14 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



Si;pti;miu:u i':',. 1!>0». 



liis sjit'i-ialty aii.l iiiMiiy t limisimds iiic 

 siiM ;iiiiiii;illy ;il rdail. .Mr. Stock's 

 Liri't'iilioiisi's nrc Idcatcil in a fiiu' rcsi- 

 'Iniri' si'clioii aii'l an cxcfllciit retail 

 Inisincss keeps liiiii Imsy. 



It is an easy mattei' lo ilecurate an 

 antuiniiljile. Imt to ilecorate one so it will 

 pleasi' tlie laste n\' liiunlreils of |iiM)])le 

 ainl win a lir>t |iii/,e is a ilitl'ereiit matter. 

 .\u;;ust \'()n ISneselajier recently dceo- 

 rateij two autotnoliijes, one for the \\'ooi_l- 

 men "s ami one t'or the Maccaliees' jiarade, 

 in .Mount < 'leniens. and in lioth cases they 

 won a first jiii/.e. 



Tile new siiow )d(ini at tli(< Micliiean 

 < nt l-'lower Kxclianye is at |iiesont liril- 

 liant with the hir^c (|is|day id' yjassware. 

 \.i^es I'roin those I'oi' tiny Iniiiclu'S of 

 \iolets \o tiiose that will ludil a dozen 

 Uranties arc shown in \ai'ions stylos. 



Septeinbor J(i and 17 tlie annual ilower 

 fe^ti\al \vas held at Detroit's jniblic 

 ■^cjiocds. Some few yeai's uau oidy a few 

 'i| the Schools |iarticij>atecl, liut grad- 

 ually tJK- iiumlier lias i;rowii until this 

 year twenty four schools entered into the 

 coiiti'st for tin; lilieral jireniiums oll'ered 

 iiy the 'J'wcntieth (entiiry <lul) and the 

 Detroit Florists' < Inl). Jn si)rinfj the 

 ;ipe>ls are distriliuted for a nominal foe to 

 'he ^rliodl children liy the Twentieth Cen 

 iiii\ <'luli, and the children .-ire ein'oiir- 

 :i:^rd to lieconit! little <;ardeners and \ey('- 

 lalile ^rowers. 'J'lie ilowers seen tliis year 

 It tlie s<'liools ill some cases compare fa- 

 vorably with those grown by jirofession- 

 als. ('ash jirizes are offered to the scdiool 

 niakiiiy; the best disjilay, and a ]5oston 

 tern to a boy and girl in each school (;on- 

 Miliuling thi^ largest \ariety of tlowers 

 ^i-own from the seeils furnished by the 

 ^oci(ny. The judging is done by memliers 

 ■ f the Detroit I'lmists' < Inb. 



The writer niacle a bad mistake in a 

 recent rejiort. The little girl spoken of 

 as Inning arrived at the home of Kd. 

 r.eaid llapjiened to be a boy. Mr. ]>eard 

 says that e\eii though he iliil get marrie(l 

 late in life, he will still lia\e some help 

 wlieii l-"ather Time comes along. If. S. 



PITTSBURG. 



The Market. 



Thi'ie is Hot inucli change in the mar 

 ket conditions and why shonlil there l>e, 

 with the thermometer loafing around the 

 • •ighties .' J'lveryone is living out of doors 

 and has little nso for tlowers. Those con- 

 ditions are md calculated to make wlnde- 

 ^.ilers hajipy; their growers are shipping 

 in the 'juantities of flowers forced in b\ 

 ilie hot weather, and there is scarcely a 

 market for even a |>art of them. Asters 

 are the worst; it is nothing unusual to 

 see a truck load juill up in front of a 

 ^^holesale store, while :i small boy can 

 deliver the sales. 



\^arious Notes. 



K'.-indolph A. .\lc< lenients ai'c ]iuttiiig 

 ihi' liiiishin;^ touches on the last of their 

 new houses and. like e\ei'ylio(ly else in 

 this bii'^iness, are still crowded for room 

 to house the stock which must go in now. 



Ilvi'iyoiie here h;is his carnation houses 

 III good shape and the stock looks W(dl, 

 though in most casi's the jdants are not 

 as largo as last yi-ar. Carnation flowers 

 are coming in every ilay and some of the 

 -tock is excellent. 



Walter iJreitenstein has gone cast to 

 hiok up novelties foi' tin' winter, and he 

 iluays finds them. 



]-'rank Myers, of Myeis & Samtman. 

 I 'liiladelpliiii, stopped on his way home 

 ironi the west. JIoo lluo. 



OBITUARY. 



Peter Barr. 



I'eter ]>arr, the datlodil king, lies dead, 

 at his (|uiet J*]nglish home, in his eighty- 

 fourth yeiir. 



Mr. iJarr's reputation was world wide, 

 because of his long service in the craft 

 ami the fa<-l of his becoming the leading 

 authority on the daffodil, and his jier- 

 soiial acijiiaiiitance was scar<-ely less ex- 

 tended, for on his three years' journey 

 around the globe in KMt8 to iliol he vis- 

 ited most of the jirim-ijial horticultural 

 centers ami made it ids business to see 

 the wortli while men of the d.ay in each 

 ])lace. Jle was at that time a hale, 



Peter Barr. 



hearty old gentleman, spiv as a cricket. 

 lie was full of good stories, and his cje- 

 lightful (duickle after tidling one of hi>- 

 dryly humorous yarns was something few 

 of those who at that time won his friend 

 shijp will soon forget. 



