NOTBMBBB 11, 1920 



The Florists' Review 



31 



William Plumb. 



William Plumb, president of the New 

 York Florists' Club for two terms, 1898 

 and 1899, died at the Hotel Breslin, 

 New York, on the evening of November 

 6, of heart failure superinduced by an 

 attack of pleurisy. During the last few 

 years he had been engaged in landscape 

 work in Cuba, making his headquarters 

 at Havana. 



In the early days of the New York 

 Florists' Club's history he was one of 

 its stanch supporters, and figured in 

 the flower shows of those times as a 

 capable manager, particularly in the 

 shows held at Madison Square Garden, 

 then and now one of New York 's great- 

 est exhibition halls. He was well quali- 

 fied as a gardener and horticulturist for 

 his undertakings, which included the 

 development of both private estates 

 and commercial establishments. When 

 preparations were in progress for the 

 big Panama-Pacific exposition, at San 

 Francisco, he was appointed superin- 

 tendent of the department of horticul- 

 ture. 



Mr. Plumb was possessed of a most 

 charming personality, which endeared 

 him to a host of friends. He arrived in 

 New York from Havana Tuesday, 

 November 2. He had not been feeling 

 well, and remained in seclusion until 

 November 6, when he felt somewhat 

 better and entertained his nephew, 

 Charles Plumb, to whom he explained 

 his unannounced visit as due to the fact 

 that financial conditions in Cuba made it 

 possible for him to come north to renew 

 acquaintance with his friends. When he 

 retired to his room, his illness asserted 

 itself to such an extent that he died be- 

 fore medical aid could reach him. He 

 was born seventy years ago, in Hunting- 

 don, Hants county, England, the birth- 

 place of Oliver Cromwell. The deceased 

 was a member of the S. A. F., F. & A. M., 

 Knights Templar, Shriners, Odd Fellows 

 and Elks. He leaves a widow and one 

 daughter, Mildred, both residents of 

 Boston. The body was taken to Boston 

 Monday, November 8, where interment 

 was made. J. H. P. 



Oeorge Williams. 



George Williams, a veteran florist of 

 Indianapolis, Ind., died Saturday even- 

 ing, November 6. Several years ago he 

 organized the firm of George Williams 

 & Son, but recently he relinquished 

 active participation in the business. 

 His son, Earle, now manages the busi- 

 ness. 



August F. Hoffmeister. 



August F. Hoffmeister died at the 

 home of his sister, Mrs. William San- 

 ders, at Westwood, Cincinnati, O., 

 Wednesday, November 3, after a linger- 

 ing illness. He was 55 years of age. 



Mr. Hoflfmeister and his two sisters 

 organized the Hoffmeister Floral Co. 

 twenty-five years ago. Later they spe- 

 cialized in the growing of Easter lilies 

 and were one of the largest concerns of 

 that nature west of New York. Mr. 

 Hoffmeister was known as the "Ohio 

 lily king." During the last year he 

 had been residing on his farm near 

 Amelia, O. He was a member of the 



William Plumb. 



Cincinnati Florists' Club, the Society 

 of American Florists and the American 

 Forestry Association. 



Besides Mrs. Sanders, three sisters, 

 Mrs. Emma Wendland and the Misses 

 Margaret and Caroline Hoffmeister, and 

 the deceased's mother survive him. The 

 funeral services were held at Spring 

 Grove cemetery, G. H. K. 



George Manton, for many years a 

 grower in Toronto, died November 5. 



Mr. and Mrs. J. A. Neal have moved 

 to the city for the winter, after spend- 

 ing the summer at their farm. 



J. J. H. 



TORONTO, ONT. 



The big event of the week was the 

 flower show conducted by Toronto retail 

 florists. This annual mum show is held 

 In the individual flower shops. There 

 were some beautiful window displays. 

 The usual immense exhibition mums were 

 missing, but there were thousands of 

 other kinds, including beautiful Turners, 

 for which there was a good sale. The 

 show had the effect of making all flo- 

 rists make use of their windows and 

 make special decorations. Some of 

 these windows were arranged with 

 baskets of mums and others contained 

 banks of mums, these banks extending 

 into the stores in some cases. 



The demand for wedding decorations 

 has fallen off considerably during the 

 last week, but there are many requests 

 for decorations for teas, which appear 

 to be the order of the day. These deco- 

 rations consist chiefly of palms, ferns 

 and mums. 



The cut flower trade is good and the 

 demand for design work continues. 



A. W. Doughty has reentered the flo- 

 rists' trade after an absence of a year. 

 His new store is on Danforth avenue. 



J. P. McCarthy, of the M. Rice Co., 

 Philadelphia, was in town last week. 



CHICAGO. 



The Market. 



Last week 's election excitement had 

 no sooner subsided than the market ex- 

 perienced a nice little boom. The reason 

 seemed to be that nearly all the retailers 

 who draw stock from Chicago's whole- 

 sale district had carried as little as pos- 

 sible over the days of the landslide and 

 its aftermath; as soon as the distraction 

 passed the stores all stocked up again 

 and made of the end of the week a veri- 

 table little holiday. As the supply of 

 flowers was not large, prices were im- 

 proved and practically everything was 

 cleaned up Saturday night. 



Business not only is good, but it is 

 running up sales totals ahead of the 

 record for the same time last year. In 

 October this result was attained on 

 quantity sold.at low prices, but now it is 

 the result of small supply sold at better 

 prices than prevailed last year. In 

 no line is the supply large. Dur- 

 ing the chrysanthemum season none 

 of the growers cares to bring in 

 a heavy crop of anytliing else and 

 this year there are not many mums. 

 Last year's oversupply and low prices 

 had the usual result; for this market 

 not nearly so many mums or pompons 

 were planted as in 1919. Consequently, 



