36 



The Florists^ Review 



May 25, 1922 



were filled with tables of <'hoico v;ises 

 of flowers from the fjarden.s of I^aiieas- 

 ter county 's lovers of flowers. The 

 iris section surpassed any tiling; of its 

 kind ever attempted here liefore. The 

 judges were Mrs. Martin ('uml)ler, of 

 Harrisburj;: Albert M. Herr and Harry 

 K. Bohrer. Florists who sent <(impli- 

 mentary exhibits were Charles li. Herr, 

 Ira K. Landis, H. D. Kohrer Sons, Miss 

 Carrie 8tecknian, Elmer .1. Weaver, B. 

 F. Barr, the Kosery and others. A spe- 

 cial sweepstake prize, awarded by popu- 

 lar vote for any amateur's exhibit, con- 

 sisted of a silver cup presented by the 

 Lancaster County Florists' Club. The 

 show was a. fjrand success and a credit 

 to the Iris Club. H. K. K. 



OBITUARY i 



PITTSBURGH, PA. 



The Market. 



From all reports, Mothers' day e.x 

 ceeded all expectations: it is becoming 

 a f^reat rival to Easter, as far as dollars 

 and cents are concerned. Monday and 

 Tuesday after Mothers' day the demand 

 •was exceptionally good, and the whole- 

 sale houses cleaned up. Toward the 

 middle of last week, however, the de 

 niand decreased and plenty of flowers 

 ■were left over daily. 



The supply of carnations, esju'cially 

 white, is in excess of the demand. Koses 

 have been good and have cleared fairly 

 well. American Beauty is not much in 

 demand, except the shorter lengths. 



Peonies are coming along nicely and 

 are bringing fair prices. Snapdragons 

 are ])lentiful, especially in the shorter 

 lengths. Sweet peas are both good and 

 bad, the majority being bad. 



The demand for Easter and calla 

 lilies continues heavy, although the ])r(>- 

 duction seems to be a little greater than 

 the demand. Valley is on the market 

 and is being sold at a fair jirice. Yellow 

 daisies continue popular and are ])racti- 

 cally cleaned up each day, especially 

 those with long stems. Iris is also to be 

 had and moves out regularly. Paper 

 White narcissi are now coming in, but 

 the demand is limited. Indoor gladioli 

 are in great demand, and southern 

 gladioli are moving out readily. 



Various Notes. 



Frank M. Johnson and Arthur M. 

 Anderson, of the A. L. Randall Co., 

 Chicago, were visitors in Pittsburgh 

 Friday, May 19. 



Mr. Allen, superintendent of the 

 Homewood cemetery, is confined to his 

 bed, due, no doubt, to a combination 

 of the excessive work j)receding Me- 

 morial day and the inclement weather. 



T. \V. Duggan, of the Dale Estate, 

 Brampton, Ont., was a recent visitor. 



The Pittsburgh Cut Flower Co. has 

 let a contract to the American Oreen- 

 house Mfg. Co., Chicago, for three 

 greenhouses, 21x170 feet each. They 

 are pipe-frame houses. A contract has 

 also been let for a complete hot water 

 heating system. These new houses are 

 to be used solely for the growing of 

 orchids. 



A new florists' establishment has 

 been opened at 1710 Carson street by 

 Kirk & Sweeney. Mr. Kirk was in 

 business on the south side several years 

 ago and is known to the trade. Mr. 

 Sweeney is a new man in the business. 



H. J. H. 



Mrs. Louise C. Fields. 



Mrs. Louis(> C. Fields, 53 years old, 

 died at her home, Tenth street and Split- 

 log avenue, Kansas City, Kan., May 5. 

 Ui^v death was the climax of ten years' 

 illness, the last two years of which she 

 was perfectly helpless and suffered in- 

 tensely all the time. The resignation 

 with which she bore her suffering was 

 ty](ical of her fine character and was an 

 iiisi»iratiou to her family and friends. 



Mrs. Fields was a native of Kentucky. 

 About twenty-two years ago Mr. and 

 Mrs. Fields moved to Kansas City, Kan. 

 Tlu'v bought a home with a large tract 

 of ground at Tenth street and Splitlog 

 avenue. Because she loved everything 

 that was beautiful, she planted flowers 

 and the place soon blossomed into a gar- 

 den. In this she found so much pleasure 

 that each year the garden was larger. 

 Friends admired the flowers. Many 

 were the bou(juet8 that were given 

 away, esj)ecially to the sick and unfor- 

 tunate. Those who could afford to pay 

 were willing to do so, and soon in a small 

 way the home garden became a commer- 

 cial venture. In 1906 a small green- 

 house was built. Later other houses 

 were added and L. C. Fields, the Tenth 

 street florist, became one of the leading 

 florists in Kansas City. Mr. Fields was 

 associated with his wife in the business, 

 but because she originated the idea, the 

 firm was always in her name. As her 

 family ^rew they, too, became interested 

 in the work and she had the satisfaction 

 of seeing her own efforts grow into 

 something that now passes on to her 

 children. Ten years ago, when Mrs. 

