720 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



selling consequently at lower figures, and 

 supplanting other flowers. Just now 

 heavy shipments of poeticus are coming 

 from near Kichmond, Va. 



There are some shippers in evidence 

 now who do not use the market to any 

 great extent while flowers are scarce. 

 Their supplies and the hardy stufl from 

 the South tend to overdo the capacity of 

 the trade to take all up. But, as usual 

 at this season of the year, good stuff is 

 in request and any disappointment in 

 the market is due to the e.\cess of medi- 

 ocre flowers and to the causes indicated 

 above, not to any falling off in the cus- 

 tomary healthy demand. E. 



BOSTON. 



Trade Conditions. 



Surely the general run of business has 

 held up remarkably ever since Easter. 

 There is now a good supply of everything 

 coming in except possibly bulb material, 

 which is getting out of season. But 

 everything cleans up fairly well except 

 Easter lilies, for which there is not 

 enough call to use the coming crop. In 

 my capacity as salesman I do not like to 

 be asked about prices, but being a sort of 

 "Lord High Everything Else" on a small 

 scale, as a reliable reporter I must con- 

 fess prices are not what salesmen like. 

 It is not so much a question with them 

 what prices were as whether goods were 

 actually sold or not. A heavy buyer can 

 expect to come to the city just now and 

 boss both ends of a transaction between 

 himself and any wholesale salesman. 

 ••The melancholy days have come, the 

 saddest of the year." 



Various Notes. 



Before our long rain (seemingly the 

 longest in history next to that of Queen 

 Victoria's) signs of spring were few and 

 scarce. But "wait till the clouds roll 

 by," "when the mists have rolled in 

 splendor from the beauty of the hills," 

 and spring is here. The increase in the 

 length of the day is very noticeable to 

 one who is '•up with the lark in the early 

 morn"; the grass is smiling up at you, 

 buds bursting, crocus blooming, and the 

 robins are on hand to superintend the 

 whole thing. 



Boston's Public Garden is a busy place. 

 The plan is to beat all former records. 

 The trees are getting their annual dis- 

 cipline, the bulb goods are up and com- 

 ing, and at the city greenhouses in prep- 

 aration for coming displays in the dif- 

 ferent city parks are 20,000 rose bushes, 

 30,000 lilies, 0,000 rubbers, 1,000 mag- 

 nolias, 1,000,000 pansios and a countless 

 array of other plant life. 



By courtesy of Mr. Sutherland I was 

 admitted to the woi'k rooms of the new 

 Koral florist letter of which he is sole 

 selling agent. The proprietor, Mr. Al- 

 den, who gives his wife full credit for 

 the invention, tells me he was formerly 

 foreman for the Boston Letter Co. until 

 the possibililios of his wife's idea be- 

 came iiii|iii- r.I ii|H,ii him. Therefore 

 the new 1. m , , , i ,, Hy of Boston birth. 



The I ' I which the letters 



are nin.lr , : ,^i i ,|.,;, to a large paper 

 cutter nn.l <iii, into strips about three- 

 fourths of an inch wide. These strips arc 

 run through a wringer-like machine a 

 half dozen at a time, which scallops each 

 edge with half circles an eighth of an 

 inch across. A very simple sewing ma- 

 chine attachment folds as many of these 

 scalloped strips as is dcsirabfe, length- 

 wise over a wire, sews them on solidlv 



as fast as any one will run the ma- 

 chine, and turns out a finely finished 

 product by the rod, resembling chenille, 

 and used for the same purposes. Sev- 

 eral pairs of deft hands are even now 

 employed in bending this product into 

 block and script letters and other floral 

 designs, and the trade generally is learn- 

 ing the desirability of its lasting quali- 

 ties on funeral designs after being placed 

 in the cemetery. 



A false prophet is false profit indeed, 

 so we will cast no horoscopes, but even 

 the largest business concerns inevitably 

 have a small beginning, and "there is al- 

 ways room at the top." 



N. F. McCarthy's auction rooms are 

 overflowing with stock for sales on every 

 Tuesday and Friday until July 1, with 

 the exception of April 19, which was post- 

 poned one day on account of the holiday. 

 He has issued a magnificent catalogue 

 of hardy roses, rare evergreens, rhodo- 

 dendrons, trees, shrubs, etc., to be sold 

 during the present month. It is finely 

 illustrated and lists an immense amount 

 of goods. 



James Salter, from Mr. Zirngiebel's 

 working force, has accepted a position on 

 a private place at Manchester-by-the-Sea. 



At the risk of being accused of dealing 

 in ancient history I might say that after 

 all the Easter clouds rolled by it could 

 easily be seen that while it probably was 

 as successful a season as ever was known 

 here, still everyone would have done very 

 much better under better weather condi- 

 tions. The trade ran to flowering plants 

 heavier than ever, especially to azaleas 

 and other high-priced goods. Lilies seem 

 to be getting too common for the best 

 class of trade. J. S. Manter. 



ST. LOUIS. 



The Market 



Trade reports have not been very en- 

 couraging the past week. There was 

 plenty of stock in the market until the 

 last day, Saturday, when roses all of a 

 sudden became scarce; plenty of them 

 were sold at job lot prices up to Satur- 

 daj', when the price suddenly went up. 

