken 

 glass. A. F. Aebersold also lost heav- 

 ily; about one-half of his range was 

 demolished. 



Thus the work of a lifetime was wiiied 

 out, in less than five minutes. 



E. C. Walker underwent a harrowing 



experience. He was buried beneath his 

 ruined residence for several hours and 

 in imminent danger of being burned to 

 death. Mr. Walker suffered severe 

 bruises and a fractured limb. 



G. G. W. 



Although the tornado of March 23 

 practically blotted out his life's work, 

 this was not the first time that Anders 

 Easmussen felt the destructive powers 

 of the angered elements. August 12, 

 1911, the records show, a cyclone visited 

 the Rasmussen range and destroyed a 

 greenhouse, 42x300, which had been 

 completed only a few months before. 

 The loss to building and stock was about 



Frank D. Pollcano. Arnold Rfnsrier. 



Playing Cowboy at Byron Hot Springs, Cal. 



$3,000, with no insurance. At that time 

 Mr. Rasmussen said: 



"I have repeatedly tried to get cy- 

 clone insurance, but can get no com- 

 pany to take the risk on the glass." 



MB. BINGIEB BESIONS. 



Arnold Eingier has severed his con- 

 nection with the W. W. Barnard Co., 

 Chicago. 



The announcement was made March 

 24, following Mr. Ringier's return from 

 a trip to California, prolonged some- 

 what by the illness of Mrs. Ringier, who 

 was in a hospital at Los Angeles with 

 pneumonia contracted on the trip west. 



It is reported, however, that Mr. Ringier 

 disposed of his stock interest and ten- 

 dered his resignation as secretary of the 

 corporation prior to his departure for 

 the coast. Mr. Ringier had been asso- 

 ciated with the house for twenty-seven 

 years and is looked upon as one of the 

 men of broadest all-around information 

 in the trade, in addition to which he 

 has a wide acquaintance in the seed, 

 ( anning, florist, bulb and greens busi- 

 nesses. 



Mr. Ringier has not yet announced 

 Ills plans for the future. 



The picture shows him playing cow- 

 boy at Byron Hot Springs, Cal., with 

 .''rank D, Pelicano, of San Francisco, 

 \'ho supplied the photograph. 



ALL ABOUT THE GLADIOLUS. 



Extension Bulletin 9, recently pub- 

 lished by the New York State College 

 of Agriculture, at Cornell University, 

 Ithaca, N. Y., probably does not tell 

 nearly all there is to tell about the 

 gladiolus, but by the time the other bul 

 letins in the proposed series are issued 

 the subject ought to be about exhausted. 

 The information to be embodied in the 

 series of books will be largely the re- 

 sult of experiments conducted at the 

 trial grounds of the American Gladiolus 

 Society, located at Cornell. 



The present bulletin is entitled "Gla- 

 diolus Studies — I; Botany, History and 

 Evolution of the Gladiolus." It is il- 

 lustrated and contains 188 pages. It 

 was prepared by Alvin C. Beal, profes- 

 sor of floricultural investigations at 

 Cornell and chairman of the nomencla- 

 ture committee of the American Gladi- 

 olus Society. This first book of the 

 series, says Mr. Beal, "is intended to 

 trace the development of the gladiolus 

 up to the present time. Succeeding bul- 

 letins will treat of its culture and of the 

 varieties that have been tested in the 

 gladiolus trial grounds." 



This series of "gladiolus studies" 

 may be expected, therefore, to be an 

 epitome or compendium of most of the 

 important available facts about the gla- 

 diolus, and cannot fail to be interesting 

 to any who are interested in the flower. 



NEW ZEALAND MOUNTAIN LILY. 



S. L. Watkins, of Pleasant Vallev, 

 Cal., says: 



Ranunculus Lyalli, the shepherd's or 

 mountain lily, is the largest and one 

 of the most singularly beautiful ran 

 unculi in the world, the most graphic 

 description would fail to convey anv 

 adequate idea of its marvelous beautv. 

 The leaves are of enormous size, a dec| 

 glossy green. The massive flowers ay 

 pear on tall stems and are over foui 

 inches in diameter, with beautiful waxv 

 white petals and a yellow disk. Tin 

 white of the petals is of the most in 

 tense, glistening, snowy whiteness, an. 

 the yellow the most intense golden vel 

 low. This plant is a luxuriant bloomer, 

 and its blooming propensities can b-' 

 continued greatly by occasional irriga 

 tion in dry sections. It is highlv fr;i 

 grant. 



This plant has a bold, striking, trop 

 ical appearance and stands three to 

 four feet in height in its blooming sea 

 son, with a spread of leaves of from 

 three to four feet. 



It is indigenous to the high moun 

 tains of New Zealand, and is perfecth 

 hardy in nearly all localities. It can 

 be easily protected in localities where 

 it is not. 



