258 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



Janlarx 2-), 1901. 



in this column in reference to the Christ- 

 mas trade in Philadelphia have been cri- 

 ticised by the plantsmen. who think 

 that it was not a cut flower Christ- 

 mas and that the views expressed were 

 simply a reflection of those expressed by 

 the commission men and by those re- 

 tailers who consider plants" too bulky 

 to be profitably handled at such a busy 

 time. 



This is a mistake. The views ex- 

 pressed by the writer were formed and 

 written before the commission men's 

 opinions were received. In fact these 

 expressions of opinion were requested 

 because it was believed to have been a 

 cut flower Christmas despite the great 

 efl'orts made by the plantsmen. 



In order, however, to be perfectly fair 

 the Review has requested six of the lead- 

 ing plant growers who supply this mar- 

 ket with foliage and flowering plants 

 to give their views on Christmas trade. 

 All answers received will appear in this 

 column next week. Phil. 



BOSTON. 



Trade Conditions. 



The condition here is volcanic. There 

 is surely a good, strong, steady current 

 to the stream of trade, but particularly 

 in those goods that are applicable to 

 funeral work. This of course sugo-ests 

 the thought that this unseasonable weath- 

 er IS producing much fatal sickness. 

 Violets, however, are coming in such 

 quantities that prices upon them remain 

 low, 50 or 60. cents per 100 being about 

 the limit on an ordinary lot, the best 

 ranging from 75 cents to"$l. Light col- 

 ored pinks bring good prices, but darker 

 kinds do not more so readily. 



This unseasonable weather is also some- 

 what accountable for shortness in crops 

 roses especially being in that condition! 

 But can it be responsible for it all? 

 bhall we not hare to go awav back into 

 those warm days of autumn to find the 

 mam root of the difficulty? They did 

 strain the producing capacities of the 

 plants f(;irfiilly. you know, and brought 

 °"* ''l"""i- fliil in the nature of things 

 ^^''" " ' '"' ""til about now perhaps, 

 even II il,,, J. MS svem a little late to ex- 

 pect t lie evi] results. However this may 

 be, the Boston market has not been so 

 shy on small roses for a lone time A 

 salesman with sereral boxes iuU of them 

 could remember both his friends and his 

 enemies immediately to his taste. It is 

 not of much use to "quote prices on them 

 just now; they depend cntirelv upon 

 the degree of antagonism between the 

 contracting parties! Carnations brin" 

 just a fair figure, a very few fancies go° 

 ing as high as 8 cents. The boundary on 

 the other end of the line is 1 cent. 



Bulbous goods are coming freely and 

 gomg freely at low prices. There is a 

 scarcity of green material, like hardy 

 terns, asparagus, adiantum and smilax. 



Various Items. 



Has the Belgian hare craze struck our 

 art? Henry McGrady pleads guilty to 

 the ownership of a $30 pair of old ones 

 and a litter of nine small ones. Severe 

 measures should be taken immediatelv 



Are the floral clubs of Boston in "the 

 prop'er shape to start a new century? 

 Should there not be another one estab- 

 lished on more social lines, and should 

 it not receive Bueh favor that member- 

 ship enough and interest enough can be 



maintained to hold meetings oftener than 

 once per year, or even four times per 

 year? Wliai arc I hv criticisms against 

 one with li. ,hi,|M;n I. i^ at the Co-operative 

 market \Mih np, m ,ln(irs as much of the 

 tinM.> as .all I"- utilized. There is a 

 flutter of a niuvemcnt in that direction, 

 too. And 1 overheard a couple of mem- 

 bers of the "Old Guard" discussing the 

 affairs of the Massachusetts Hort. Soci- 

 ety. It seems that at the last election 

 of officers a m'ember voted for the new 

 president largely as a complimentary 

 expression, taking it as granted that the 

 former incumbent would be re-elected. 

 Too many, however, voted that kind of 

 a ticket and the new administration in 

 order to propitiate the old order of things 

 gave its representatives honorable posi- 

 tions on a committee to frame a new 

 constitution and by-laws for the society. 

 A storm breaks when this committee re- 

 ports a constitution which others claim 

 is calculated to carry too much authority 

 back into the hands of the former mag- 

 nates. A member who is "Bright" on 

 argument and repartee, openly worded 

 this thought in sentences as long as a 

 string of Asparagus plumosus nanus and 

 as prickly as a rose stem. As a result 

 the whole thing is "laid on the table" 

 until the October meeting when it is ex- 

 pected an eflfort will be made to get out 

 the largest vote that the organization 

 has ever cast. There is too much valua- 

 ble property in the background for the 

 sentries to be allowed to sl'cep at their 

 posts. 



Mrs. W. H. Elliott met with a dis- 

 tressful and perhaps dangerous accident 

 one day recently. While taking a short 

 cut from the E. M. Woods conservatories 

 to the Natick station in company with 

 Mr. Elliott and Mr. and Mrs. Alex. Mont- 

 gomery she tripped and fell, striking her 

 forehead heavily on the railroad track, 

 rendering her unconscious and cutting 

 a bad gash. Unfortunately she had to re- 

 main there in the snow for two long 

 hours while Mr. Montgomery obtained a 

 doctor. She was then tak'en home and 

 has been rapidly recovering. 



