The Weekly Florists' Review. 



J3 



Last Saturday saw another tremen- 

 dous demand, this time pink carnations 

 being favored. The occasion was the 

 Union League's dinner to the ijrtsidcnl 

 and his cabinet. This dinner is said to 

 have been the finest, from a llorist's 

 standpoint, that has ever been given in 

 Philadelphia. It was Founder's Day 

 at the League and that great club had 

 among its guests every member of the 

 administration, excepting the Secretary 

 of War, who is in Cuba. For this gath- 

 ering of celebrated men, luiique in any 

 city outside of Washington, the whole 

 club house was elaborately decorated. 

 The daily press praise the beautiful ef- 

 fects produced, cspeiially in the ban- 

 quet hall, anil to 'jwr >"iiie idea of the 

 quantity of llir ~i.i, k ili:il was used, 

 offer the foll.iuin- li-ui.-: 1-2,000 pink 

 carnations, I'lLsidnil. .M.Kinley's favor- 

 ite flower, lavishly used on the dinner 

 tables; 550 orchids, chiefly cattleyas; 

 500 lilies of the valley;" 300 yellow 

 chrysanthemums; 200 pink and white 

 chrysanthemums; 500 red roses; 200 

 white lilacs; 2,000palms( ! ) ; G.OOO yards 

 smilax ( presumably wild sniilax from 

 the south). Truly "a vast collection. 



Prices are about as follows: Beau- 

 ties, the best, $3 to $4 a dozen; Brides 

 and Maids, firsts, only $4 to $0 a 100 

 (these brought $8 to $10 in the scarcity 

 one week ago) ; Kaiserins, $6 to $8; 

 carnations, common, $1 to $1.50; fan- 

 cies, $2 and upwards ; violets, single, 

 50 cents a 100; doubles, not much more; 

 valley, $4; chrysanthemums, good 

 blooms, $1 to $2 a dozen; fancies, a few 

 bring $3. 



Good chrysanthemum blooms have 

 sold well this season. The supply has 

 rarely exceeded the demand ; it might 

 almost be said that it has rarely equaled 

 the demand. It is safe to say that all 

 well grown flowers have paid the grow- 

 ers, though the margin of profit has in 

 most cases been small when all expenses 

 are counted. 



Referring again to the show, I wish 

 to add that the pretty flowering begonia 

 exhibited by H. A. Dreer is named Be- 

 gonia erecta compacta and that the new 

 rose, cross between Belle Siebrecht and 

 Merveille de Lyon, from Eobt. Scott & 

 Son, is named Robert Scott. 



Phil. 



BALTIMORE. 



Trade and Personal Items. 



In this latitude we are having phe- 

 nomenal weather, that of last week re- 

 sembling June, with the brightest blue 

 skies and southerly winds, and last night 

 (Nov. 25) a thunderstorm of consider- 

 able violence. One or two days the mer- 

 cury ranged from 75 to 78 degrees, but 

 today we have leaden clouds and gloomy 

 outlook, lower temperature and occa- 

 sional showers. 'I'lii ;c conditions have 

 not been ciil)irl\ l.i \ ": jlilc to business, 

 but the dcalri- -:i> ili:ii tcir the season 

 trade is fiiiily t m .mi .i^ing, and good 

 stufl' is in >|(:m1\- Jriii:iiia. Unfortunate- 

 ly, the will 111 \v.:inui liiis provoked a 

 soft growth ill till' |>l:iiit houses and 

 taken the viuni :iihl l,i lulii iiess out of the 

 blooms, so tli;il m:iI1\ lir-t class flowers 

 have been cm rcdniL'lN Icinl to secure. 



Numerous wr.lilums luno tended to 

 increase the demand for flowers. Two 

 notable ones of the past week were the 

 Taylor-Gary and the Cooper-Jenkins 

 nuptials. The former event made a great 

 stir in the social world, the bride lieing 



a daughter of Mr. James A. Gary, for- 

 mer |]oslmastcr gcncial, and the unus- 

 ual <li-l in. I mil li.iii^' arr.ii.lrd the cere- 

 iiMiii.x ,,i ilir .ill. 1,. I. ill..' . 1 I'lr-ident Mc- 

 l\iiilr\ iiihl :i niiiiili. 1 ■•! 1 111. members of 

 hi- .111, met. Tlie lie.niiiimn, were fur- 

 nished by William J. Ualliday and are 

 described as tasteful and striking. A 

 delicate and appropriate compliment 

 was paid to the guest of honor, the chief 

 magistrate of the nation, in the selec- 

 tion of his favorite flower, the pink car- 

 nation, as the conspicuous feature of the 

 wedding adornments, and it was used 

 lavishly and efTectively. Great banks 

 were placed on the mantels, and the ta- 

 ble occupied by the bridal and the pres- 

 idential party was decorated with gor- 

 geous bouquets tied with pink satin rib- 

 bon. Through the rooms and halls 

 graceful groups of palms and other fo- 

 liage plants were arranged with fine 

 skill, and the employment of smilax, 

 ferns and asparagus was profuse and 

 effective. 



