14 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



SEPTEMBeR 23, 1909. 



his specialty and many thousands are 

 sold annually at retail. Mr. Stock's 

 greenhouses are located in a fine resi- 

 dence section and an excellent retail 

 Ijusiness keeps him busy. 



It is an easy matter to decorate an 

 automobile, but to decorate one so it will 

 please the taste of hundreds of people 

 and win a first prize is a different matter. 

 August Von Boeselager recently deco- 

 rated two automobiles, one for the Wood- 

 men 's and one for the Maccabees ' parade, 

 in Mount Clemens, and in both cases they 

 won a first prize. 



The new show room at the Michigan 

 Cut Flower Exchange is at present bril- 

 liant with the large display of glassware. 

 Vases from those for tiny bunches of 

 violets to those that will hold a dozen 

 Beauties are shown in various styles. 



September 16 and 17 the annual flower 

 festival was held at Detroit's public 

 schools. Some few years ago only a few 

 of the schools participated, but grad- 

 ually the number has grown until this 

 year twenty-four schools entered into the 

 contest for the liberal premiums offered 

 by the Twentieth Century Club and the 

 Detroit Florists' Club. In spring the 

 oeeds are distributed for a nominal fee to 

 the school children by the Twentieth Cen- 

 tury Club, and the children are encour- 

 aged to become little gardeners and vege- 

 table growers. The flowers seen this year 

 at the schools in some cases compare fa- 

 vorably with those grown by profession- 

 als. Cash prizes are offered to the school 

 making the best display, and a Boston 

 fern to a boy and girl in each school con- 

 tributing the largest variety of flowers 

 grown from the seeds furnished by the 

 society. The judging is done by members 

 of the Detroit Florists' Club. 



The writer made a bad mistake in a 

 recent report. The little girl spoken of 

 as having arrived at the home of Ed. 

 Beard happened to be a boy. Mr. Beard 

 says that even though he did get married 

 late in life, he will still have some help 

 when Father Time comes along. H. S. 



OBITUARY. 



PITTSBURG. 



The Market. 



There is not much change in the mar- 

 ket conditions and why should there be, 

 with the thermometer loafing around the 

 eighties? Everyone is living out of doors 

 and has little use for flowers. These con- 

 ditions are not calculated to make whole- 

 salers happy; their growers are shipping 

 in the quantities of flowers forced in by 

 the hot weather, and there is scarcely a 

 market for even a part of them. Asters 

 are the worst; it is nothing unusual to 

 see a truck load pull up in front of a 

 wholesale store, wliile a small boy can 

 deliver the sales. 



V^arious Notes. 



Eandolph & McClements are putting 

 the finishing touches on the last of their 

 new houses and, like everybody else in 

 this business, are still crowded for room 

 to house the stock which must go in now. 



Everyone here has his carnation houses 

 in good shape and the stock looks well, 

 though in most cases the plants are not 

 as large as last year. Carnation flowers 

 are coming in every day and some of the 

 stock is excellent. 



Walter Breitenstein has gone east to 

 look up novelties for the winter, and he 

 always finds them. 



Frank Myers, of Myers & Samtman, 

 Philadelphia, stopped on his way home 

 from the west. Hoo-Hoo. 



Peter Barr. 



Peter Barr, the daffodil king, lies dead, 

 at his quiet English home, in his eighty- 

 fourth year. 



Mr. Barr's reputation was world wide, 

 because of his long service in the craft 

 and the fact of his becoming the leading 

 authority on the daffodil, and his per- 

 sonal acquaintance was scarcely less ex- 

 tended, for on his three years' journey 

 around the globe in 1898 to 1901 he vis- 

 ited most of the principal horticultural 

 centers and made it his business to see 

 the worth-while men of the day in each 

 place. He was at that time a hale. 



Peter Barr. 



liearty old gentleman, spry as a cricket. 

 He was full of good stories, and his de- 

 lightful chuckle after telling one of his 

 dryly humorous yarns was something few 

 of those who at that time won his friend- 

 ship will soon forget. 



