16 



The Florists^ Review 



June 14, 1917. 



HAIL'S TOLL IN MARYLAND. 



Beisterstown. 



The worst hail storm in sixteen years 

 struck the establishment of Charles B. 

 Wright at Eeisterstown, Md., at 4 p. 

 m., June 6. Practically all the glass 

 on the north side of his 10,000-foot 

 range was destroyed, while three-quar- 

 ters of that on the south side was 

 broken or damaged. The growing stock 

 outside also was destroyed. 



Mr. Wright's peonies were in full 

 crop and were mowed down by the hail. 

 Large festiva maxima stems were cut 

 off at the ground. Mr. Wright's loss 

 in stock included 9,000 young carna- 

 tion plants, planted out for fall hous- 

 ing; 8,000 Crocker carnation plants 

 ready for summer blooming; 2,000 Co- 

 chet rose plants, gladioli, lilies, Span- 

 ish iris, tomato and cabbage plants. 

 The stock in the greenhouses also was 

 badly damaged by hail and broken 

 glass. 



The glass on the Wright range was 

 insured with the Florists' Hail Asso- 

 ciation. 



Hagerstown. 



Henry A. Bester & Sons advise that 

 the hail storm of June 6 destroyed all 

 their outdoor and indoor plantings and 

 75,000 square feet of glass. The firm is 

 one of the oldest in Maryland. 



STORM AT WEST PLAINS, MO. 



A cloudburst, accompanied by a high 

 wind and hail, struck West Plains, Mo., 

 June 8, causing the destruction of grow- 

 ing vegetation, fruit trees and market 

 and private gardens. The Cottage 

 Greenhouse and Ozark Pansy Garden of 

 C. W. Harold suffered considerable dam- 

 age. Sash frames were broken and 

 stock damaged and a number of fruit 

 trees were blown down. Grain crops 

 in the neighborhood suffered heavily, 

 Mr. Harold reports. 



ASKS HELP FOR STORM VICTIM. 



J. F. Ammann Makes Appeal. 



J. F. Ammann, secretary of the Illi- 

 nois State Florists' Association, has 

 addressed a letter to the members of 

 the association asking aid for A. D. 

 King, whose greenliouse range and 

 home at Mattoon, 111., were destroyed 

 by the storm wliich partially wrecked 

 that city May 26. Mr. King, his wife 

 and a young daughter were hurt, but 

 liave recovered. 



Mr. Ammann 's letter to The Eeview 

 is as follows: 



I am enclosing a copy of a letter received 

 from A. D. King, of Mattoon, whose greenliouses 

 and liome were wrecked by a cyclone May 2G. 



Tliis letter is in answer to one I felt it my 

 duty as secretary of the state association to write 

 Mr." King, he being a member of the association. 



Now, I feel it is the duty of every member of 

 onr association to do something towards raising 

 a fund to help Mr. King out. 



1 will thank you to publish this letter In your 

 valuable paper with an appeal to the members 

 of the Illinois State Florists' Association to help. 



Contributions can be sent either to our treas- 

 urer, ('. I>. Washburn, at lUoomington, 111., or 

 to myself. All amounts will be duly credited, 

 publislicd and turned over to Mr. King. 



Let us for a moment, at least, turn away from 

 the commercial side of o'lr business, be chari- 

 table, and follow the teachinga^of the one Great 

 Master to render service to our fellowman. 



The letter of Mr. King, to Secretary 



Ammann, is as follows: 



I was glad to get your letter today, and I 

 surely ajipreciate your kind offer for my help. 

 I am just able to be about, as I was in the hos- 

 pital, being hurt in the cyclone. 



You cannot realize how badly I am hit. I had 

 fifteen houses, all stocked, had a fine trade and 



was doing fine. In five minutes I lost all! All 

 my houses are flat! My home is gone! All stock 

 gone! All supplies gone! And myself hurt! I 

 had not even any furniture or clothes left, as the 

 rain ruined all that was left. I enclose a small 

 I)icture of one side of the greenhouses. I lost 

 $30,U00 and if I cannot get some help I cannot 

 rebuild. 



If you can help me by sending an appeal to 

 the association, I will surely appreciate it. If 

 I get along all riglit, so I can attend to business, 

 I can make it a go. I have five children to feed. 

 My wife and one little girl were hurt, but are 

 getting along all right. 



I hope you will never have such a terrible 

 storm hit your place. If you do I shall surely 

 help you out. 



FLORISTS' HAIL ASSOCIATION. 



The directors of the Florists' Hail 

 Association of America held a meeting 

 at Trenton, N. J,, Friday, June 8, at 

 which initial action was taken for the 

 extension of the association's corpo- 

 rate existence for another thirty years 

 under the terms of the laws of New Jer- 

 sey, as passed by the New Jersey legis- 

 lature last winter. 



