128 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



were sold at $3 to $5. Begonia Lor- 

 raine went only fairly well. People are 

 already onto its frailties. If there had 

 net been a plant of them oflfered till 

 the last moment they would have gone 

 hotter; tliey were no novelty here. I 

 believe small but well llowcred plants 

 of Cypripediura insigne will be one of 

 the leading Christmas plants of the fu- 

 ture. There was no call for lubbers to 

 keep your feet dry, but rubber in the 

 growing state sold well and there was a 

 better demand for araucarias than we 

 expected. 

 . We saw no imported mistletoe, but 

 the native species iilled the bill and was 

 in good demand. The amount of holly 

 disposed of and used must have far ex- 

 ceeded any previous year. A week be- 

 fore Christmas it went begging, hun- 

 dreds of cases at any price, but yester- 

 day afternoon it was gone somewhere, 

 and our commission man, Kasting, had 

 the audacity to ask $5 a case. If he 

 had the pluck to buy a lot cheap when 

 it looked as if a bonfire would be the 

 end of car loads he deserves to make a 

 good thing out of it. 



If you were to ask me what were the 

 features of the business, I could only 

 generalize and say it was immense all 

 round and mostly pleasantly done. Per- 

 sonally we would have liked a few thou- 

 sand more good colored carnations, and 

 we are going to have them. It's a pity 

 to see flowers go up so high, but how 

 can it be helped? Occasionally a wom- 

 an past the attractive age says, "Oh, 

 la, what makes 'em so high?" And 

 then we always feel like, and occasion- 

 ally do, indulge in a little dessertation, 

 which relieves us, but does no other 

 good. "If you could manufacture these 

 flowers as you can mousetraps, earrings 

 or ladies' hats and put them on a shelf, 

 they would not go up so in price, but 

 we cannot, and if we could there would 

 be no charm about them, and a rose 

 bush blooms no more for Christmas day 

 than any other day, so as there is not 

 enough to go around, those that have 

 the price must have the blossoms." 

 That's the essence of our story, with 

 variations and fluctuations according to 

 the victim we have in hand or the state 

 of our liver. 



While the florists should feel grate- 

 ful that they have largely participated 

 in the general prosperity and good times, 

 for I do believe that hundreds of our 

 wealthy pccple resort to a hSindsome 

 plant or box of flowers as conveying 

 their joyous wishes to friends better 

 than anything, yet we must notice the 

 extraordinary growth of this Christmas 

 giving institution. It pervades all ages 

 and sexes and conditions of life. It's 

 a tremendous circulator of money, and 

 the bills that come in to poor papa after 

 New Year's makes many hump, but don't 

 think of that till the evil hour comes; 

 think of the beautiful slippers and muf- 

 fler and your own picture framed that 

 your dear wife and daughter hung on the 

 tree last night while you were hard at 

 work. 



Some of us are growing old and can 

 only participate actively in the busy 

 work of a few more Christmases. I have 

 found this year that the boys will do 

 the business all right and will do it 

 better if not bothered with the fussiness 

 of the old man. Take it easy and through 

 the gray smoke of the best cigar you 

 can afford listen to the marvelous ways 

 that the young men did the business, and 

 if they will listen tell them how you 



twenty years ago put in sixty hours" 

 work around Christmas without closing 

 your eyes. If they are meek, dutiful 

 boys they will say, "I know you must 

 have worked terribly hard, papa." If 

 they are natural, wideawake boys, they 

 will say, "Smoke up, father." 



For the past week we have been able 

 to deliver plants in an open wagon and 

 not till this morning did it fall below 

 the freezing point, with just enough of 

 the beautiful to give the landscape a 

 light overcoat. Yesterday's papers an- 

 nounced that Sunday evening while Park 

 Commissioner Kasting and his family 

 were away from home burglars entered 

 their residence by a duplicate key and 

 ransacked the house, taking with them 

 Mr. and Mrs. K.'s stock of jewelry and 

 trinkets. Very sorry to hear it, but 

 that's one of the evils of owning jew- 

 elry. W. S. 



CHICAGO. 



The Market. 



The Christmas trade was innnense and 

 broke all records. Though the supply 

 was short of demand orders were tilled 

 better than seemed likely a few days 

 before the holiday. This was especially 

 the ease with American Beauties, the 

 advance orders for which were filled full 

 in most cases. A more serious shortage 

 developed in high grade Maids and Met- 

 eors. Prices on first class stock held 

 right up to advance quotations but there 

 was a good deal of undergrade and 

 pickled stuff in evidence, a good deal of 

 which sold at low figures, especially poor 

 white carnations and bulb stock. Infer- 

 ior violets also suS'ered though really 

 first class flowers brought top price. 



