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The Weekly Florists' Review^ 



DECEMBER 29, 1898. 



Kennicott Bros. Co. are now hand- 

 ling the stock from Klehm's. Their 

 Gontiers were unfortunately too late 

 for Christmas this year, and will be in 

 shortly after New Year's. 



Since our estimate was made on the 

 Christmas trade by the wholesalers 

 we hear from Messrs. Bassett & Wash- 

 burn that the figures, now completed, 

 show a gain of fully 50 per cent over 

 last year, instead of the 30 per cent 

 that they at first estimated. 



Kennicott Bros. Co. will handle a 

 good share of the rooted cuttings of 

 the new scarlet carnation Evanston, 

 now about to be introduced. The way 

 the flowers have sold in the market 

 here has made them strong believers 

 in the future of this carnation. 



THE FLORISTS' REVIEW 



G. L. GRANT, Editor and Manager. 



PUBLISHED E\'ERV THURSDAY BY 



THE FLORISTS' PUBLISHING CO. 



520-535 Caxton Building, Chicago, 



334 Dearborn Street. 



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Advertising rates: Per incn, Ji.oo; J^ page. ?i3-5o 

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Copyright i8g8. 



BOSTON. 



Review of the Market. 



The weather through the week was 

 anything but favorable, and a great 

 many of the growers were rather dis- 

 appointed in their cut, being anxious 

 to realize the high prices which were 

 asked. A great many saved all their 

 stock for Saturday, so that there was 

 not an over^abundance of flowers to 

 be had all the week, with prices run- 

 ning fully equal and in some cases 

 exceeding any previous Christmas. 



Roses seemed to be in ample quan- 

 tity, with no surplus, and prices 

 ranged for Brides, Maids and Meteors 

 from $12.50 to $25 per 100; Beauties 

 ran from $6 to $12 per dozen, and the 

 stock was all taken. Carnations, as 

 was anticipated two or three weeks 

 ago, ran short, especially colored va- 

 rieties, and brought high prices 

 throughout the week, but on Saturday 

 white ones dragged slightly, owing to 

 the quantities coming in; $4 per 100 

 was an average selling price, with 

 fancy grades running as high as $1.50 

 per dozen. Violets, not too plenty, 

 held at $2 per 100; Harrisii lilies, from 

 $10 to $16 per 100; valley, $4 to $6; 

 Romans and Paper Whites, $3 per 100; 

 stevia, 25 cents per bunch. 



The Christmas Track. 

 The week just ended will go down 



in the history of the flower business 

 as the best Christmas week ever 

 known, and on Saturday night both 

 retailers and wholesalers were hust- 

 ling for stuff to All their orders. The 

 wholesalers have been busy all the 

 week, the trade in green goods being 

 far in excess of any previous year, and 

 when shipping time came — Thursday 

 and Friday — there was no surplus 

 stock carried over for a Saturday 

 rush, thus again making the whole- 

 salers heavy buyers on Saturday. They 

 all report the heaviest Christmas trade 

 they ever had. The growers all seem 

 satisfled, and by 8 o'clock everything 

 was sold and most of them had gone 

 home, to bring in the day's cut later 

 on. 



The retail trade was the best that 

 the dealers have ever had, and it is a 

 question if the stock will hold out to 

 fill orders, and it will be difficult to 

 obtain growers' stock on Sunday. 



At Galvin's, the leader was violets, 

 and they have kept up their reputa- 

 tion as regards quality of stock and 

 amount of sales. The trade for plants 

 was about equal to that of former 

 years, the great specialty being some 

 well-grown azaleas from E. N. Pierce 

 & Son, Waverly, Doyle and Hough- 

 ton & Clark both report heavy trade, 

 the call being for high-grade flowers. 



The retail prices were as follows: 

 Roses, Brides, Maids and Meteors, 

 from $4 to $10 per dozen; carnations, 

 average stock, $1.50 per dozen; Bradts, 

 from $2 to $3; extra grades, such as 

 Flora Hill and Eldorado, averaged $2; 

 violets, from $1 per bunch up; Beau- 

 ties, from $10 to $36 per dozen, with 

 the demand running mostly to carna- 

 tions and violets. 