The directors also approved of and 

 will recommend a" new set of by-laws 

 drawn by J. A. Valentine, of Denver, 

 Colo., which improves upon and puts 



Freesia Splendens. 



in legal form the by-laws used for the 

 last thirty years. 



The proposition of cyclone insurance, 

 submitted by Anders Rasmussen, of 

 New Albany, Ind., was not taken up, 

 for the reason that the law under 

 which the Florists' Hail Association re- 

 organized recognizes only hail as the 

 form of destruction to be insured 

 against. The annual meeting of the 

 association will be held at Newark, N. 

 J., August 20, 1917. 



John G. Esler, Sec'y. 



FISCHER'S FAMOUS FREESIAS. 



The accompanying illustration gives 

 only a jioor impression of the quality 

 of the colored freesias raised by Ru- 

 dolph Fischer, of San Gabriel, Cal. The 

 originator of the famous Purity has 

 never let up in his work of freesia rais- 

 ing, but he and Mrs. Fischer have 

 worked hard and conscientiously along 

 the line of improvement. 



After many years' work, Mr, Fischer 

 last year sent out Splendens, a beauti- 

 ful lavender variety absolutely distinct 

 and trued up to type. So far as the 

 writer's information goes, this is the 

 only one that will be put out this year, 

 although he has seen the newer ones. 



There is a magnificent clear yellow, as 

 large as Purity and as good in ev.iv 

 way; another is pure orange and there 

 is a red. In short, there will be some 

 wonderful varieties to come within the 

 next few years and when the bulbs are 

 available in sufficient quantities t] ey 

 will revolutionize freesia growing. 



Mr. Fischer is considering gettiii ; a 

 place "somewhere in the east," iu 

 order that the flowers can be prodi' od 

 and shown at their best without a ji .r- 

 ney of four or five days. And tl cy 

 surely will be a surprise to the tradi in 

 the east, as all who have seen them m 

 California admit. Mr, and Mrs. Fisc' or 

 have performed a notable work in L ,r- 

 ticulture. H. R, E. 



CHOOSE NEW HALL AT ST. LOUIS. 



The plans for the National Flov jr 

 Show and S. A. F. convention at . t. 

 Louis in March, 1918, which have bo'n 

 blocked, as reported in the Review, ■ y 

 the fact that the Coliseum, the buildii g 

 engaged for the event, is to be demol- 

 ished, have been readjusted by the Na- 

 tional Flower Show committee, so th.i.t 

 everything from now on should be plaia 

 sailing. The committee, which met at 

 the Jefferson hotel, St. Louis, June 9 

 and 10, decided to use the Moolah Tem- 

 ple, at 3821 Lindell boulevard, for the 

 convention. A building will be erected 

 on a plot of ground adjoining the Tem- 

 ple, 155x300 feet, and in this building 

 the show will be staged. 



The committeemen who attended th(J 

 meeting were: George Asmus, Chicago, 

 chairman; President R. C. Kerr, of 

 Houston, Tex.; Patrick Welch, of Bos- 

 ton; Secretary Young, of New York; 

 Treasurer J. J. Hess, of Omaha; Adolph 

 Farenwald, of Philadelphia; A. F. J. *"' 

 Baur, of Indianapolis. 



PREPARED FOLIAGES. 



One of the effects of the war has 

 been to shut off completely the supplies 

 of prepared foliages which formerly 

 came from Germany. Among these ar- 

 ticles is the so-called air plant. Another 

 is adiantum fronds and there are sev- 

 eral other less widely used articles. It 

 is a curious fact that little of the raw 

 material used for these supply house 

 specialties originates in Germany. The 

 Germans have imported the dried na- 

 tural article and dyed it. It is just an- 

 other illustration of the German effi- 

 ciency in the matter of chemicals and 

 dyes. The air plant is a Japanese spe- 

 cialty. The adiantum fronds come from 

 Australia. To maintain the supply in 

 the United States American florists' 

 supply dealers are learning to prepare 

 and dye the raw material, the work the 

 Germans formerly did, and, incidental- 

 ly, pocketing the Germans' profits, 

 which seem to have been large. The 

 difficulties seem principally in the mat- 

 ter of obtaining the right kind of dye. 



FORMULA WANTED. 



A reader asks for the formula and 

 directions for using brown sugar and 

 Paris green as an insecticide. The Re- 

 view seems to have no record of it. 

 Will someone supply the information? 



Lansing, Mich. — Wm. Krieger has 

 cleaned up on bedding stock and con- 

 siders the year satisfactory. Cemetery 

 trade this season was ahead of the best 

 previous record. 



