476 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



APRIL 6, 1899. 



mound surmounted by a great mass 

 of lilies, the tub containing the stems 

 being sunk in the mound. At the 

 sides groups of Japanese tree pae- 

 onies, blooming plants of cattleyas 

 and dendrobiums, cyclamens and 

 dressed pans of hyacinths and other 

 bulb stuff interspersed among Far- 

 leyense ferns. Among other plants 

 in the store were small lilacs, a host 

 of azaleas, many pans of hyacinths, 

 etc., in pot covers, some with sashes 

 of ribbon. In many small plant ar- 

 rangements small plants of Asparagus 

 plumosus were interspersed to cover 

 any bareness and to supply additional 

 foliage. Sometimes short pieces of 

 asparagus were simply inserted in the 

 soil and this answers nearly as well 

 as the plants for the cut asparagus 

 lasts well. Many small hampers 

 were filled with cyclamens and other 

 plants and tied with ribbon. A very 

 salable arrangement was a zinc lined 

 wicker windo-^ box filled with a dozen 

 hyacinth plants with sprays of as- 

 paragus between the plants and the 

 box trimmed with ribbon. These 

 sold freely at $6.00 each. He had an 

 adjoining store filled with these and 

 other plants and sold out quite clean. 

 His supply of cut lilies was enormous 

 and the supply of buckets, etc., run- 

 ning out, he borrowed a lot of the 

 heavy tall tubs used in packing ice 

 cream in freezers, and they answered 

 the purpose admirably. 



At W. J. Smyth's: In addition to 

 the usual run of Easter plants, many 

 American Beauty roses in pots, and 

 used in many plant arrangements. A 

 popular article was an ordinary 

 wooden window box filled with a va- 

 riety of plants and trimmed with 

 crepe paper and tied with a sash of 

 ribbon. A plant basket noted was a 

 green high-handled one filled with 

 Beauty rose plants and about two 

 yards of nun's veiling tied on to the 

 handle by a bow of fancy ribbon. 

 Less crepe paper and more pot covers 

 were noted here, as at other places 

 mentioned. And azaleas led in 

 plants, though there was a greater va- 

 riety,- including such things as Pri- 

 mula obconica. A feature of the win- 

 dow display was a large triple wicker 

 vase of lilies tied with a large bow of 

 white ribbon, and orchids. 



At P. J. Hauswirth's: An immense 

 stock of fancy carnations. But Phil 

 says he cleaned them out pretty well 

 and is well pleased with the Easter 

 trade. 



VariouF Items. 



The regular quarterly meeting of 

 the Horticultural Society of Chicago 

 will be held at the Sherman House 

 next Saturday (8th inst) at 3 p. m. 



Chase will remove to 155 Twenty- 

 second St. on April 15. 



W. E. Lynch will occupy the whole 

 floor at 19-21 Randolph St. after May 

 1 and will greatly enlarge his stock 

 of florists' supplies. 



A. L. Vaughan has started on a trip 

 through western territory. 



Mr. and Mrs. C. L. Washburn are 

 enjoying themselves in New Mexico. 



Miss Inez Stromback has returned 

 from a seven-weeks visit in New Or- 

 leans. 



Recent visitors: W. A. Hoffstadt, 

 Shelby, 0.; W. Retzer, St. Louis. 



There is a very attractive program 

 for the meeting of the Florists' Club 

 tomorrow (Friday) evening. 



Kennicott Bros. Co. say that last 

 Friday's sales broke the record for 

 them, being several hundred dollars 

 ahead of the best day in the history 

 of the concern. 



Harry Balsley, of Detroit, is in 

 town, with some novelties in the way 

 of pots that are not pots and are still 

 good pots. Harry will give you the 

 answer to this riddle. 



ST. LOUIS. 



Easter Trade. 



Easter trade was very satisfactory 

 all around, and is still the topic of 

 conversation. Both dealer and grower 

 express themselves as satisfied. Some 

 dealers report that trade was fully 25 

 per cent, better than previous years. 

 Quite a number of weddings will take 

 place this week which will keep things 

 moving, and almost every flower was 

 cut close for Easter. Stock of all 

 kinds will be scarce, except bulb stuff, 

 which is and has been plentiful all 

 this season. 



The weather was not quite to the 

 liking of the plant men, it being a 

 little too cold, still some claim they 

 did very well, but nothing like last 

 year. 



