pany, the Kirkwood growers who have done so much toward the general uplift of floriculture in their State; of C. A. Kuehn, William C. Smith, Henry Berning, the Windler Floral Company, and George Angermueller, the progressive commission men, first to inaugurate and carry out successfully sweeping and much needed reforms for the benefit of the trade as a whole.
I should like to speak at length of each one of these men, and many others of the progressive city, whom I admire both as men and as florists. I should like to go on and tell of their efforts and successes, and of what they have contributed toward the development of horticulture. But I am overwhelmed by the magnitude of the task, in the face of editorial warnings regarding space restriction.
I do want to say a few words, though, about the late F. W. Bruenig, whose untimely death in February, 1916, just a few weeks after I last saw him, has deeply impressed itself upon my mind. Mr. Bruenig was a man endowed with many excellent qualities. As a grower he had no superior. But besides his growing abilities and business success, he was above all else an honest man, and an honest man, according to the poet, is the noblest work of God.
Around Cleveland
The city of Cleveland, the sixth city in the land, is to be commended for her progress along horticultural lines as much as for her remarkable strides along all other paths of industrial activity. A quarter of a century ago Cleveland had no claim to especial recognition; that progressive, or as some put it, aggressive spirit characteristic of the "sixth city" of today, seemed absent then. Men moved about their business in a spirit of "let well enough alone," never suspecting the wonderful changes—changes that have transformed a mere town into a great city. To me, who first landed in Cleveland in October, 1889—and I use the word landed advisedly, for I arrived there on a rickety old tub of a lake boat, more dead than alive—the changes are remarkable. Not only has the appearance of the city changed, not only have its cobblestone streets and second-rate hotels given way to modern pavings and first-class hostleries, but the very spirit of the people themselves has changed as if by magic from an ultra-conservative to a progressive one.
The men whom I met twenty-seven years ago are still in the harness, and some of them as young as ever. Adam Graham, a youth of seventy-odd years, ex-president of the S. A. F. and O. H., president and director of banks, and in large measure a contributor to the tremendous improvements, expansion and achievements of his city, is still on deck—and may he be with us for many, many years. Whether in public or in his own immediate circle, Mr. Graham is invariably the life of the party. His wit and good humor are contagious. As a toastmaster, and an excellent all-round speaker, his reputation has extended beyond the limits of the Buckeye State.
Adam Graham, Jr., and Charles Graham, his sons, who are now conducting the business, are proving themselves worthy successors of an illustrious father.
Herman Hart, whose hospitality is widely known, does not look a day older than forty, though his clock has already struck sixty-two. Like all true philosophers, he takes life as a matter of course, never being ruffled by things on the one hand, or too much overjoyed on the other. An excellent panacea for nerves, and a guarantee of longevity!
About five years ago, Mr. Hart transferred his business to his two sons, and the young men give every promise of perpetuating the success which their father has achieved by dint of hard work and untiring efforts during his pioneer days in a pioneer flower market.
Charles Schmidt, who at one time was connected with the late Edwin Lonsdale, in the capacity of pupil and all-round greenhouse man, has proved himself all that Mr. Lonsdale predicted for him. He is first of all a successful grower, and what