There was a big call for fancy carna- 

 tions and everything in this line went 

 well at fancy prices, the very best bring- 

 ing $6 to $8 per 100. One feature of this 

 year's Christmas trade was that there 

 was no grumbling about prices so long as 

 the stock was really first class. 



It would appear that the total volume 

 of trade in money value was on the aver- 

 age some little in excess of last year, 

 but there were many growers whose 

 crops were small and the quality poor 

 whose returns were considerably smaller. 

 It is evident that the grower of low 

 grades will be more apt to get the best 

 value from his stock by keeping the 

 flowers coming to market as they are 

 ready rather than attempting to store 

 it. In the latter event he is apt to lose 

 entirely what value there may be in the 

 stock. 



The retailers all did a rousing big 

 business and aside from some unfortu- 

 nate experiences with pickled stock are 

 well satisfied with results. There were 

 some pickled Beauties in circulation that 

 caused a good deal of wrath. They had 

 kept their color but the heads woulH 

 drop oflt on slight provocation. 



The market is still rather bare and 

 prices have fallen off but little from 

 Christmas rates. The prospect is that 

 prices for New Y'ear's will be about 20 to 

 25 per cent less than for Christmas. 



'Various Notes. 



There was no meeting of the Florists' 

 Club last Friday evening as every one 

 was too busy with holiday business to 

 attend. 



The youngest son of John Zech died 

 last Friday morning of scarlet fever, aged 

 3 years and 4 months, after an illness 



of twelve days. Mr. Zech has the sym- 

 pathy of many friends in his affliction. 

 The sad event naturally interfered con- 

 siderably with his attention to business 

 during the holiday trade. 



Mr. S. W. Pike, St. Charles, III., was 

 a visitor last week. 



Bassett & Washburn's Christmas trade 

 exceeded $0,000, which was considerably 

 more than for any previous Christmas. 



Lady Campbell violets don't move in 

 Ihis market so long as there are dark 

 ones to be had. The retail buyers seem 

 to imagine they are pale because the 

 flowers are not fresh and pass them by. 

 As a consequence the dealers avoid them. 



THE GOLDEN ELDER. 



This is a form of the European 

 Sambucus nigra, known there as the 

 Boon-tree, Buir-tree and common elder. 

 The generic term sambucus is derived 

 from the Latin word sambuke, an an- 

 cient musical instrument supposed to 

 have been made from the elder wood. 



This golden-leaved form is but one 

 of many departures from the type. 

 There are several cut-leaved forms, 

 some with variegated foliage, and again 

 a change in the color of the fruit. The 

 subject of these notes is one of the few 

 golden-leaved shrubs that stand the full 

 sun without burning; in fact, it must 

 have the full sun to color well. While 

 it is a strong growing shrub, attain- 

 ing a height of some eight feet, it may 

 be kept within bounds by a severe cut- 

 ting in each spring, and a still more 

 dense head may be obtained if the 

 growing tips be pinched back at times 

 during the summer. It seems to thrive 

 in any soil or situation. 



The elder has probably had more ad- 

 miring friends and more bitter enemies 

 than any shrub we are familiar with. 

 It has been called "the stinking el- 

 der," and supposed to be associated 

 with evil. In medieval times it was 

 said that Judas hung himself upon the 

 "tree of eldre." However, it also had 

 its friends, as in l(i44 there appeared 

 a book devoted entirely to its praise 

 that went through several editions, be- 

 ing published both in Latin and Eng- 

 lish. In Southern Germany it is be- 

 lieved to drive away evil spirits; in 

 Denmark and Norway it is held in es- 

 teem, and in the Tyrol it is said that 

 an elder bush trained into the form of 

 a cross is planted on the new made 

 graves and if it blossoms the soul of 

 the person lying beneath it is happy. 

 Bellerophon. 



CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 



S. W. Pike, St. Charles, HI., wholesale 

 price list of rooted cuttings; R. A. Lee, 

 I'A'ergreen, Ala., decorative evergreens 

 for social occasions; California Rose Co., 

 Los Angeles, Cal., illustrated and de- 

 scriptive book of field-grown, own-root 

 roses; F. Ludemann, San Francisco, 

 Cal.. special wholesale list of trees, 

 shrubs, roses, camellias, etc.; F. C. 

 Heinemann, Erfurt, Germany, special of- 

 fer of novelties and specialties; N. 

 Smith & Son, Adrian, Mich., preliminary 

 list of novelties; Geo. M. Carter, Ever- 

 green, Ala., decorative evergreens for all 



Now is the time to prepare your adv. 

 for our special Carnation Number, to 

 be issued Jan. 10. 



