October 23, 1919. 



The Florists^ Review 



31 



OBITUARY 



Andrew Geary. 



The death of Andrew Geary, one of 

 ;he inspectors for the horticultural 

 (ommission of Los Angeles, removes one 

 ,:f the pioneers in horticulture in that 

 leighborhood. Mr. Geary was in his 

 isual health on the day before his 

 death, but an attack of acute indiges- 

 tion resulted fatally October 15. 



Mr. Geary moved to Los Angeles 

 in the early days and his father oper- 

 ated a small nursery. In later years 

 Mr. Geary was also in the nursery busi- 

 ness, but had filled his position as hor- 

 ticultural inspector for the last fifteen 

 years. Mr. Geary was married twice, 

 and his first wife had what was prob- 

 ably the first flower store ever opened 

 in Los Angeles. It was run in connec- 

 tion with a confectionery store on 

 Spring street and antedated Mr. 

 Schneider's Main street store. At that 

 time there were few if any growers of 

 cut flowers and those sold consisted 

 mostly of violets, roses and chrysanthe- 

 mums grown on private grounds. Thus 

 it will be seen that Mr. Geary would 

 have had far better reasons to call him- 

 self the dean of horticulture or the 

 l)ioneer horticulturist than many self- 

 styled deans and pioneers. But this 

 was not his way. A quiet, well-in- 

 formed, most likable man, he would 

 often speak of the old days, but with 

 none of the bombast so characteristic 

 of some present-day types. 



Mr. Geary in his official capacity had 

 the power to turn down shipments or 

 make it inconvenient for nurserymen to 

 do business, but it says much for his 

 tact and diplomacy that he had no 

 enemies and everybody in the trade had 

 a good word for him. The somewhat 

 hackneyed term, nature's gentleman, 

 fitted this fine, hearty and vigorous 

 man and the sympathy of everyone 

 who knew him goes out to his devoted 

 wife, son and daughters, who mourn his 

 loss. Besides Mrs. Lillie E. Geary, his 

 widow, he is survived by Andrew T. 

 Geary, his son, and two daughters, Mrs. 

 Geo. F. Barton and Mrs. Eugene P. 

 Franquinet. 



Mr. Geary, though over 60 years of 

 age, was active in his duties right up to 

 the last. For years he had driven 

 around the city and its environs in his 

 car, often accompanied by Mrs. Geary, 

 in the course of his business, and not 

 one in the trade but was glad to see him 

 at all times. He will be sadly missed. 



The funeral was held at South Flower 

 street October 17 and both the number 

 of the trade present and the amount of 

 Horal tributes sent testified to the es- 

 teem in which he was held. 



H. K. R. 

 Martin Erb. 



Martin Erb, of Troy Hill road, Trov 

 Hill, Pittsburgh, died October 16 in St. 

 John's hospital as the result of injuries 

 received, the evening before, when he 

 was struck by an automobile on Mount 

 Troy road while on his way to church. 

 Mr. Erb, who was 60 years of age, was 

 born in Hessen, Germany, and emigrated 

 to this country thirty-seven years ago, 

 settling in Pittsburgh. He was a mem- 

 ber of St. George Ritters Branch 43, 

 Hessen Beneficial Society and St. 



Aloysius' Roman Catholic church. He 

 is survived by his widow, Mrs. Rosalia 

 Erb; three sons, Lawrence, Joseph and 

 Frank Erb, all of Pittsburgh; four 

 daughters, Mrs. George Pfeifer, Mrs. 

 Otto Kablack, Miss Rose and Miss 

 Magdalena Erb; a brother, Lawrence 

 Erb; a sister, Mrs. George Wach, and 

 fourteen grandchildren. E. E. S. 



George Taylor. 



George Taylor, one of the oldest land- 

 scape gardeners at Newport, R. I., died 

 October 4 at his cottage on the H. Mor- 

 timer Brooks estate, of which he had 

 been in charge for the last two months. 

 He was 71 years of age and had been 

 ill about three months. 



He was in a large measure responsible 

 for some of the beautiful landscape ef- 

 fects in the cottage colony during his 

 fifty-five years in Newport, and was for 

 a long time head gardener for the late 

 John H. Glover. He was born in Ash- 

 ton, England, in 1848 and came to this 

 country about 1864 and took up his 

 home in Newport. He was a mem- 

 ber of Emmanuel (Episcopal) church 

 of Newport for many years. He 

 was one of the oldest members of Cor- 

 onet Council, Order of the Royal Ar- 

 canum, and of the Newport Horticul- 

 tural Society and the Newport Garden 

 Club. He is survived by Mrs. Taylor 

 and four sons. The funeral services 

 were held Tuesday afternoon, October 

 7, in the Belmont Memorial Chapel. 



