May 18, 1911. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



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Compost Mixer and Pulverizer Used by Poehlmann Bros. Co., Morton Grove, III. 



Now, as I sit here and dream it all 

 over again, the one question that rises 

 uppermost is: "Was it worth while?" 

 My answer now is, and will ever re- 

 main, "Yes, most decidedly it was." 

 It was worth while not only as a 

 grower, it was worth while as a man 

 and as a citizen. 



As growers we have seen many 

 things. If we make the best of them 

 and make use of them, they will repay 

 us the cost of the trip several times 

 over. Sometimes we thought — and 

 rightly, too — we can do this better at 

 home; but in many ways we must con- 

 fess that things are right ahead of us, 

 especially in labor-saving devices, the 

 perfect heating systems, the convenient 

 packing houses and cool storage cham- 

 bers. Yet with it all the trade appears 

 to be in its infancy. Some of the larg- 

 est establishments are not twenty years 

 old; I wonder what the next ten years 

 will bring forth; it will be worth while 

 to watch and even go over again, in 

 spite of the cost, the distance and the 

 intervening Atlantic. 



I certainly did not see so much of 

 the petty jealousy among the members 

 of our craft as is to be found on this 

 little island of ours, and in all our 

 wanderings we did not find any closed 

 doors. On the contrary, everybody 

 seemed eager to show his brother 

 craftsman whatever he had. I am in- 

 clined to think this is the kind of 

 policy that makes for progress. Prog- 

 ress is written in very large letters 

 wherever one looks "on the \other 

 side," and before many years are over 

 I hope to go again, for I like to see 

 progress when she moves fast. 



Houghton, Mich.— Harper & Thomas 

 have opened a flower store in connec- 

 tion with their undertaking establish- 

 ment. The members of the firm are 

 Josiah Harper and James Thomas. 



MIXINa THE COMPOST. 



The visitors at the establishment of 

 Poehlmann Bros. Co., Morton Grove, 111., 

 invariably are impressed by the me- 

 chanical features of the establishment; 

 hand labor still is the rule in a great 

 many greenhouse plants, and the 

 amount of labor performed by machin- 

 ery at the Poehlmann establishment 

 seems to impress the average visitor as 

 strongly as any other feature of the 

 place. 



Just now one of the busiest Poehl- 

 mann machines is that shown in the 

 accompanying illustration. It is the 

 pulverizer and mixer for compost. In 

 every large establishment the changing 

 of the soil is a tremendous task; the 

 mixing of the compost, the importance 

 of which justifies infinite care, consumes 

 the time of many men. But at Poehl- 

 manns' the work is done by electric 

 power and all that is required is a 

 gang of shovelers to load the conveyor. 

 The compost is stacked aloug the ends 

 of the houses in the autumn as it 

 would be in any smaller place — a layer 

 of soil and a layer of manure. When 

 the time arrives for putting in the new 

 soil the machine is drawn up to the 

 end of the long pile and set in opera- 

 tion. The compost merely is shoveled 

 on to the conveyor, which carries it up 

 and drops it into the cylinders, which 

 are fitted with teeth for the destruction 

 of all lumps. Passing through the cyl- 

 inders, the compost comes out thorough- 

 ly mixed and as fine as wanted. 

 Falling upon the second conveyor, it is 

 run to the very doors of the green- 

 houses and stacked up ready for use. 

 The machine runs with a forty horse- 

 power motor, now electric, but orig- 

 inally a gasoline engine. The machine 

 was built on the place. With it it is 

 possible to work up each day as much 

 soil as is required for the benches of 

 two 250-foot houses. 



ST. LOUIS. 



The Market. 



The St. Louis cut flower market took 

 another turn last week, becoming just 

 the opposite of what it was the week 

 before. All cut stock was again plen- 

 tiful and prices dropped down a few 

 cents. Trade among the retailers was 

 not so brisk. The weather has been 

 warm and good window displays could 

 not be made. Those who handle plants 

 are having all they can do in the line 

 of planting out. All the wholesale 

 houses were loaded down with cnt 

 stock. Sweet peas were especially 

 plentiful, and in big lots they sold as 

 low as $2 per thousand for the best- 

 The demand for roses has not been 

 good of late and plenty of them were 

 dumped last week. Carnations, after 

 selling cheaply all the week, went up 

 on Saturday and Sunday to as much as 

 4 cents for whites. Peonies, cape jas- 

 mines, outdoor valley and candidum 

 lilies are in great abundance. Flowers 

 for Mothers' day sold well. 



Club Meeting. 



The Florists' Club held its monthly 

 meeting Thursday afternoon, May 11. 

 The attendance was slim, as most of 

 the members had too much outdoor 

 work to attend to. President Connon 

 could not attend, so Vice-president 

 Frank Weber took the rhair for the 

 first time and made an excellent im- 

 pression as a presiding officer. There 

 was a lot of business to transact, but 

 this required a larger attendance, so 

 most of it was laid over for the June 

 meeting, when the final announcement 

 will be made about the banquet of 

 the club members, June 28, at one of 

 the large hotels. 



Joe Matter was elected to member- 

 ship on a clear ballot. The picnic given 



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