The Weekly Florists' Review. 



149 



Cannas bordered with Pennisetum. 



PHILADELPHIA, 



The Christmas Trade. 



The Christmas business of this city, 

 both in cut flowers and plants, was tre- 

 mendous, exceeding in volume anything 

 experienced in the past. Everything sal- 

 able found a ready market. Gilt-edged 

 stock brought gold letter prices; also, in 

 the rush, some stock that was by no 

 means gilt edged ; but we are told quiet- 

 ly that th'e sellers of these spurious goods 

 are down on the black list for next 

 month. Second and third class stock 

 found their level and sold much better 

 than for the past few years at slightly 

 lower prices than then. 



It was a cut flower Christmas, the in- 

 creased demand being for boxes of loose 

 flowers as gifts for the home or friend 

 Red was the most popular color. Beau 

 ties, Liberties, Meteors; then red carna 

 tions, which were very scaree; then poin- 

 settias, which were good and in fair sup 

 ply. The roses were generally used alone, 

 the carnations with asparagus sprays or 

 stevia. Maids were n'ext in demand ; this 

 rose was in much better shape than 

 seemed possible two months ago ; the sup- 

 ply was heavy and more could have been 

 used. Violets were very scarce, the sup- 

 ply not nearly equaling the demand. 



The cut Hower growers near the city 

 made second trips to the stores on Mon- 

 day night and another early Tuesday 

 morning. The commission men were 

 hard at work filling shipping orders and 

 visiting the stores at all hours of the day 

 and night, but growers and commission 

 men combined were not half so busy as 

 the retailers, who with all the intelligent 

 extra help they could command were still 

 unable to fully meet the rush. Few of 

 them wore in bed Sunday night and none 

 of them slept Monday night, yet most 

 of them were refusing orders Monday af- 

 ternoon from persons not in the habit 

 of dealing with them. 



The business done in plants was prob- 

 ably ahead of former years, although it 

 paled beside that done in flowers. In 

 blooming plants red again was the most 

 popular color, poinsettias. azaleas, cy- 

 clamens, and Jerusalem cherries giving 

 a touch of the desired color. One excep- 

 tion to this may be mentioned. The bon 

 ton shops sold many Begonia Gloire de 

 Lorraine. Boston fern was in brisk de- 

 mand, especially in six-inch pots. The 

 palm sal'es were also very heavy. 



Believing that the growers would be 

 glad to have some ideas and suggestions 

 at this time from the men who market 

 their product the Review has asked each 

 of th'e ten commission florists of this city 

 to give a few notes on the cut flower busi- 

 ness at Christmas. Much valuable in- 

 formation will be found in their replies, 

 which follow. 



SA.MUKL .S. PENNOCK. 



Taking Christmas as a whole, I think 

 this year was the best Christmas we have 

 ever had. Prices generally ruled good 

 for good stock. The cheaper grades were 

 not held at as high figures in the begin- 

 ning, and, of course, moved off in better 

 shape, as the demand 'seemed to be more 

 for good quality stock. I think this is the 



impton, brought >'' :ind 



t>ui customer said th<-_\ ■■•■rir in.- 'ni-.ipertt 

 II I" ( 1 s he bouglit, as no llower jjave the 

 \ iluL for the money that they did. This 

 IS ceitiunly a graird rose, but whether 

 it ( in be grown to make it pay is a 

 pK stion, for it is a shy bloomer, and the 

 s( ison IS so short, being only about half 

 the length of the Meteor season. 



ihcic was less salted stock this year 

 Ihiii ever. I think the growers are re- 

 ilizing more every day that it is to their 

 int.erests to supply the market with 

 nothing but the freshest stock. It most 

 issuiedly is far more isatisfactocry to 

 Inndle good, fresh stock than stock that 

 rme^ m to you three and four days or a 



ULtkold 



KDWARiJ REII). 



Chiistmas trade was very satisfac- 

 toiy, with myself it was 25 per cent 

 ahead of last yeai'. It is my opinion the 

 pi iLC on Beauties, which averaged from 

 $5 to $18 per dozen, was rather too high 

 for the best interests of all concerned, 

 but it was a case of must have them 

 with the retailer. Teas sold very well. 

 Maids having the preference, and 

 brought from $8 to $20, according to 

 quality; the writer got $25 for some 

 selected Maids. Carnations, ordinary 

 stock, sold at from $2.60 to $4; fancy 

 from $4 to $10, the number sold at the 

 latter price were very few; the greatest 

 demand was for good medium grades at 

 from $3 to $4 per 100. The writer could 

 have used a few thousand more, but as it 

 is I feel better satisfied, as I made a 

 complete clean up, which will be more 

 satisfactory to the grower than to have 

 a lot carried over, thereby reducing the 

 general average. 



I note some of the growers, with the 

 idea that everything goes, did not use 

 care in bunching their carnations, put- 

 ting in splits and other inferior blooms; 



Caladiums and Banana. 



only way to do — keep the price down on 

 the cheaper gi-ades. 



Beauties, Meteors and Liberties were 

 more in demand than any other roses; 

 in fact, enough of them could not be had. 

 Violets also sold well. There seemed to 

 be a general scarcity this season. As 

 far as I could learn there was no 

 glut of any stock, excepting a few 

 bulbous floweis. Some Liberties we 

 received from S. Mortensen, South- 



now this was a gi-eat mistake, as the 

 value of the bunch was based on the 

 worst flowers; I am safe in saying the 

 grower lost from 20 to 25 per "cent. I 

 also note there was no surplus of green, 

 such as smilax and adiantum; in fact, 

 there did not seem to be enough of as- 

 paragus in bunches to supply the de- 

 mand. Violets were in good demand, 

 with not quite enough good ones to sup- 

 ply it. Flowers reached the commission 



