Mav 18, 1011. 



ThcWcekly Florists' Review. 



31 



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 wb, have seen many 

 things. If we malje the best of them 



and make use of t( 

 us the cost of the 

 over. Sometimes 



jm, they will repay 

 trip several times 

 \wc thought — and 



lead of us, 



th 



e CIS 

 cool storas 



ces, the 

 •enient 

 am- 



rightly, too — we can^-d«-.4h's better at 

 home; but in many ways ^^e must con 

 fess that things are right 

 especially in labor savi 

 perfect heating sys 

 packing houses an 



bers. Yet with it all the trade appears 

 to be in its infancy, yoino of the larg- 

 est establishments are not twenty years 

 old; I wonder Avhat the next ten years 

 will bring forth; it will bo worth while 

 to watch and even ;,'() over again, in 

 spite of the cost, the distance and the 

 intervening Atlantic 



I certainly did not sec 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 ou'- 

 wanderings we did not lind any closed 

 doors. On the contrary, everybody 

 seemed eager to sliow his brother 

 craftsman whatever lie 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 mother 

 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 

 •losiah Harper and James Thomas. 



MIXING 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 com[iost, 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 shovelcrs to load the conveyor. 



Tiie compost is stacked aloug the ends 

 of the houses in the ;iutunin 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 slioveled 

 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 cvl- 

 inders, the compost comes out thorough- 

 ly mixed and as fine a? wantT'd. 

 Falling upon the second conveyor, it is 

 run to the very doors of the green- 

 houses and stacked up readv for use. 

 The machine runs with a fortv horse- 

 power motor, now electric, biit orig- 

 inally a gasoline engine. The machine 

 was built on the jtlace. With it it is 

 possible to work up each dav as much 

 soil as is required for the benches of 

 two 2.')0 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 

 warni^ 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 Avith cut 

 stock. Sweet peas were especially 

 plentiful, and in big lots they sold as 

 low- as .$2 ])er thousand for 'the best. 

 Tiie demand for roses has not been 

 good of late and plenty of them were 

 dumped last week. C'arnations. after 

 selling cheaply all the week, went up 

 on Saturday and Sunday to as much as 

 t cents for whites. Peonies, cape jas- 

 mines, outdoor valley and candidum 

 lilies are in great abundnm-e. Flowers 

 for IVIothers' day sold well. 



Club Meeting. 



Till' Florists' Club held its monthlv 

 inet'ting Thursday afternoon, Mav 11. 

 'I'he attendance was slim, as most of 

 the members had too much outdoor 

 work to attend to. President Connon 

 rould not attend, so Vice-president 

 Frank Weber took tiie .hair for the 

 first time and nuide .an excellent im- 

 pression as a presiding ollicer. There 

 was a lot of business to transact, but 

 this required a larger attendance, so 

 most of it was laid over for the .Tunc, 

 meeting, when the final a<n>iouncement 

 will be nif^de about the banquet of 

 the club members, June 2^. at one of 

 the large hotels. 



Joe Matter was elected to member- 

 ship on a char ballot. The picnic given 



