572 



The Weekly Florists' Review^ 



MAY 4, 1S99. 



Adam Harrer is sending some re- 

 marliably fine wliite stocks to Ben- 

 they & Co. 



At tlie meeting of tlie Florists' Club 

 on Friday evening (May 5) tliere will 

 be a general discussion on "Progress 

 in greenhouse construction." 



The new series of prize bowling 

 games begin the evening of Friday, 

 May 12. 



Williams Bros, have leased green- 

 houses from Wm. Kirkham. at May- 

 wood. One of the brothers has been 

 ■with A. H. Schneider, at Oak Park, 

 and the other with S. S. Bain, at Mon- 

 treal. They will do a general busi- 

 ness. 



Mr. Lyman B. Craw, with the Lord 

 & Burnham Company, Irvingtou-on- 

 Hudson, N. Y., was a recent visitor. 



BUFFALO. 



From the frosts of Norway we have 

 heen climatically transferred to the 

 heat of Porto Rico; 90 degrees in the 

 shade. A mustered out mmiber of the 

 202 regiment just arrived from the in- 

 terior "of Cuba was prostrated by the 

 heat yesterday while witnessing a 

 game of ball. His feeble mutterings 

 could be just understood; it was: 

 "Carry me to the canteen." The heat 

 is something phe'nomenal and makes 

 the man who is planting shrubs and 

 trees get a hustle on him or leaves 

 and blossoms will be here; and they 

 ■will be here in all their beauty as 

 soon as we get the rain that is so 

 ■wished for and so much needed. 



Pan.sies are a scarce article this 

 year. Never before have I noticed 

 such a scarcity: The man with a 

 hundred thousand good plants in 

 flower now would make a very com- 

 fortable little sum and have the mar- 

 ket all to himself. In our extremity 

 ■we sent to an eastern pansy man who 

 advertised "fine plants in bud and 

 flower." When they arrived we tried to 

 separate the plants from the ground 

 they were packed in by running them 

 through a half-inch mesh sieve, but 

 plants as well as "dirt" fell through. 

 We put on a magnifying pair of spec- 

 tacles and picked them out by hand. 

 What a pity people will not back up 

 their advertisements with the article 

 as represented. We expect such hum- 

 bug from patent medicine men, and 

 a few (only a few) big but bogus flor- 

 ists, but they don't go fishing for 

 suckers in the trade journals; they 

 cast their nets in the "Ladies Home- 

 Journal" and other such insipid pub- 

 lications. 



Carlyle, the sage of Chelsea, said; 

 "England contains a population of 

 about 30 millions, mostly fools." In 

 larger figures the same proportion 

 exists in this large country, else how 

 could a firm keep a small army of 

 bookkeepers and correspondents and 

 cashiers and everything else but 

 growers, to fill such orders as this 

 advertisement would doubtless bring. 

 I quote from memory but I know it's 

 just about as it appeared four or five 

 years ago in all the leading Sunday 



papers of the country: "The Jewell 

 Rose. This magnificent rose will pro- 

 duce grand fiowers in six different 

 colors, including red. crimson, pink, 

 white, yellow and variegated. Strong 

 plants ready to fiower, by mail 35 

 cents each, two for 50 cents." A de- 

 coy letter was sent to this immense 

 ofSce and back came a printed form 

 ( printed, mind, showing the use or 

 need of lots of them): "Dear Sir: 

 Your remittance of 50 cents received. 

 We are at prese-nt sold out of the 

 Jewe-U rose. Shall we substitute some- 

 thing in place or hold remittance and 

 ship roses when our stock is again 

 replenished?" I answered, "hold re- 

 mittance, we want the Jewell rose very 

 bad." And they have obeyed orders, 

 for they have held the 50 cents ever 

 since. It must be at least five years 

 ago and we are still pining for our 

 Jewell. 



Reverting once more to pansies: 

 Zero and below -without snow is not 

 conducive to the health of pansies in 

 the open field. Mr. Nelson Brown, of 

 Corfu, planted 140 thousand and has 

 lost 80 thousand. 



The Bowling club rolled their last 

 game on Tuesday night; too hot and 

 too much work to permit bowlimj for 

 the ne-xt two months. We have not 

 disbanded, because we have a nice 

 lump in the treasury. 