W. H. M. 



Frank O. Franzen. 



Frank O. Franzon, formerly a florist 

 at 5319 North Clark street, Chicago, 

 died October 17, at the Swedish Cove- 

 nant hospital, of chronic empyema. He 

 had been operated on October 4. 



Mr. Franzen was born in Sweden, 

 January 9, 1884, the son of Jonas and 

 Ida Franzen. He came to America in 

 youth and located at Gary, Ind. Re- 

 moving to Chicago in 1910, he opened 

 a retail flower store on Summerdale 

 avenue, near Clark street. He made 

 rapid progress and soon built a new 

 store and greenhouses in the same 

 neighborhood. Failing health brought 

 on business reverses and he went to 

 California in the hope of recuperation, 

 but his ailment proved chronic, and he 

 returned to the family home at 3323 

 North Halsted street a few months ago. 

 He leaves a widow, Anna. 



The funeral services were held Oc- 

 tober 21, at Hultin chapel, 3176 North 

 Clark street, interment being in Me- 

 morial Park cemetery. He was a Ma- 

 son, an Odd Fellow and a Maccabee, 

 each of these organizations, as well as 

 the trade, being represented at the 

 services. 



TOLEDO, O. 



The Market. 



A fair number of fashionable wed- 

 dings and much funeral work are keep- 

 ing everybody busy. Outdoor flowers 

 are finished for this season. Chrysan- 

 themums are arriving in good supply, 

 though there is still a scarcity of pom- 

 pons. Carnations are coming in more 

 plentifully and are of good quality. 

 Roses are plentiful, yet there seems to 

 be a scarcity of good white roses. 



Various Notes. 



The sympathy of the trade is ex- 

 tended to Jacob and Josie Helmer in 



the loss of their mother, who died re- 

 cently. A number of beautiful floral 

 offerings were sent by the trade. 



L. W. Hicks, for the last three years 

 with Metz & Bateman, left recently 

 with Mrs. Hicks for Los Angeles, Cal., 

 where he intends to try his luck in the 

 wholesale game. 



The writer visited Dayton, O., Octo- 

 ber 13, and called on the trade. A visit 

 to the range of Rolf Zetlitz Co. found 

 the plant department in especially 

 good shape; it is in the hands of Mr. 

 Anderson, who has had great success in 

 this line. 



Several of the men in the trade took 

 in the F. T. D. convention at Buffalo 

 and report a particularly good time. 



Recent visitors to this city are: 

 Philip Breitmeyer, of John Breitmey- 

 er's Sons, Detroit, and his wife and 

 friends, touring through to Indian- 

 apolis; Alexander A. Abramowitz, rep- 

 resenting P. L. Carbone, Boston, Mass. 



Henry E. Klunder has gone to Cin- 

 cinnati, where he has taken a position 

 with Henry W. Sheppard. 



The royal visitors, the King and 

 Queen of Belgium, received a number of 

 beautiful bouquets on their short visit 

 in Toledo, among which was a shower of 

 orchids, valley and Kaiserin, arranged 

 by Mrs. J. B. Freeman. 



At the regular meeting of the Retail 

 Florists' Association October 7 the com- 

 mittee on Sunday closing was not ready 

 to make a report, so a special meeting 

 was called for October 21 to enable the 

 committee to make a full report. 



C. M. B. 



Wohler Bros, are sending in some ex- 

 ceptionally fine Oconto mums, which are 

 being handled through Otto Krueger's 

 store on East Broadway. 



Shramm Bros, have renovated their 

 establishment with a new coat of paint 

 — and are to be complimented on their 

 good example. 



F. A. Imoberstag has completed a new 

 salesroom. 



William Phillips has disposed of his 

 florists' supply department, the stock 

 having been purchased by Otto Krue- 

 ger, who has moved it to his wholesale 

 department. O. P. K. 



CHICAGO. 



The Market. 



Business is booming, but prices are 

 considerably below the high level of 

 late October last year, so that unless 

 one is able to handle considerably more 

 stock than a year ago the day's total 

 of sales shows a decrease. There are 

 two views of this situation. The whole- 

 salers and retailers as a class are fairly 

 well satisfied. With lower prices and 

 larger supplies of stock it is possible to 

 push the business with a degree of sat- 

 isfaction unattainable when things 

 were on the famine basis. On the other 

 hand, a good many growers complain 

 that the prices now are not in harmony 

 with the increased cost of production. 



Supply and demand are quite evenly 

 balanced. There are large quantities 

 of flowers in the market and there is a 

 big daily demand. The market cleans 

 up in good shape, but it is possible to 

 fill nearly all orders. The principal 

 difficulty is experienced with orders for 

 iShort roses at low prices. The longer 

 .the price the buyer is willing to pay, 

 [Contlnaed on page 36.1 