B. F. Washington, of North Stockton, 

 being struck by a fire engine and unable 

 to be around on account of a damaged 

 knee, his place at the Park street stall 

 has been very ably filled by his daughter. 



Mr. Nicholson returns "from the West 

 with a very interesting account of the 

 mammoth establishm'ents visited. Three 

 places aggregating 1,700,000 feet of glass 

 will rather attract the attention of the 

 ordinary New England grower. 



J. S. Master. 



The Market. 



Market conditions have changed but 

 little from last week except that roses 

 arc even scarcer. There are plenty of low 

 grade carnations and enough of high 

 grade to go around. The best tea roses 

 now go as high as $10 and good carna- 

 tions can still be bought at $1.50 to $2.00 

 with fancy at $3.00 and $4.00. Some- 

 times ordinaries go as low as $1.00. 



In carnations Gomez has lost heavily 

 in popular favor. Last year customers 

 bidding against each other forced the 

 price up as high as $6.00 a hundred and 

 now they go begging at $2.00. Evidently 

 crimson sorts are no longer the popular 

 fancy. 



Violets also seem to have lost favor. 

 The situation is even worse than last 



week and quite a lot have failed to 

 find buyers of late. 



Some good Harrisii are coming in and 

 they go fairly well. 



Trade is inclined to be spasmodic, be- 

 ing remarkably brisk one day and as re- 

 markably quiet the next. It is a hard 

 market to figure on just now. A good 

 many funerals have helped to make white 

 in demand. 



Bulbous stock seems to grow less and 

 less profitable every year. On'e grower 

 who has cut his order for bulbs in two 

 each year for several years finds he still 

 has too much and is thinking of cutting 

 it out altogether. 



Still on the average business has been 

 fairly good though it is doubtful if the 

 season does more than equal that of last 

 year in the aggregate. 



An Excursion. 



Last Friday over a hundred florists 

 boarded the special car on th'e Rock 

 Island road for the trip to the green- 

 houses of the Chicago Carnation Co. at 

 Joliet. And it was a truly representa- 

 tive crowd, including not only quite a 

 few from other cities but the proprietors 

 or representatives of about every green- 

 house concern in the vicinity of the city. 



Mr. Jas. Hartshorne, manager of the 

 Chicago Carnation Co., was in charge 

 of the car and had a pleasant greeting 

 for all. On arrival at the greenhouses 

 the party was led in procession first 

 through the houses devoted to seedlings 

 and th'en through those planted with 

 standard varieties. Many seedlings are 

 on trial and an inspection of them was 

 convincing proof that Mr. Hartshorne is 

 doing some splendid work in crossing. 

 There are a number that have not yet 

 been exhibited that will surely command 

 attention when they are. It would take 

 a good deal of space to mention them 

 all in detail and we must for the pres- 

 ent be satisfied with saying that soni'e 

 good things will surely come forth from 

 the many seedlings on trial. The new 

 white, Bon Homme Richard, seemed won- 

 derfully prolific, as did also Sunbeam, 

 th'e new pale pink. The whole establish- 

 ment was in first class condition and re- 

 flected the greatest credit upon those in 

 charge. 



The iron frame linusc 30x300, erected 

 for the Carnatinii f,,. by (l,,. Txird & 

 I'.urnbain Co. la-l Miini'nrr. attracted 

 much attontiiiii and wo overheard several 

 visitors say their happiness would be 

 great could they have a range of such 

 splendid houses. 



In addition to those from Chicago and 

 vicinity there were present on this occa- 

 sion Mr. and IMrs. W. J. Vesey, Ft. 

 Wayne, Ind. ; Thos. Dale and Edw." Dale, 

 Brampton, Ont.; E. T. Grave and Chas. 

 Knopf, Richmond. Ind. : Jlrs. C. Kick- 

 holt. Galveston, Texas; N. Zweifel, Mil- 

 wauk'ee; E. R. Gesler, Galesburg, 111.; 

 W. L. Kring, Fairburv. 111.: Geo. Souster, 

 and B. O'Neil, Elgin," 111.; Fred. J. King 

 and daughter, Ottawa, 111.; Thos. Arch- 

 er, St. Joseph, Mich. ; Andrew Peterson, 

 Paxton. 111.; Jas. Souden, A. W. Hop- 

 pock, T. Robertson and F. Overholt, Min- 

 neapolis, Minn. 



Among the local people were A. Mc- 

 Adams, Geo. Woodward. Chas. McKellar, 

 Anton Then. Peter Reinbers, N. Wietor, 

 S. A. Woleott, F. Stielow. M. Weiland, 

 Aug. Poehlmann, Geo. and Chas. Klehm, 

 Luke Collins. Geo. Collins, Chas. Schwei- 

 gert. John Hoeft. Geo. Garland, Frank 

 Garland, N. P. Miller. J. F. Klimmer, 

 D. F. Hawkes, G. Swenson, Frank Cal- 