 There was very little retail business and 

 it was only the outside shipping trade 

 that helped the wholesalers to clean up 

 some of the glut. Select Beauties have 

 been scarce and have been selling as high 

 as $3 and $4 per dozen. Other roses are 

 fine and range from $4 to $6 per 100 for 

 extra select. Mixed lots were quoted at 

 $2 and $3 per 100. 



Carnations have been more plentiful 

 the past week than at any time this 

 year, they being rather a glut at times. 

 At this writing, though, they seem 

 scarce, especially white, which are in 

 great demand and sometimes bring the 

 price of fancies. Price on general stock 

 in large quantities is $1 and $1.50; 

 fancies^ from $2 to $3 per 100. 



Violets are growing poorer and small- 

 er. A great many are coming in; they 

 stand at 20 and 30 cents per 100. 



Bulb stock is slow; there is very little 

 demand for it. Valley is about the only 

 stock in this line that seems to sell; 

 .$2.. 50 and $3 per 100 is asked for it. 

 Sweet peas arc coming in fine now and 

 seem to sell better: 75 cents to $1 is the 

 price just now. Another week of them 

 will make a great difference in the price. 

 Southern lilac is coming in now, but is 

 received in bad condition and hardly ex- 

 press charges are made out of it. There 

 are no ferns in the market and the scar- 

 city of greens still continues. Smilax is 



also scarce at IS and 20 cents per string. 

 A great many of the florists are com- 

 pelled to use galax leaves for backing. 



Notes. 



Edward M. Tesson, father of Robert F. 

 Tesson, of Ellison & Tesson, died last 

 Wednesday at 6 o'clock of throat trouble. 

 The funeral was held Thursday morning 

 from St. Ann's Church and was well at- 

 tended by the florists. The floral deco- 

 rations were beautiful. The family have 

 the sympathy of all the florists. 



Poor Tom Carroll, who left St. Louis 

 about two years ago to try to recover 

 his eyesight, returned last week to attend 

 the funeral of his wife. Hard luck has 

 followed Tom for some time. He is stone 

 blind and has no way of making a living 

 and he is surely an object for charity. 



Mrs. F. J. Fillmore has been sick in 

 bed for some time, but from last reports 

 is improving somewhat. 



At Kuehn's the past week was seen that 

 fine pink carnation Mrs. Nelson, sent out 

 by E. A. Nelson, of Indianapolis, Ind. 

 Nothing like it has ever been seen in St. 

 Louis and we can safely say that it is 

 the finest pink carnation yet. It has all 

 the requirements, stem, calyx, color and 

 keeping qualities. Mr. Nelson surely has 

 a treasure. Mr. C. A. Kuehn will han- 

 dle the stock for Mr. Nelson. 



The weather has been very cool the last 

 few days, which has had a depressing 

 effect on the plant trade at Union mar- 

 ket. The market is fairly alive with 

 plants of all kinds, but very little busi- 

 ness will be done in this line until the 

 warm weather sets in for good. 



Charles C. Connon, of Webster Grove, 

 Mo., is a candidate for mayor of Web- 

 ster. Mr. Connon's friends among the 

 craft are confident of his success. 



Mrs. H. G. Berning, who has been ill 

 for "the past two weeks, is reported some- 

 what better. 



Bowling. 



Eight members were preseni at the bowling 

 club Monday night, and from the scores it 

 will be seen that the rolling was poor. A few 

 weeks of steady rolling will show a great im- 

 provement. The scores were as follows: 



12 3 4 Total. Av. 



Kuehn 170 138 169 173 680 162':; 



Weber 147 139 175 140 601 150 



Ellison 152 148 149 ... 449 150 



Kunz 148 157 131 153 689 147 



Beneke 132 134 138 176 680 145 



Adels 157 147 129 ... 433 144 



Young 119 120 142 ... 381 127 



Ellis S7 108 79 139 413 105 



Pan-American. 



The Missouri commissioners to the 

 Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo are 

 all in St. Louis making pirpnvntinn- for 

 shipping the various cxhilm -■ i^i llnlValn. 



Mr. P. M. Kiely, of n„, , ,tx, »;,- a,,. 

 pointed agent for St. l.c.in-, t,i tmnisli 

 the ]\[is-ouii cxliil.iis lit Hullalo with 

 such fniil- I loll I 1 III- part of the state as 

 maybciii.ii.il li.ini imictotime. 



the ,Mi--..ini Siau- Horticultural So- 

 rii'tv. wlii.li lia.l cliarge of the state ex- 

 hil.iK a I III. World's Fairs at Chicago 

 ami (liiialia. i- . o-operating with the com- 

 ini.s.siuM at Kullulo. J. .1. B. 



LARGE GLADIOLUS BULBS. 



Among the many intcn-t iiiL' iii'iii< in 

 your most excellent journal I liaM'i.a.l 

 with pleasure the artioh'- .m -l.uli.ilus. 

 That "big" corm reported by Mr. Cuwee 

 made me feel like telling of my experi- 

 ence with another "big" one. Two years 

 ago in a mixture bought from Crawford 

 & Co., Cuyahoga Falls, I noticed a very 

 large, coarse looking "bulb" of some three 



