JANUARY 12, 1899. 



The Weekly Rorists' Review. 



J6I 



flower center. There is Mrs. M. Klock- 

 ow. Mrs. Emma Nussbaum, Miss Rose 

 Reinhardt, Miss B. L. K]ol<o and the 

 Broadway Flower Co.. all doing well, 

 and all say they were miicli pleased 

 with the holiday trade. Our northwest 

 territory is looked after by Mr. James 

 Buxton, Mr. T. Frank, Mr. W. Newbeg- 

 ging and others, and a visit to them 

 was pleasant because they said they 

 had been very busy. Wm. Belsey, who 

 is in the center of the west residential 

 district, said his business far e.xceeded 

 any previous year. Mr. Nasson, man- 

 ager of Mrs. D. Newland's place, says, 

 "Yes, Bill, we did first-rate." Mr. 

 Louis Ludwig Neubeck, of the new 

 firm of Neubeck & Mj-ers, in his mod- 

 est way, says, "We are too new in the 

 business to judge of the holiday trade, 

 but we are well satisfied," and the 

 same report comes from the Main 

 street stores. Aldermen and legislators 

 taking their seats was the occasion of 

 baskets and horseshoes being in de- 

 mand. 



The remarkable vicissitudes of our 

 "wretched winter climate, particularly 

 for the last seven or eight weeks, are 

 accountable for the great amount of 

 sickness and death among our people 

 of every walk of life and flowers for the 

 inevitable have been in great demand. 

 Just a word about the weather: occa- 

 sionally we have a spring-like day 

 sandwiched in, but the prevailing style 

 is Labradorish or Greenlandish. While 

 I penned these notes (January 7) there 

 has been a horizontal snow storm 

 driven into the pores of your skin as 

 well as the large pores of your green- 

 house by a sixty-five mile an hour gale 

 of wind heated to a temperature a few 

 degrees above zero. Flowers ought to 

 maintain a good price for a long time, 

 for it's hard work producing them. It's 

 much more favorable for producing 

 mushrooms under a bench than rose- 

 buds on the top side. 



My report of the trade would not be 

 complete had I not called on our pro- 

 gressive commission man, W. F. Kast- 

 ing, of Buffalo and Pittsburg. I found 

 bim reclining most easily in his ample 

 Russian leather, double-padded, three- 

 jointed easy chair, but busy dictating 

 to his fair young stenographer. In an- 

 swer to the usual question, "How were 

 you pleased?" he answered in the clas- 

 sic and lady-like language of Mr. G. P. 

 Rawson, which we are privileged to 

 read in the Easter horticultural jour- 

 nals, brief bovine, but so expressive; 

 he used the pretty little word "bully— 

 I had nothing left and handled double 

 the stock of any previous year. I dis- 

 posed of six carloads of holly. There 

 are few towns within three hundred 

 miles I did not ship to, etc.," but this 

 was said without any bragging. Hav- 

 ing a bad cold, he would take a little 

 syrup in his. 



There is a rumor that friend C. F. 

 Christenson will build and be in busi- 

 ness again before long, "but not retail, 

 oh, no, my dear child, I'm too old for 

 that; it will be wholesale entirely." 

 Mr. C. finds the indolent life of a re- 

 tired capitalist grows weary. Break- 



fast at eleven, lunch at one and din- 

 ner and its concomitants from 7 to 

 11:30 p. m., with several pair of fair 

 and willing hands to answer his every 

 wish, is not conducive, he thinks, to 

 longevity or robust health. We shall 

 be glad to see him in active harness 

 again. I have had several inquiries of 

 late for the postoffice address of G. Se- 

 bastian Pickleman, Esq., late secretary, 

 president, treasurer and board of di- 

 rectors of the late cut flower exchange. 

 I learn he has employment collecting 

 orchids and alligators on the upper 

 waters of the Orinoco. His mail can 

 be addressed Ficus alley. Tapir square, 

 Demerara. British Guiana. W. S. 



BOSTON. 

 Review of the Market. 



It looked during the past week as 

 if the customary holiday reaction had 

 surely taken place, and prices took 

 quite a drop, thus giving the fakirs 

 an opening, of which opportunity they 

 took advantage, and helped to take 

 care of the surplus stock, although on 

 Saturday quite a quantity remained 

 unsold, Scott carnations being very 

 much in evidence, with no demand. 

 Roses of the common varieties, such 

 as Brides, Maids and Perles, run from 

 $4 to $8 per 100; a few strictly choice 

 will go better. Meteors average about 

 $8, with Beauties from $4 per 100 to $8 

 per dozen. 