Another noteworthy decoration was at 

 the Cooper-Jenkins wedding, which was 

 gorgeous in the abundance and beauty 

 of the flowers and vines, the artistic serv- 

 ices of S. Feast & Sons being here 

 availed of. One room was adorned with 

 Harrisii lilies, another with American 

 Beauty roses, a third with pink chry- 

 santhemums and still another with car- 

 nations. The table was beautiful in a 

 mn«s of Harrisii lilies, white hyacinths 

 nii>l lilie- . f tlic valley. There were por- 

 tieii - .1 -iiiil;i\. covered with white and 

 jiink lo-es. I'.nth of these decorations 

 are described as being amongst the most 

 beautiful seen in this city of late years. 

 The windows of the Charles street 

 florists were unusually handsomely 

 dressed today. It would seem that the 

 mum season is about passing, and that 

 with one consent the decorators gave 

 change of material and new touches to 

 their windows. John Cook displayed 

 fine ferns and orchids; Halliday Broth- 

 ers, carnations and roses; S. Feast & 

 Suns i.i.es, .iiid William J. Halliday 

 e.li| -1,1 ill I liy a splendid display of the 

 lew piiik i.iiieeii of Edgely, which he 



pill I nil exliibition and sale for the 



first time in this city, the lovely new 

 candidate for popular favor being offered 

 in large numbers and fine condition. In 

 another window were handsome Beau- 

 ties and some wonderfully well-done La 

 France. 



A recent visit to Patterson Park dis- 

 closed the fact that the old conservatory 

 there, which had been condemned by a 

 former park board to destruction, has 

 been, under the economic present regime, 

 patelied up, painted and puttied, and 

 made to do longer service. The plants 

 are as effectively arranged as their 

 character and condition will allow, and 

 present many attractions to the visitors 

 at this popular public pleasure ground. 

 New structures are being erected here 

 looking to the production, following the 

 policy of the park management, of sup- 

 plies" of bedding stuff for the various 

 squares, a number of which have been 

 erected under the management of the 

 superintendent of Patterson Park, Mr. 

 Charles Seibold, who is a man of decided 

 skill as a gardener and with ideas en- 

 tirely out of the everyday ruts, which 

 follow only routine and precedent. He 

 has introduced already some improve- 

 ments which arc real and telling and 

 has ollieis lieliiiicl. One of his scliemes, 

 which lias .illleial sanction, is the estab- 

 lishment within the park enclosure of 

 a model nursery, where the various op- 



erations will be open to public view and 

 where the plants grown for park uses 

 will be plainly labeled, to the edification 

 of all seeking information in this line. 

 Rix. 



INDIANAPOLIS, IND. 



'Various Items. 



During the past two weeks trade has 

 been anything but satisfactory. A very 

 large oversupply of mums, coupled with 

 a rather light demand, caused a glut in 

 the market. 



Roses and carnations have not been in 

 oversupply in first quality stock, but the 

 medium and poorer grades had to suf- 

 fer with the mums. But mums are rap- 

 idly decreasing in quantity and the 

 growers are hoping for better prices all 

 around. There will be some mums for 

 Thanksgiving trade, but that will likely 

 end most of the growers' stock except 

 some late varieties. 



These midseason gluts are very apt to 

 set one to thinking and it becomes more 

 apparent every season that nothing but 

 the highest grade stock pays in midsea- 

 son and even such stock sonietimes has 

 to go below cost of production. Some 

 fancy blooms were sold as low as 5c, 

 which is less than they can be grown for. 

 The retailers have also been complaining 

 of a light demand, but the weather has 

 been entirely too warm for good business 

 in their line. For many years there has 

 not been so little cold weather by this 

 date. The past three days have been rainy, 

 which makes it still worse. A good cold 

 snap and bright weather would improve 

 matters wonderfully, and no doubt it will 

 come sooner or later and in good force, 

 too. 



The main topic among the florists at 

 present is "Can we hold a big mum show 

 next year 1" The one we had on Nov. 14 

 was a grand success in its way. The 

 quality of the stock exhibited was very 

 good, but the premiums were small and 

 those who won them hardly received a 

 fair market value for their product. This 

 show was free to the public, and all the 

 premiums were paid either out of the so- 

 ciety treasury or else donated by mem- 

 bers of the society, so the expenses were 

 light and no one had to worry about a 

 possible deficit. It was held in the hor- 

 ticultural rooms at the state house, of 

 which we have free use. 



But some of the members want to 

 hold another big show in Tomlinson hall, 

 and are studying up all kinds of schemes 

 to make it a" success. There is a rumor 

 of the Commercial club lending its aid, 

 which would be a sure guarantee of its 

 success. In that case it would be made 

 a society event, and that is what the 

 florists have been unable to do. We sin- 

 cerely hope that it will be pushed to a 

 successful conclusion. 



In making the rounds of the growers 

 we find them all in fair shape for the 

 coming season. Some are a trifle late 

 with their carnations and will have to 

 push them along if they want a good 

 holiday crop. At one place I saw a 

 batch of poinsettias that were a fair il- 

 lustration of how they should not be 

 grown. They were in five-inch pots and 

 plunged in about five inches of soil, and 

 they looked as though thev were starving 

 for a little manure water. They each 

 had from three to five shoots, and each 

 pot had one wire stake to which the 

 shoots were tied so closely that one could 