Mr. Rebstock had a good sized wed- 

 ding decoration at Temple Beth Zion 

 last week. Business fair to good. Mr. 

 Fotheringham, of Tarrytown was 

 here, and as he was the only drum- 

 mer in town for a week he w-as alone 

 in his glory. 



Mr. Charles Havenith, the young 

 gentleman from Belgium, has left the 

 environments of Cold Springs to par- 

 ticipate in carnation culture at Corfu, 

 and his second day's experience in 

 that quiet village was assisting to put 

 out a fire which wiped out the best 

 half of the business portion of the 

 village. It might have been worse. 

 Two hotels and three churches are 

 left, so the community can be spiritu- 

 ally refreshed either way. W. S. 



BOSTON. 



Revie-w of the Market. 



A repetition of the previous week 

 has been the state of the cut flower 

 trade during the past few days, and it 

 now looks like a season of dullness, 

 with perhaps a break for a day or two 

 at Decoration. The retailers are still 

 taking contract stuff at fair prices, 

 but the quantity of second 

 and third gi'ade goods is al- 

 most unquotable. THe market 

 is now we-11 supplied with the frag- 

 rant arbutus, which has superseded 

 the violet as the popular street flower, 

 and has to a gre;>t extent been ZTie 

 means of decreasing the demand for 

 florists' stock, but this is to be expect- 

 ed at this season, and now it is a case 

 of get all you can. 



Roses have not as yet shown the 



signs of the warm weather and still 

 come in, of good size and nice, clean 

 foliage. Brides and Maids arc uuot- 

 able from $2 to $S per 100, a few 

 bringing a trifle more; Jacks run 

 about the same as last w-eek; Beauties 

 can be bought anywhere from 25 cents 

 to $3 per dozen. Carnations are in- 

 creasing in quantity, but with only a 

 few very fine ones; the asking prices 

 are from $1 to $2 per 100; fancies 

 bring about the usual price. Violets 

 dull; quotable at 25 and 35 cents per 

 100; lilies 50 cents per dozen; daffo- 

 dils and tulips, $2 to $3 per 100; valley, 

 $3 and $4. 



The News. 



Galvin & Co., 2 Ordway Place, have 

 moved to Soule Place, off Milk street, 

 where they are ready to receive their 

 many friends, 



MacDonald, of Temple Place, is 

 headquarters for some elegant May- 

 flowers. He controls about all that 

 come from Plymouth way and a large 

 quantity is coming of that beautiful 

 pink tinge which makes it so attrac- 

 tive. 



Thomas F. G-alvin has returned from 

 his trip to Cuba, where he has an in- 

 terest in a palm nursery. He is quite 

 enthusiastic over the prospects and 

 says it is surprising how quickly you 

 can grow a salable plant in that cli- 

 mate. P. 



ST. LOUIS. 



The Market. 



Flow-ere are still very plentiful witii 

 us, although the warm weather has se- 

 riously injured the quality of the 

 stock. Shipping trade has been cut 

 off considerably, owing to the hot 

 weather. The beginning of the past 

 week prices were Arm, as far as good 

 stock was concerned, but later on went 

 down and even good stock could be 

 bought cheap. Great quantities of 

 poor stock is sold evei-y day at a very 

 low figure. First Beauties are not 

 over-plentiful, but many short 

 stemmed ones are coming in which 

 are sold very cheap, and the fakir gets 

 most of them; the few first-cla.^s r,ui.s- 

 bring $3 per dozen and the regular 

 demand keeps up the price; Brides 

 have been in good demand, but were 

 scarce, and brought $4 to $S for the 

 best; Meteors, Maids and Perles are- 

 plentiful and sell at from $1 to $4. 



Carnations are a glut, only the very 

 best of sitock bringing anything like 

 a price; the bulk of the stock goes for 

 $1; in 1,000 lots, much cheaper; plen- 

 ty of reds now and white is always 

 in demand for funeral work. 



Bulb stock is about all cut out ex- 

 cept Harrisii and callas. Harrisii sell 

 at $5 and $6, but are too plentiful, 

 many of them going to the dump pile. 

 Valley is in good demand but very 

 scarce. Sweet peas range from 75 

 cents to $1; good long stemmed flow- 

 ers sell well. A tew good gladiolus are 

 seen. All spring flowers are in full 

 bloom. Lilac is all in bloom and will 

 soon be over; some snow balls are 