Carnations, such as Mrs. Fisher, Mc- 

 Gowau, Scott, etc., ran from$1.50 to 

 $2 per 100. First grade Daybreak, El- 

 dorado, Hill and Mangold will bring 

 $3 per 100; Bradts worth $1 per 

 dozen; violets, 75 cents to $1 per 100; 

 lilies, $1.50 per dozen; narcissus, 

 trumpets, 75 cents; Paper whites, 25 

 and 35 cents per dozen; Romans, 25 

 cents; freesias, $4 per 100; valley, $4 

 per 100; mignonette, from $4 to ?8 

 per 100. 



The Weekly Show. 



The Massachusetts Horticultural So- 

 ciety inaugurated its customary Sat- 

 urday exhibitions for the season of 

 1899 with a fine display of primulas, 

 both cut bloom and plants. Mrs. B. P. 

 Cheney and the estate of John L. 

 Gardner, both exhibited finely grown 

 specimens of sinensis and stellata. Mr. 

 Cakes Ames showed some cut bloom 

 of a very rare orchid, a Cattleya Cho- 

 coensis alba, and a plant of Cypripe- 

 dium Mme. Georges, a result of a i 

 cross between Ciliolare and Stoneii. 

 W. N. Craig had a fine vase of Cypri- j 

 pedium insigne in sorts, as did also J. 

 E. Rothwell. Mrs. E. M. Gill and W. N. 

 Craig exhibited freesia, and James 

 Comley a vase of seedling acacias. 



News Items. 



Begonia Lorraine proved to be the 

 best selling plant at Christmas, with 

 azaleas a close second, and Mr. W. W. 

 Edgar of Waverly is to be congrat- 

 ulated on the excellence of his stock 

 of both, he controlling the most of 

 what came to Boston at the holidays. 



The long-looked-for le&ure by Mr. 

 John Farquhar on "The Horticultural 

 Modes and Methods, as Practiced by 

 the .lapanese," served to draw a large 

 gathering at the monthly meeting of 

 the Gardeners' and Florists' Club last 

 Tuesday evening. Mr. Farquhar took 

 some 500 different views while on his 

 visit to Japan this last summer, and 

 his lecture was profusely illustrated 

 and thoroughly enjoyed by all. 



The committee on gardens of the 

 Horticultural Society has awarded 

 first prize for house of chrysanthe- 

 mums arranged with other plants to 

 Jason S. Bailey; second to Mrs. B. 

 P. Cheney. For the best house of 

 chrysanthemums, first to E. M. Wood 

 & Co., of Natick; second to Mrs. 

 David Nevins of Framingham. For the 

 best house of violets, to Mrs, David 

 Nevins. For the best house of carna- 

 tions, to William Nicholson of Fram- 

 ingham. For the best house of roses, 

 to E. M. Wood & Co., of Natick. 



P. 



CHICAGO. 



The Market. 



Trade has held up very well since 

 the holidays, though it has not been 

 so satisfactory the latter part of the 

 week as the earlier half, and there 

 have been weak spots at times. Good 

 roses are still scarce and on the best 

 grades prices are stiff, but weakness 

 develops whenever there is any quan- 

 tity of the lower grades. Carnations 

 are more plentiful than roses and 

 prices are easier, except on the very 

 fancy. Of violets there is quite a sur- 

 plus and of Roman hyacinths there 

 is a glut. Harrisii are selling well. 

 White flowers are in general moving 

 better than colored ones, indicating 

 a good call for flowers for funeral 

 work. The cold weather has kept 

 flowers off of the streets and that out- 

 let for a surplus has been closed for 

 the time. 



Club Meeting. 



The last club meeting was a "smok- 

 er" and the smoke that arose from 

 the array of corncob pipes was suffi- 

 cient to insure absolute immunity 

 from greenfly. There was a "smok- 

 ing contest," and as a result, Mr. John 

 Reardon carried home with him a 

 cherry bowled pipe of huge dimen- 

 sions with which he will have no dif- 

 ficulty in keeping his houses thor^ 

 oughly fumigated. 



President Sanders read a number of 

 selections from his scrap book, main- 

 ly clippings from the daily press, 

 containing weird descriptions of trade 

 happenings, that were received with 

 much merriment. 



A vase of seedling carnations was 

 shown by Mr. C. W. Johnson. There 

 were six or eight varieties and 

 among them were a pink, a white and 

 a crimson that seem very promising. 

 E. G. Hill & Co., Richmond, Ind., dis- 

 played a vase of their new scarlet 