News Items. 



Nicholson's carnations were extra 

 fine, especially Mrs. Bradt, Flora Hill, 

 Joost and 'White Cloud. Galvin bought 

 the most of them. 



Mr. Nicholson has broken ground 

 for another house, 23x200 feet, intend- 

 ed for carnations in solid bed. 



The Beauties shown by E. M. Wood 

 & Co. were the finest seen in this 

 market. 



Galvin had to withdraw the Lawson 

 carnation from his list very early In 

 the day — could not get enough of 

 them. This famous pink is establish- 

 ing a wonderful reputation; Boston 

 people choose it as a strictly Boston 

 flower, and Galvin had orders to go to 

 all of the large eastern cities on this 

 account. P. 



BUFFALO. 



Christmas Trade. 



It is premature to suppose that an 

 accurate account of the trade can be 

 given this early, for there has been no 

 opportunity of close inquiry. But from 

 the tenor of what I have heard, the 

 volume of business was an advance of 

 25 per cent over last year. Plants 



undoubtedly were the big feature. It 

 would be hard to say what led. There 

 were lots of people willing to pay $5 

 to $4 for a plant, most or nearly al- 

 ways for a present, and a few willing 

 to go much over these figures; the 

 great majority, however, wanted "a 

 nice little plant for $1.50 or less." 

 Palms were in great demand, and 

 when I say palms I include pandanus 

 and dracaenas. Poinsettias, especially 

 10-inch pans, with half a dozen plants, 

 went well. Azaleas sold rather best 

 of any fiowering plant, and all in 

 sight from $1.50 to $5 were cleaned 

 out. The Boston fern from 75 cents 

 to $3 sold well, and J. H. Rebstock 

 found customers for a few Nephrolepis 

 D. furcans, 5 feet across, that went at 

 $15. Nearly every small plant, such 

 as primroses, cyclamens, pans of hya- 

 cinths, begonias, etc., sold — in fact, 

 more 'could have oeen sold. The 

 "Christmas present" is accountable 

 for all this. 



The first prominent retailer I tele- 

 phoned to this morning for features of 

 the business said in reply that the 

 prominent feature was, the people 

 wanted a dry goods box of flowers for 

 25 cents. He did not say what size 

 dry goods box. but it might have been 

 a holly box as anything else, so far as 

 being actual truth; but there was, 

 however, a considerable kick at the 

 prices of flowers, and hundreds shun- 

 ned them and turned to the plant. 

 "Violets are sweet, but $4 a hundred is 

 sweeter, and there were several thou- 

 sand left over in more than one place, 

 and so it was with roses of the Brides- 

 maid type — "Too high; we will do 

 without them." 



W. J. Palmer & Son, so it is said, 

 cut several hundred American Beauties 

 last week and sold them for $24 a 

 dozen. We were not aware of it, but 

 think the Gould and Astor families 

 must have been visiting here last 

 week. When you said $4 a dozen for 

 Meteor roses and $1.25 or $1.50 for 

 carnations, many people were sent 

 away contented with a $2 mixed box, 

 for which you can always be mere lib- 

 eral and reasonable. Carnations were 

 the flower that was sold out cleanest. 

 Home-grown ones were, however, in 

 too small supply; and talk about be- 

 ing pickled! We saw a lot from the 

 east that you could actually see the 

 brine on their stems. 



There never was such a demand for 

 Christmas trees; either the supply was 

 too short or the demand was unusual. 

 This is hardly a florist's article, but 

 he was lucky if he had a lot of Nor- 

 way spruce, for by Xmas eve there 

 was not one in town. Canada spruce 

 Is the general article used, and the 

 great storm had blocked railroads so 

 freight could not get here, and the 

 Christmas tree trade was actually 

 written up in our daily papers as it it 

 was as important as the supply of tur- 

 keys, plum pudding, or the extract of 

 corn. 



Contrary to what was expected, hoi- 