In cut flowers the commission men 

 sold out clean of everything except 

 bulb stock. Roses in particular were 

 scarce and brought a good price, 

 Perles being decidedly so, something 

 unusual, as they are generally more 

 plentiful than the other varieties. 

 Fancy Beauties -were also scarce. 

 Some of the very choice fancy roses 

 brought as much and in some cases 

 more than at Christmas time. 



Same can be said about Carnations. 

 Nearly all brought fancy prices and 

 extra fancy varieties sold as high as 

 $6 per 100. There was no choice as 

 to variety, all kinds being in great de- 

 mand. The bulk was sold at $4; 

 very common ones $2 and $3. All 

 were sold that came in, with not 

 enough to go around. 



Bulb stuff must be all cut out from 

 the way it was piled up at the com- 

 mission houses, a great deal being 

 left unsold. Romans and Paper 

 Whites were fine and sold at $3 and 

 $4; good valley, $4; tulips, $3 and ?4; 

 Dutch hyacinths looked fine; only the 

 light shades sold at $4 and ?5; daffs 

 plentiful at $3. 



Violets are getting small and are 

 nearing their end. Demand is quite 

 brisk; 75 cents per 100 is the price. 

 Mignonette very fine; that from Mey- 

 er's sold at $5; other stock, $2 and $3. 

 Smilax had a great call and was very 



scarce. It seems that all the local 

 growers are cut out. A fine lot 

 would have been very profitable, as it 

 sold as high as $3 per dozen strings. 

 Asparagus plumosus sold well and 

 more will be grown next season, as 

 only a few bad grown it this year. 

 They claim they did well with it. It 

 is also reported that ferns will be 

 scarce from now on. unless the new 

 ones come in. 



Notes, 



Walter Mott, representing H. A. 

 Dreer, Philadelphia, spent Easter Sat- 

 urday and Sunday among the trade. 

 Walter reports trade in his line very 

 satisfactory. 



On Thursday, March 30, the florists 

 were requested to meet Mr. Hodgman 

 at the Mercantile Club in regard to 

 organizing a financial committee in 

 our line for the St. Louis World's 

 Fair, in celebration of the Louisiana 

 Purchase Centennial. But six florists 

 were in attendance, owing to the rush 

 preparing for Easter. It was decided 

 that Mr. Hodgman be present at the 

 Club meeting on the 13th inst. All 

 florists are invited to attend. 



Mr. Walter Retzer of Shaw's Gar- 

 den left for Chicago last week to 

 spend Easter and perhaps locate there 

 should something favorable turn up. 



Mrs. Gurney, wife of Jas. Gurney, 

 superintendent of Tower Grove Park 

 and Shaw's Garden, died on Thursday 

 evening, aged 75 years. Death was 

 caused by apoplexy, from which she 

 suffered one week. Mrs. Gurney was 

 an interested co-worker with her hus- 

 band in all his undertakings. Mr. 

 Gurney has the sympathy of all the 

 trade in this city. 



The members of the Florists' Club 

 should not forget that next meeting 

 will be our annual rose meeting. 

 Quite a number of new roses from 

 the East will be on exhibition. The 

 meeting will be held April 13, 3 p. m., 

 at Odd Fellow's Hall. Pres. Sanders 

 expects a large attendance, something 

 like the last one. 



Bowling. 



A snow storm on Monday night 

 again interfered with the ' attendance 

 at the Bowling Club. Only six mem- 

 bers showed up and rolled five games. 

 D. Finlayson was high man. The 

 scores were as follows: 



12 3 4 5 Tot. Av. 



D. Finlayson . ..141 165 162 167 170 795 169 



J. J. Beneke 176 154 128 139 167 764 161 



C. A. Kuehn 135 139 128 169 131 692 138 



C. C. Sanders 116 147 136 124 157 680 136 



John Young 119 149 12S 118 146 660 132 



John W. Kunz....l46 115 124 134 128 647 128 



Mr. Duncan Finlayson, one of our 

 best bowlers, will leave us in a few 

 weeks to take charge of Mr. H. C. 

 Pierce's place at Pride's Crossing, 

 Mass. Mr. Finlayson expects to return 

 again in the fall and take his place 

 at Mr. Pierce's St. Louis home. We are 

 .sorry to lose Duncan, as he would 

 have helped us to again win the Evans 

 cup at Detroit this summer, but Dun- 

 can says you'll win it again easy with- 

 out me. J. J. B. 