J'eter J5;ii-r was born on the <lyc|e. in 

 April, isi'd, and began his horticultural 

 career with .hunes 'J'liyne, nurserynian 

 ami seedsman at (dasgow, in ls;;<i. J|e 

 stiiid with Mr. Tliyiie seven years, ob 

 taining a thorough, practical knowledge 

 of the business. In 1 s l(i .Mr. liarr went 

 with J)aly.^J)iysdale (.V Co., at Xevvry. 

 Irelaml, where he staid but a brief time, 

 going thence to Uich.ard Smith \- < 'o.. ;it 

 Worcester, Knglaml, to be manager of 

 their se(^d de|iartnieiit. It was at Wor- 

 cester tlitif .Mr. IJarr at length launched 

 his own bark upon the business sea, un- 

 der the name of Atkinson \ I'.arr. The 

 jiartnershiji lasted only a little while. 

 when Mr. i'.arr retireil to take the man 

 .■igcinenl of the seed business of another 

 Worcester house, which he held three 

 years, l^'inoving to Lond(Ui, he located 

 with JJutlor & Mcf'uUoch, seedsinou. In 

 ]>;()1 he Ijogan tigain on his own account, 

 as iiarr & Sug<leii, locating at Covent 

 (iarden. In iSSl' the jiart iiershiji ended 

 .and tlH> firm name was changed to liniv 

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

 location still being on King street, Covent 

 (iarden. 



.Mr. Jiarr's first work of imiiortaiice 



for the advancement of horticulture was 

 with the lily family, of which he gath- 

 ered what was i)robably the largest col- 

 lection of that period. This work occu 

 pied several years, and did much to 

 arouse interest in the family, ills work, 

 recorded largely in trade catalogues, was 

 later the basis for the most important 

 monographs on the subject. 



But the plant with which Mr. Jiarr's 

 name is most closely associated is the 

 diiffodil. lie spent a lifetime on this 

 flower. It was a labor of love, and 

 failed of commensurate jniblic recogni 

 fion until aliout IfSSo, when the daflodil 

 liegan to rise iu jiopular esteem. About 

 1SS4 a committee of the lioyal llorticul 

 tiiral Society asked Mr. Barr's opinion 

 :is to the feasibility of au international 

 (■(Uiference on the (laffodil. lie gave his 

 a|ipro\al, and it was largely through fol- 

 lowing his suggestions that the confer- 

 ence proved a great success. From that 

 time the datt'odil became more and more 

 populiir with the public, and wtis ac- 

 cepted as a flower of the first importance. 

 .V descriptive list of dattodils by Mr. 

 JSarr was jiublished under the title of 

 " Ve >>'arcissus," and is a standard 

 work, found in all botanical libraries. 



Mr. Barr traveled widely for the pur 

 jiose of enriching his collection, and it is 

 of record that he discovered some of the 

 leatling varieties. His journeys made 

 southern Europe well known ground to 

 him. In later years Tangiers was vis- 

 ited, in ]8!IG he went through Norwiiy 

 and Sweden, and in 1897 he traveled 

 through Sicily, Italy, Switzerland and 

 (iermany. In ISitS he began his tour of 

 the world, but for jdeasure and not plant 

 hunting, his sons having assumed full 

 i-liarge of the business, in which for many 

 years they had served under the father's 

 guidance. .Mr. Barr says Ik; never en 

 .joyetl in his whole life anything half so 

 nimdi as he did that trip encircling the 

 globe, ;iml the tides that appeared in the 

 hortii-ultural jin-ss as he journeyed leis- 

 urely onward sjioko to that effect. Since 

 returning to Knglaml he has lived a lii<' 

 of peace and (|uiet, but lu^ held his men- 

 tal strength to the end, and has been 

 the center of many a group of the old 

 guard at the big exhibitions within the 

 year, where he was always to be found 

 near the narcissi, if any were on view. 

 Ill' was a i'eci|iient of the A'ictorian 

 .Mi'dal of Honor. 



John Forbes. 



.Tohu Forbes, of the IJoyal Nurseries. 

 Il.awick, Knglaml, died September (>. 

 aged <i7 years. He commenced business 

 .IS a iiurserymtin in 1S7U, and became well 

 known !ill over the world as a sjiocialist 

 ill florists' flowers and hardy jilants. He 

 paid miudi attention to the imjirovemenl 

 of smdi flowers as pentstemons, phloxes, 

 gaillardias. antirrhinums, delphiniums, 

 |iansies and similar subjects. But his 

 nursery firm, which was turned into a 

 limited comiiany last year, also engage<l 

 in general phaiit culture, and was the 

 first to send out a white sport of Begonia 

 (doire do Lorraine, which was named 

 ( aledonia. 



Frank A. Koerner. 



Frank A. Koerner, who followed the 

 florists' business in .Manchester, N, H.. 

 for many years, dieil September 12, at 

 his home, lil's Xorth Main street, aged 

 7n years. He was a native of Saxony, 

 but h;id lived in Manchester .since liis 

 youth. He enjoved the distinction of be 