 Fiehls' health failed, she was forced 

 to retire and turn over the active man- 

 agement to her husband and son. Her 

 home was so close to the greenhouses 

 that she knew at all times what was 

 being done. Until a day or two before 

 her death, no large order was made up 

 and no old customer called that Mrs. 

 Fields was not told of it. She main 

 tained her interest in everything that 

 went on, and her splendid cheerfulness 

 of spirit, to the last. It seemed pecu- 

 liarly fitting that her death came so 

 close to Mothers' day. Funeral ser- 

 \ices were h(dd at the home, Saturday 

 afternoon, May 6. Burial was in Mount 

 Hope cemetery. Mrs. Fields is survived 

 by her husband, Kobert Fields, her son, 

 Kobert Fields, and two daughters, Mrs. 

 Margaret Smith, Kansas City, Mo., and 

 Mrs. Lucv Lennert, Kansas Citv, Kan. 



J. E. K. 



Frank O'Reilly. 



Frank O'Reilly, one of the oldest and 

 most well known members of the flo- 

 rists' trade in Rhode Island, former 

 member of the I'awtucket city council 

 and tree warden of that city for more 

 than a decade, died at his home, 94 

 Oak Hill avenue. Pawtucket, R. I., Fri- 

 day afternoon. May 12, following an 

 illness of only about twenty-four hours. 

 Although not in good health for sev- 

 eral years, Mr. O'Reilly regularly at- 

 tended to the duties of tree warden. 



Born in county Cavan, Ireland, in the 

 early '4Us of the last century, Mr. 

 O'Reilly was apprenticed to a land- 

 scape gardener and florist. After com- 

 pleting his ajjprenticeship, he secured 



a jtosition as an assistant gardener on 

 a large estate in England, but after a 

 few years, while still a young man, he 

 came to this country and settled in Cen- 

 tral Falls, R. 1., where he engaged in 

 business, but removed to Pawtucket 

 about 1879. In Pawtucket he estab- 

 lished a considerable range of green- 

 houses on the east side of the city; 

 these he maintained until the time of 

 his death. He was one of the early 

 members of the Florists' and Garden- 

 ers' Club of Rhode Island and main- 

 tained his membership until its discon- 

 tinuance a few years ago. When the 

 American Florists' Association held its 

 annual convention in Providence, in 

 1894, Mr. O'Reilly was one of the most 

 active workers in connection with the 

 entertaining of the members. 



Mr. O 'Rqilly took an active interest 

 in politics and was for years prominent 

 in city and state councils of the Demo- 

 cratic i>arty. He represented the Fifth 

 ward of Pawtucket in the common coun- 

 cil from 1887 to 1890, inclusive, being 

 j)resi(lent of the council in 1890 an(l 

 alderman from that ward from 1891 

 to 1894, inclusive. 



He is survived by his wife and 

 three sons, one of whom, Frank O 'Beil 

 ly, Jr., was associated with him in the 

 business. W. H. M. 



H. H. Meeker. 



H. H. Meeker, one of the oldest citi- 

 zens of Crown Point, Ind., and long a 

 nurseryman, died quite suddenly while 

 at his noonday meal Saturday, May 6. 



Mr. Meeker was a remarkable man for 

 one of his years, being 88 years of age. 

 He was active and attended to his nurs 

 cry business up until the time of his 

 death. 



He is survived by three daughters. 

 The funeral was held Monday afternoon, 

 .May 8, from the home. 



Frank F. Benthey. 



Once more, in the passing of Frank F. 

 Menthey, Chicago has lost its oldest 

 florist. Mr. Benthey, who died May 21, 

 at the residence of his daughter, Mrs. 

 L. C. Coatesworth, 4310 North Her- 

 mitage avenue, was 71 years of age. 

 He retired from active business only 

 about a year ago, after having spent 

 half a century in the trade. His recol- 

 lections went back almost to the begin- 

 ning of i-ommercial floriculture in Chi- 

 cago and he took an active part in the 

 develo])ment of the Chicago wholesale 

 market, having at various times been 

 connected with many of the pioneer 

 firms. Some twenty years ago, associ- 

 ated with his son-in-law, L. C. Coates- 

 worth, Mr. Benthey built a range of 

 glass at Newcastle, Ind., which was a 

 model of u])-to-dateness for that day. 

 The Benthey-Coatesworth Co. at that 

 time operated a wholesale store at 3(> 

 East Randolph street, in Chicago, and 

 for some years the establishment was a 

 leader in the trade. After Mr. Coates- 

 worth retired from the business the 

 wholesale store was closed and the 

 greenhouses were conducted by one of 

 Mr. Benthey 's sons, Frederick I]. Ben- 

 they, who not long since sold the estab- 

 lishment to Forest H. Meek. 



Mr. Benthey was one of the charter 

 members of the Chicago Florists' Club 

 and was its second president, having oc- 

 cupied the chair in 1887. Subsequently 

 he continued active in the affairs of the 

 club and served for manv vears as a 