Peter Barr was born on the Clyde, in 

 April, 1826, and began his horticultural 

 career with James Thyne, nurseryman 

 and seedsman at Glasgow, in 1839. He 

 staid with Mr. Thyne seven years, ob- 

 taining a thorough, practical knowledge 

 of the business. In 1846 Mr. Barr went 

 with Daly, Drysdale & Co., at Newry, 

 Ireland, where he staid but a brief time, 

 going thence to Eichard Smith & Co., at 

 Worcester, England, to be manager of 

 their seed department. It was at Wor- 

 cester that Mr. Barr at length launched 

 his own bark upon the business sea, un- 

 der the name of Atkinson & Barr. The 

 partnership lasted only a little while, 

 when Mr. Barr retired to take the man- 

 agement of the seed business of another 

 Worcester house, which he held three 

 years. Removing to London, he located 

 with Butler & McCulloch, seedsmen. In 

 1861 he began again on his own account, 

 as Barr & Sugden, locating at Covent 

 Garden. In 1882 the partnership ended 

 and the firm name was changed to Barr 

 & Sons, as it is at the present time, the 

 location still being on King street, Covent 

 Garden. 



Mr. Barr's first work of importance 



for the advancement of horticulture was 

 with the lily family, of which he gath- 

 ered what was probably the largest col- 

 lection of that period. This work occu- 

 pied several years, and did much to 

 arouse interest in the family. His work, 

 recorded largely in trade catalogues, was 

 later the basis for the most important 

 monographs on the subject. 



But the plant with which Mr. Barr's 

 name is most closely associated is the 

 daffodil. He spent a lifetime on this 

 flower. It was a labor of love, and 

 failed of commensurate public recogni- 

 tion until about 1883, when the daffodil 

 began to rise in popular esteem. About 

 1884 a" committee of the Koyal Horticul- 

 tural Society asked Mr. Barr's opinion 

 as to the feasibility of an international 

 conference on the daffodil. He gave his 

 approval, and it was largely through fol- 

 lowing his suggestions that the confer- 

 ence proved a great success. From that 

 time the daffodil became more and more 

 popular with the public, and was ac- 

 cepted as a flower of the first importance. 

 A descriptive list of daffodils by Mr. 

 Barr was published under the title of 

 "Ye Narcissus," and is a standard 

 work, found in all botanical libraries. 



Mr. Barr traveled widely for the pur- 

 pose of enriching his collection, and it is 

 of record that he discovered some of the 

 leading varieties. His journeys made 

 southern Europe well known ground to 

 him. In later years Tangiers was vis- 

 ited. In 1896 he went through Norway 

 and Sweden, and in 1897 he traveled 

 through Sicily, Italy, Switzerland and 

 Germany. In 1898 he began his tour of 

 the world, but for pleasure and not plant 

 hunting, his sons having assumed full 

 charge of the business, in which for many 

 years they had served under the father's 

 guidance. Mr. Barr says he never en- 

 joyed in his whole life anything half so 

 much as he did that trip encircling the 

 globe, and the tales that appeared in the 

 iiorticultural press as he journeyed leis- 

 urely onward spoke to that effect. Since 

 returning to England he has lived a liie 

 of peace and quiet, but he held his men- 

 tal strength to the end, and has been 

 the center of many a group of the old 

 guara at the big exhibitions within the 

 year, where he was always to be found 

 near the narcissi, if any were on view. 

 He was a recipient of the Victorian 

 Medal of Honor. 



John Forbes. 



John Forbes, of the Eoyal Nurseries, 

 Hawick, England, died September 6, 

 aged 67 years. He commenced business 

 as a nurseryman in 1870, and became well 

 known all over the world as a specialist 

 in florists' flowers and hardy plants. He 

 paid much attention to the improvement 

 of such flowers as pentstemons, phloxes, 

 gaillardias, antirrhinums, delphiniums, 

 pansies and similar subjects. But his 

 nursery firm, which was turned into a 

 limited company last year, also engaged 

 in general plant culture, and was the 

 first to send out a white sport of Begonia 

 Gloire de Lorraine, which was named 

 Caledonia. 



Frank A. Koerner. 



Frank A. Koerner, who followed the 

 florists' business in Manchester, N. H., 

 for many years, died September 12, at 

 his home, 228 North Main street, aged 

 70 years. He was a native of Saxony, 

 but had lived in Manchester since his 

 youth. He enjoyed the distinction of be- 



